1000 pounds missing for almost 2 months

BreezeandSand

Hi,

Based on the issue noted below I would appreciate if you could please help me with any of the questions:

1.-Should the bank receiving the money be able to use an ARN? Or is it only useful for the bank that issued the payment?
2.-Can a "charge back for credit not processed" be issued based on a direct credit to my debit card as narrated below?
3.-What evidence should RBS provide so that my bank in Mexico be able to track the payment?
4.-Given that the university seems to be washing their hands from the issue, is there another source I should be going for help?

So on March 2013 I paid a reservation fee to a university in the UK and on October there was a change of plans and I had to ask for a refund, which they agreed to. They claim to have credited the amount directly to my debit card (no IBAN, swift code was asked for) by using Sage Pay to transfer the details to their bank RBS.

The refund was supposedly done on October 29th and to this date the money is missing. They provided a 23-digit number which they claim to be the ARN and that I should ask for a charge back for credit not processed. The issue is that my bank (Customer Service, Card Services, managers) don't know what an ARN is, they state that they don't even have a system in which to input the number, and that they are unable to track incoming payments. I called RBS and they told me like my bank did that the university would have needed an IBAN number to transfer funds, yet they were unsure if Sage Pay would have made it possible to send funds directly to the debit card. As for the "charge back for credit not processed" they also didn't recognize it, but I've read that some banks do have it but it's for a payment not a refund done 7 months later.

Thank you everyone for your attention and any help you may provide as I'm really losing all hope, happy holidays.

Hominu

An Acquirer Reference Number (ARN) is issued by the acquirer and can be used by the issuing bank to trace a transaction. It's typically offered when a credit isn't processed in an expected time frame. It's free compared to a proper trace which costs money. Not all banks accept them however. I wouldn't expect typical customer service staff to be able to use one.

Thrugelmir

3.-What evidence should RBS provide so that my bank in Mexico be able to track the payment?

To clarify. Your debit card details are for a bank based in Mexico?

BreezeandSand

@Hominu - So is the ARN only useful for the issuing bank(RBS)? Because the receiving bank (Banamex) tells me they don't even have a system in which to input the number or any way to use it.

@Thrugelmir - Yes, that is correct.

grumbler

My understanding is that ARN is given during the transaction to the part sending money. If anything goes wrong the sender passes ARN to the receiving part to track the transaction. If your bank staff have never heard of ARN tell them to google for it or to get an advice for someone more knowledgeable.

Gromitt

Front line customer services staff rarely know what an ARN is, but the staff who deal with payments and refunds will, but good luck getting put through to one as it's the job of the front line to stop exactly that from happening.

Just like our technical support department at work, anyone who rings up automatically gets put through to a muppet as 95% of calls can be answered by the equivalent of the neightbours labrador. The 5% of real technical support requests take a ticket and are answered by someone who is actually knowledgeable of the products.

BreezeandSand

I was able to confirm through some research that the ARN can be a 23-digit number, but what I found most interesting was that the "...6 numbers in positions 2 though 7 will be the BIN (Bank Identification Number) for the institution that is the "Acquirer" bank which receives the proceeds". I used more than one BIN searcher (using numbers 542 515) and was given as a result:

Card Brand: Mastercard
Issuing Bank: National Westminster Bank PLC
ISO Country Name: United Kingdom
ISO Country Number: 826

Does this mean that the payment was sent to a NatWest card or that the payment was issued by a NatWest account? Do the other digits in the 23-digit number provide any useful information?

MPH80

According to this - http://www.worldpay.com/content.php?page=glossary&c=WW :

Acquirer Reference Number (ARN)

A unique number that tags a credit card transaction when it goes from the merchants bank (the acquiring bank) through the card scheme to the cardholder's bank (the issuer).

You'll note the acquiring bank is the merchant's bank - not yours. So all that's telling you is that it came from a Natwest account (which is right given they are using RBS).

M.

BreezeandSand

MPH80 wrote: »

it came from a Natwest account (which is right given they are using RBS).

M.

Pardon my confusion as I am not very familiar with the situation of both banks, so does NatWest work through RBS or vice versa? In the balances the university provided it said RBS, but if the ARN number is indeed refering to NatWest, which bank should I be directing my questions to?

Also I don't know if it helps or not as it could simply be a misinformed customer service rep, but when I thought that the bank was NatWest and I asked about the number the answer was that the number was incorrect as ARN numbers begin with IPO, PLB, or RGH.

MPH80

Two banks ... One banking group ... Shared back end systems.

BonkersBonkers

OP you need to tell the university that the refund has not arrived.
It is they who should chase this up - you are right in thinking they cannot make an International payment to a bank in Mexico in the way they describe.
Forget any ARN etc just tell them the money has not arrived - giving them your full Mexican bank details and ask them to get on with refunding you.