ATG Tickets - refund sent to closed account, now they are being difficult

njc1325

Hi - ATG Tickets agreed to provide me with a refund (eventually!), they confirmed payment had been sent and I should receive it within 14 days.  14 days came and went before I realised the money will have been sent to a closed Halifax account (my mistake, I know).  However, I contacted ATG and they told me on the phone to email them explaining and to provide confirmation the account is closed which I did.  
Today I have had an email from them saying the following: "before we can reissue another refund, you would need to provide us with evidence from the bank that this refund has been rejected and that this account is closed." - I rang Halifax and they thought this was ridiculous and said they can't provide evidence when the account is closed and that the money would have just bounced back (which is common sense!).  I have gone back to ATG and told them (attaching the same account closed confirmation) and said they would have had the money back.

Has anyone had a similar issue, it seems utterly ridiculous to me and I'm worried they are going to be really difficult?!  What could my next steps be please?

Thank you x

[Deleted User]

I would not say it is utterly ridiculous, not by a long stretch. The problem is that some people will claim this, but the funds will not have bounced back because they never closed the first account. What they will be waiting for is the bounced back transaction to be reconciled in their accounting system as returned. It might take a week to bounce back, then with all that is going on several weeks for things to work their way though the system. If they had evidence from the bank then they would probably be happier to proceed without needing the accounts department to reconcile the returned payment. 

Your next steps will be to wait, probably at least a few weeks from when you supplied the last lot of information. After that if they still refuse to make the payment without (and they would then need an additional 14 days to process the new refund), then you could follow the process to initiate legal proceedings, although that would be delayed at the moment due to court closures and huge backlogs. 

Sit tight, maintain communication with them, ask them questions as to how long it may take, what is their procedure in this instance etc. keep a level of pressure on but do not harass. Unless they go into liquidation in the interim you will get the money, it might just take a bit longer than you hoped. 

p00hsticks

If the account was closed because it was switched to another bank (as many people do these days for the switching bonus), will the money have been redirected by Halifax to the new account ?

njc1325

MadMattUK said:

I would not say it is utterly ridiculous, not by a long stretch. The problem is that some people will claim this, but the funds will not have bounced back because they never closed the first account. What they will be waiting for is the bounced back transaction to be reconciled in their accounting system as returned. It might take a week to bounce back, then with all that is going on several weeks for things to work their way though the system. If they had evidence from the bank then they would probably be happier to proceed without needing the accounts department to reconcile the returned payment. 

Your next steps will be to wait, probably at least a few weeks from when you supplied the last lot of information. After that if they still refuse to make the payment without (and they would then need an additional 14 days to process the new refund), then you could follow the process to initiate legal proceedings, although that would be delayed at the moment due to court closures and huge backlogs. 

Sit tight, maintain communication with them, ask them questions as to how long it may take, what is their procedure in this instance etc. keep a level of pressure on but do not harass. Unless they go into liquidation in the interim you will get the money, it might just take a bit longer than you hoped. 

Hi - thank you for your reply, I'll see what they reply to me and take it from there, hopefully they will be decent about it.  After reading your reply I now understand what you are saying with regards to the process and how it would probably have been quicker if Halifax could provide the information. 
Thank you   

njc1325

p00hsticks said:

If the account was closed because it was switched to another bank (as many people do these days for the switching bonus), will the money have been redirected by Halifax to the new account ?

Hi - thank you, unfortunately not, I checked with Natwest (my new account) and they told me it would have gone to Halifax.  I'm not entirely sure the customer service is particular helpful with either of these banks!  

Diamandis

It may not get bounced back. Sometimes funds are held in temporary accounts then you'll receive a paper cheque from the bank. This process can take quite a while as its done manually.