The Bank's App (Nat West) has sent a transfer to a stranger. Their error!

James_G_H

My Son sent me £130 using his Nat West App. We use internet banking a lot without any issues but on this occasion, the money didn't arrive. Normally it would get to me within 5 minutes. He sent me £2 to check the link was working as the £130 was showing that it had left his account & we were beginning to have concerns. The £2 arrived immediately. He rang Nat West the next day and so began months of being fobbed off. He has recently been sent a letter saying they have found the money and will give us the details of the account holder for him to ask them for the money back. If the recipient chooses not to return the money we are back to square one. Yes we're going to ask nicely but my faith in humanity reminds me not to expect too much.

IF my son had typed a digit wrong then we have plenty of information on how to try and claim money back BUT this is a case of something in their internet banking that somehow redirected his money transfer to a strangers account and NAT WEST is accepting no responsibility for this let alone trying to help right THEIR wrong.
This is not right. Can anyone advise me on how to go after NAT WEST as I point blank refuse to let them do this?

If the mistake was my Son's it may be easier to swallow but for their Internet Banking App to be the cause of the problem and for them to say there's nothing they can do is BS. They can re-reimburse him as the error rests firmly on their doorstep. I was hoping to bring this to the attention of Martin Lewis as I can't find any information about this particular issue but the site won't allow it.

James

jonnygee2

I don't think Martin Lewis will personally be interested tbh.

But, have you started an official complaint with NatWest? That's what you need to do first, it will take up to eight weeks to get a response. Once you have a final response, if it's not in your favour and you don't agree, you will be given details of the ombudsman you can escalate it to by Natwest.

To start a complaint just email any customer service email and say clearly, at the start, that you would like to make an official complaint because of the £130 you have lost.

colsten

To be precise, it's the son who has to raise a formal complaint with Natwest, not the father. The complaints process is online

https://personal.natwest.com/personal/support-centre/how-to-complain.html

adamp87

I don’t mean to be rude, but how do you know it was the App? Have NatWest admitted fault?

born_again

So did he type the account details in each time?
Or is it a payment with details already set up in the app?

mab3000

What do you mean by “the link”?
What details have the bank offered to give your son about the receiving account holder?

James_G_H

adamp87 said:

I don’t mean to be rude, but how do you know it was the App? Have NatWest admitted fault?

NAT WEST have not admitted anything, they've skipped over that detail.

James_G_H

mab3000 said:

What do you mean by “the link”?
What details have the bank offered to give your son about the receiving account holder?

Under the payment services regulations 2017 they can request the beneficiary details from the beneficiaries bank on his behalf. He is calling them tomorrow to request they do this. If my details come back then I will take the complaint to my bank and ask them where the money is but seeing as my bank has not attempted to contact me on this or any other matter I think that is an unlikely scenario.

James_G_H

born_again said:

So did he type the account details in each time?
Or is it a payment with details already set up in the app?

My payment details are saved in his App. He sent £130 & it never arrived in my account, so tried again with £2 and that arrived immediately. It suggests a glitch on the £130 payment?

Herbalus

It seems implausible to me that it could happen like this. Has your son got written confirmation from a bank statement or NatWest directly in writing to confirm which account was sent the £130. If NatWest confirm the money was sent to your account details, then you have a strange case indeed. The more likely scenario (Just on balance of probabilities as money just not just vanish, it has to go somewhere) was that the money was not sent to your account.

its just beyond my beliefs to accept a payment could be instructed to account 12345678 and debit his account, but not end up in 12345678 or bounce back etc.....hence I’m finding it hard to believe this particularly story. 

Neil49

I cannot believe that Nat West are going to hand over details of the account holder they say received the funds for them to ask for the money to be returned.

Whatever happened to the Data Protection Act?