Alliance & Leicester online banking help

So_Mental

Recently I tried to transfer money into someone else's account through online banking. When I was doing it the website asked me 3 or 4 times for my password and only after the last time did a conformation screen come up saying that the transfer had been successful. Later in the week the person I had transferred the money to told me it had transferred twice and refused to hand back the over payment (it's my ex). I then contacted the bank via email to see if they could get it back and was sent this response.

Thank you for your e-mail regarding your requested transfers.

I am sorry, but having checked your activity summary, this confirmed that you created the payee twice. As this was not down to a banking, or website error, we would not be able to claim your payment back.

You could have checked the activity summary yourself, at the time, or pending payments. These would have confirmed that your first request had been successful. You can view your activity records, by selecting 'other services' from the left hand column, of the account summary page.

We do hope you find the above information useful. If you have any further questions the answers may be found in the Help section, found on the login page of the customer website. If you can not find the information you are looking for please do not hesitate to contact us again.

I feel as I had to enter my password a few times and had only one conformation screen that it was a website error and they could could easily reverse one of the transactions.

Help or thoughts anyone?

RadoJo

Do you have any screen shots of the activity summary page showing only one transaction had been authorised. To be honest, if it said on the website at the time (which it now does when you log out) then you would have a hard time proving that the mistake was the bank's fault and not yours. Even if it didn't if you don't have any screen shots, then again, you will have trouble actually proving what you say.

Does your statement confirm your ex's story that the payment has been taken twice? I am surprised you waited to hear from the recipient rather than checking it yourself, but I can see how that could easily happen. Was it a large sum, or otherwise unlikely in terms of the amount? You could argue that a large sum being duplicated would be easy to spot, whereas two transactions for £20 could easily be missed - I have had to explain that to my bank when Sainsbury's took my online shopping payment twice! Who spends exactly £156.73 twice in one minute?!

Just a thought - did your ex text/e-mail you about the overpayment? If they admit in writing that they know they have been overpaid and have no intention of repaying you then you might be able to pursue them personally.

Good luck - I hope you manage to resolve this without getting into a difficult situation with your ex.

So_Mental

Unfortunately I have no screen shots, but surely transferring the same amount twice within seconds is enough to prove it was accidental?

My ex phoned me laughing about it when she saw her balance, there's no way she'll admit it in writing!

I'll probably just have to write this off like the rest of the money she 'borrows'!!!