Money stuck in n26

Help_Desperate

Hi there.
Apologies if in the wrong section.
N26 left the UK in April, doing everything they have asked me too my account was closed with a 0.00 balance as requested and my DD all moved to a new bank.
With the cancellation of many events ticketmaster refunded me £505.95 for two festival tickets to my closed n26 account. I knew that the money was going into this account but having spoke with ticketmaster advising the account was closed they said not to worry as it would be returned to them and then we could arrange an alternative bank to transfer too. n26 website confirmed this is what would happen too.
n26 accepted the refund into the closed account. I tried to login to the closed account but was notified that it was closed as expected. I have since been in touch nearly 50 times with n26 making me jump through hoops to get my money back. Twitter, Email, Online chat and Phone. Was told for weeks that it would be sent back via cheque but once it was escalated I received an email from the payments team saying this was not the case and could they have my new details and also photo ID so that they could transfer within 12 days to my new account. It has been over 12 days and still nothing and every time I contact them they say they would not accept the return but then when they look into it and confirm they did they 'put a note on my file'. I have had this reply about ten times now and still no closer. I have been on twitter and searched and many others are affected by this and no closer to obtaining their money.

My question is which lawyers would you recommend to contact as 1. they should never of accepted it and 2. I want to charge them interest and the fees I have been charged by my new bank for going overdrawn (I had a big car bill that I paid in full so as I knew I was receiving the refund within 12 days to cover my other costs but now I am struggling).

Sorry for the massive rant just desperate for help and every time I contact them they will not transfer me to the payment department and just 'put this note on file'.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

If you knew a refund was coming, why did you close the account?

[Deleted User]

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

If you knew a refund was coming, why did you close the account?

Because N26 were closing the accounts by April 15th

Help_Desperate

paid for tickets in Jan. n26 announced closure of all UK banks by April in Feb. Festival only cancelled in May.

Archi_Bald

Forget asking for interest. On current rates, you would be happy if you got a fiver for an entire year on the amount you are talking about. Your story about going overdrawn doesn't hold any water as you would not have had the money had the festival gone ahead.

I think you have 3 options

1. wait until N26 pay you as promised. They are exposed to Covid-19 issues like the rest of us and things might take longer
2. raise a complaint via Resolver
3. issue a MoneyClaimOnline

eskbanker

Have you filed a formal complaint with N26 yet?

https://support.n26.com/en-gb/account-and-personal-details/complaints/how-to-file-a-complaint

It may spur them into action and to me represents the best prospect of expedited activity - forget about lawyers, and escalation to the Financial Ombudsman Service is generally only possible after progressing through a bank's internal complaints process.

If N26 have broken promises then you may be able to achieve some sort of goodwill gesture but IMHO it's unlikely that you'd be able to pin interest and fees on them as such - tidying up this sort of situation is rarely quick even for established players in normal circumstances, but it's less of a surprise that a small bank pulling out of the UK during the current crisis won't be as responsive as you'd hope for.

Help_Desperate

Well because they had promised to pay me within the 12 days I paid for a car bill that was outstanding so budgeted for it arriving. They have replied now saying it has been passed to a third party who are having technical difficulties. 

Help_Desperate

Yeah filed the complaint. Filed 2 now. Thanks for all your comments. Suppose it is a waiting game now. Just do not understand why they accepted it into a closed account.

eskbanker

Help_Desperate said:

Yeah filed the complaint. Filed 2 now. Thanks for all your comments. Suppose it is a waiting game now. Just do not understand why they accepted it into a closed account.

It's more likely to be in some sort of holding or suspense account but it doesn't really matter exactly what account it's in within N26 - in these circumstances it's not unusual for such funds not to be bounced back to the sender immediately, my understanding is that manual intervention is typically needed, and maybe more so (and slower) than usual given the cessation of their UK operations.

born_again

Help_Desperate said:

Yeah filed the complaint. Filed 2 now. Thanks for all your comments. Suppose it is a waiting game now. Just do not understand why they accepted it into a closed account.

Because that is how the card system works.
Credits are not autorised, So the 1st they know about it is when it arrived in their account. Given this is in the middle of Covid 19 & staff shortages. It will have taken time for it to have been picked up.

For future advice. There is no such thing as a closed account, they can be reopened at any point by incoming payments.

MrLeigh

Hi, I have the same problem was this ever resolved for you?