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Amazon + Halifax Refund

JohnSmith1234
JohnSmith1234 Posts: 1 Newbie
edited 16 September 2019 am30 1:09AM in Budgeting & bank accounts
Hi there, very new to this forum so I apologies if this is in the wrong place.

So, im just looking for some advice or if anyone has had a situation like this before.

I closed my halifax account last year, just closed it and opened a new account with a different bank, didnt use switch or anything.

Amazon sent me a refund for £120 for some defective items i bought a year ago, they were still under warranty, i contacted amazon and told them my account was closed with the halifax bank, but they proceeded to tell me itll be sent to my main account, etc etc. they have a policy where the refund has to be sent to the card you purchased the item on.

fast forward 5 days, no money in my bank, contacted amazon and told them, they tell me the moneys been sent to my account and its all cleared, contacted the halifax and explain the account is closed but i received a refund, they told me itll bounce back. went into branch, told the same thing, told amazon this, was told the bank has the money, and its just been like this back and forth for 3 weeks now.

Where do i stand? what should i do about this?

Many thanks

Comments

  • blue.peter
    blue.peter Posts: 1,353 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 16 September 2019 am30 8:16AM
    Well, you could talk to the bank again, explain that Amazon swears that they have the money and that it hasn't been returned, and make a formal complaint about it. Also mention going to the Financial Ombudsman Service if they don't sort it. It might or might not be the bank's fault, but this ought to get them off their collective behind and make an effort to resolve the problem. What you really want is for the bank to talk to Amazon and resolve it between them. They'll probably be reluctant to do this, given that talking to Amazon is like talking to a brick wall, but ultimately I think it's the only way that anything'll happen.


    Be prepared to go to FOS if necessary. Make the bank's reluctance to help resolve the problem part of the complaint if appropriate.


    Alternatively, you could ask the bank for details of the return (date, reference numbers etc.), and throw that at Amazon yourself.


    It's a bit late now, but one benefit of using the switching service is that it avoids problems like this. Deposits paid into the old bank account are automatically passed on to the new one. (I switched in the summer. One of my pensions was wrongly paid into the old account, and was very rapidly passed over to the new one.)
  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 18,381 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 17 September 2019 pm30 6:25PM
    Even when a account is closed a credit can be processed to it. Odds on it is sat in a holding account at Halifax. You just need to get the staff at the branch to contact the correct internal team.

    You could ask Amazon to give you the Acquirer Reference Number for the transaction (23 numbers). Then give that to Halifax to trace on the Visa system.
    Life in the slow lane
  • Presumably, we are talking about a debit card transaction here.

    This issue has cropped up several times on the forum. Often the bank's stock response is that the refund will be 'bounced' but, as some of us always point out, any bank that would bounce a refund to a card that it knows it has issued in the relatively recent past is not acting properly (IMO) and this response is normally thought to be a 'fob off' anyway.

    Usually, the refunds do turn up but you have to be persistent and sometimes go down the complaint route just to get the issue to the correct department.

    On the subject of the Acquirer Reference Number (ARN) it is best to ask the retailer to obtain the full 23 digits for you to avoid any possible confusion. It is true to say that the first (format code) and last (check digit) numbers in the 23-digit ARN play little part in the transaction search process but there is a possibility that Halifax might think you have incorrectly quoted the number if you don't give all 23 digits.

    It is also worth noting that just because an ARN exists that doesn't mean the transaction actually 'got through' processing or that it didn't get bounced/returned, but it at least gives Halifax something to check in their records and they can then advise you properly.

    If you can't get the ARN out of Amazon, you may well have to move straight to a formal complaint to Halifax.
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