Wirecard associate closing down, getting money back

bigmortgage

I have a small amount of money on StarsWallet, a subsidiary of PokerStars that was using Wirecard on their back end.

Given what has happened with Wirecard, they are closing down. They have asked me to spend my cash balance before mid November. No problem.

I tried, and no one is accepting my virtual card, even pokerstars. When inquiring I am told they no longer accept Wirecard issued mastercards. I was surprised that even the StarsWallet parent company was refusing these payments.

I contacted customer services and they said my only other option was to request a withdrawal at a cost of £5. Are they allowed to do that? After all, they are closing their business, I am not withdrawing my custom. Aren't they legally bound to return my money in full?

jonesMUFCforever

It depends what was in the small print when you pressed 'ok' to make the purchase.
You know those small print terms that nobody reads?

eskbanker

bigmortgage said:

I contacted customer services and they said my only other option was to request a withdrawal at a cost of £5. Are they allowed to do that? After all, they are closing their business, I am not withdrawing my custom. Aren't they legally bound to return my money in full?

https://content.wirecard.com/StarsWallet/service-fees-and-limits/StarsWallet_Fees_and_Limits_EN.pdf confirms that the charge to send funds to a bank account is indeed £5, or £2.50 to withdraw at an ATM.  Exactly what legislation do you believe this breaches?

D3xt3r5L4b

They are retuning it in full. Less a £5 fee as agreed when signing up. 

bigmortgage

I opened the account in order to be able to spend the money using the virtual card supplied. This carries no fees. The card is not working, where other providers that used Wirecard have found solution to unblock customers' funds and ensure continuity of service.

Starwallet has chosen not to do this and are instead closing down. Why should I have to pay to have my money returned due to their decision to close down?

eskbanker

bigmortgage said:

Why should I have to pay to have my money returned due to their decision to close down?

Because you won't see your money again at all if you don't accept the small cost to access it, regardless of how many rhetorical questions you ask?

bigmortgage

eskbanker said:
Because you won't see your money again at all if you don't accept the small cost to access it, regardless of how many rhetorical questions you ask?

This is exactly what I would do if I had enough in there to be concerned about. As it stands, I'd rather get 4 pints worth of money back than 3, if indeed I am entitled to 4. Hence coming here to get opinions.

Clearly, if the circumstances did not involve a company shutting down voluntarily, and rather it was just me electing to withdraw my cash then I would expect to be subject to all the agreed fees. I do understand how fees work (thank you jones).

Although it seems everyone here disagrees, I do not think it is unreasonable, when a company voluntarily ceases to operate, to expect balances to be returned in full, and not be subject to fees disproportional to the cost of the transaction and only designed for when the company is operating normally.

eskbanker

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you'd like the balance back without costs, but your original questions were 'Are they allowed to do that?' and 'Aren't they legally bound to return my money in full?', to which the answers remain 'yes' and 'no' respectively, unless you know of any actual legal basis on which to challenge them....

bigmortgage

eskbanker said:

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you'd like the balance back without costs, but your original questions were 'Are they allowed to do that?' and 'Aren't they legally bound to return my money in full?', to which the answers remain 'yes' and 'no' respectively, unless you know of any actual legal basis on which to challenge them....

I suspect you are wrong. If companies voluntarily make a decision that directly leads to a financial loss for any of their customers, they are liable for this. The financial ombudsman uses the example of insufficient notice being given before closing a bank account, leading to costs incurred by missed direct debits or bounced cheques.

In this case Starswallet decision to shut shop, along with insufficient notice to use my balance by the only fee-free means (spending on card), directly leads to a financial loss in the form of their withdrawal fee.

Companies often win on small things like this because no one can be bothered to fight it. FWIW, I complained, they agreed and will waive the fee. Maybe this will help someone else who would also like that extra pint.

eskbanker

bigmortgage said:
FWIW, I complained, they agreed and will waive the fee. Maybe this will help someone else who would also like that extra pint.

Fair enough, but that still doesn't mean that they were legally obliged to waive fees, so it presumably won't be an admission of liability, but as you say, others motivated to fight for a few quid can perhaps take reassurance that it's possible to achieve this....

born_again

bigmortgage said:

I suspect you are wrong. If companies voluntarily make a decision that directly leads to a financial loss for any of their customers, they are liable for this. The financial ombudsman uses the example of insufficient notice being given before closing a bank account, leading to costs incurred by missed direct debits or bounced cheques.

In this case Starswallet decision to shut shop, along with insufficient notice to use my balance by the only fee-free means (spending on card), directly leads to a financial loss in the form of their withdrawal fee.

Companies often win on small things like this because no one can be bothered to fight it. FWIW, I complained, they agreed and will waive the fee. Maybe this will help someone else who would also like that extra pint.

>>
You will have access to your StarsWallet account via www.mystarswallet.com or the Mobile App until November 16, 2020. However, even after this date you will still have the rights to claim your money back from Wirecard Card Solutions successor. If you have funds in your StarsWallet account after November 16, 2020, you will receive an e-mail with details of how to claim your money.
<<
The issue here is you are talking about a unregulated company, so what FCA say is pointless. Thus they can do what they want. Luckily they have chosen to not simply go bust, thus you can still get your cash back, all be it in line with their T/C.

Or you wait till 16 Nov and see if the email is any better.