Can these cowboys just steal my money & get away with it?

MonaLisaSmile

Unfortunately I opened an account with Dozens earlier this year.

I'd used the account without issue over the months -- just transferring small amounts from my Lloyds bank account to Dozens, via Faster Payments, and using the Dozens card for small online shopping purchases. The Faster Payments transfers would pop up in the Dozens account immediately, as expected.

Yesterday I transferred a large sum over, with a view to investing. Payment was sent from Lloyds, via Faster Payments. No sign of it at Dozens. Two hours later, no sign of it. Called Lloyds, they confirmed the payment had been received by Dozens. Dozens claimed they had no knowledge of any payment.

It's now 24 hours since I sent the money. Dozens just keep saying : "Our Payments Team are working as hard as they can to resolve this for you." Whatever question I ask, they just cut and paste this same response.

At one point someone at Dozens said their payments processing company (whoever that is) is "slightly delayed at this time."

Then they said the problem is that my Dozens App needed to be updated.

I asked if they intend to actually give me funds and they refused to give a direct answer. I then researched them online and noticed that numerous customers have experienced similar issues with Dozens. One guy has been waiting 5 months to find out from the "Payments Team" where his £800 transfer is.

How do I get my money back from these clowns?

elsien

You may need to give them a little longer than 24 hours, particularly over a weekend.

MonaLisaSmile

elsien wrote: »

You may need to give them a little longer than 24 hours, particularly over a weekend.

I don't mind waiting a few days for them to sort out whatever the issue is. I'm worried I'll just never see my money again, given their pathetic responses and the reviews from others who've been waiting MONTHS to get their funds back

Blackpool_Saver

I am sure you will get your money, it will likely be a weekend thing.
Can I ask a question please? What is the attraction with all these new banking things? I don't get it, there's loads of them, this one I had never even heard of.

born_again

MonaLisaSmile wrote: »

One guy has been waiting 5 months to find out from the "Payments Team" where his £800 transfer is.

How do I get my money back from these clowns?

Payment lost for 5 months. I very much doubt that. As the bank that made the payment could have recalled it if it was lost in system.

You have to remember that while a faster payment can credit straight away. They can take up to the end of the next working day to be processed in some cases. Especially if going through a 3rd party.
It could also be stuck for a fraud check.

not FSCS protected....

Blackpool_Saver

born_again wrote: »

not FSCS protected....

:eek:

serious of dots to make the post go through..............................

MonaLisaSmile

born_again wrote: »

Payment lost for 5 months. I very much doubt that. As the bank that made the payment could have recalled it if it was lost in system.

You have to remember that while a faster payment can credit straight away. They can take up to the end of the next working day to be processed in some cases. Especially if going through a 3rd party.
It could also be stuck for a fraud check.

not FSCS protected....

Are you sure that banks are able to recall a Faster Payment?

I've never heard of a Faster Payment taking until the end of the next working day before.

MonaLisaSmile

I posted a complaint about them on Twitter. Within 5 minutes I'd had an email from their mysterious "payments team" asking me to refrain from posting about them on social media, and the funds put into my account

eskbanker

MonaLisaSmile wrote: »

Are you sure that banks are able to recall a Faster Payment?

Only in certain limited circumstances, but an uncompleted transaction certainly ought to be one of them.

MonaLisaSmile wrote: »

I've never heard of a Faster Payment taking until the end of the next working day before.

In which case it would be worth familiarising yourself with the scheme, and especially the difference between direct participants (mainstream players where payments will typically be near-instantaneous) and indirect participants (small outfits like this who need to piggy-back onto the services of others and therefore take longer). The service level for Faster Payments remains end of next working day, i.e. close of play on Monday in this case.

MonaLisaSmile wrote: »

I posted a complaint about them on Twitter. Within 5 minutes I'd had an email from their mysterious "payments team" asking me to refrain from posting about them on social media, and the funds put into my account

Good to see that a bit of public shaming gets results - you're presumably taking it all back out immediately?

MonaLisaSmile

eskbanker wrote: »

Only in certain limited circumstances, but an uncompleted transaction certainly ought to be one of them.

In which case it would be worth familiarising yourself with the scheme, and especially the difference between direct participants (mainstream players where payments will typically be near-instantaneous) and indirect participants (small outfits like this who need to piggy-back onto the services of others and therefore take longer). The service level for Faster Payments remains end of next working day, i.e. close of play on Monday in this case.

Good to see that a bit of public shaming gets results - you're presumably taking it all back out immediately?

Yup, the money is safely back in a proper bank account now. It's pretty shady that this payment was supposedly lost but able to materialise immediately Dozens were outed on Twitter.

fwor

MonaLisaSmile wrote: »

Yup, the money is safely back in a proper bank account now. It's pretty shady that this payment was supposedly lost but able to materialise immediately Dozens were outed on Twitter.

Or the timing could just have been a coincidence.

I've been dealing with the estate of a deceased relative recently, which means that I've been transferring money between accounts - sometimes large amounts, sometimes not. And occasionally these payments get held - sometimes for up to two days, if at a weekend. It seems likely that something about the payments has led to it being held while a human looks at it, to check for anything untoward.

I'd guess that something similar has happened to your transfer, and that there is nothing sinister at all going on.