Barclaycard Refusing Full Refund

MammyL85

Morning everyone, 

Back in 2019 I purchased some concert tickets for myself and 7 friends on my Barclaycard (I thought wise at the time given the size of the transaction), then paid the card off immediately. The concert was subsequently cancelled due to COVID and we’ve just found out it’s been rescheduled to a day we can’t attend, therefore the merchant has provided me with a refund, which has been applied to my credit card. 

Obviously the initial purchase was 2.5 years ago and in 2021, I’ve used my credit card at Christmas so there was a debit balance outstanding. The ticket refund has therefore resulted in a partial credit to my account (o/s balance £300, refund £400, credit £100).

I contacted Barclaycard to ask for the full refund to be transferred to my current account (also with Barclays) and was advised this was fine and they’d have it with me by the end of this week, putting my credit card back to the original debit position of £300. I should also mention back in 2020 they did the same thing on another transaction. 

I’ve kept an eye all week and noticed yesterday they’d only sent the £100 to my current account, so I called and was told they can’t refund the £400, I was told the wrong thing and it’s basically tough. I’ve escalated it pointing out they’ve done this for me before and also the fact that the transactions were totally unrelated and I am in a position where I can’t refund my friends, as you can see the amount isn’t small to just pull out.  

The escalation manager has called me today and said again, they can’t do it and I was told the wrong thing when I called initially. I’m pushing for the refund, but wondered if you had any experience or advice of my rights in this situation? Surely I’m entitled to the full refund on the tickets themselves? It seems wrong that it’s paying for Xmas presents totally unrelated, on an event that was cancelled due to COVID and out of my control.

I understand policies, but there’s clearly a way around it and I feel like my full refund is being denied as I have used my card since the initial transaction. 

Any help appreciated! Thank you. 

emmajones1976

They will only refund credit balances. If you were in debt by £300 at the time this is sadly tough. I would suggest you were very lucky they agreed to a different thing back in 2020.

Is this a long standing £300 balance you have held or do you have the £300 in cash elsewhere ready to pay it off? 

penners324

Looks like Barclaycard have done the right thing. Most credi cards will refund the credit balance on the account....

MammyL85

Thanks Emma. I typed a reply before but not sure it’s posted. 

Luckily, I do have savings which I can lean on but my intention was to pay my card off monthly, as I would do ordinarily without having to dip into my reserves. You try to do a good thing and organise these kind of events and then this happens   

MammyL85

penners324 said:

Looks like Barclaycard have done the right thing. Most credi cards will refund the credit balance on the account....

It doesn’t feel very right to me  maybe it’s their policy, but I would’ve hoped in these circumstances they’d be flexible. 

emmajones1976

MammyL85 said:

Thanks Emma. I typed a reply before but not sure it’s posted. 

Luckily, I do have savings which I can lean on but my intention was to pay my card off monthly, as I would do ordinarily without having to dip into my reserves. You try to do a good thing and organise these kind of events and then this happens   

So you were going to pay the £300 balance off anyway in the next couple of weeks?

So take that £300, add in the £100 you have already recieved....hey presto there is your £400. Or am I missing something here?

MammyL85

emmajones1976 said:

MammyL85 said:

Thanks Emma. I typed a reply before but not sure it’s posted. 

Luckily, I do have savings which I can lean on but my intention was to pay my card off monthly, as I would do ordinarily without having to dip into my reserves. You try to do a good thing and organise these kind of events and then this happens   

So you were going to pay the £300 balance off anyway in the next couple of weeks?

So take that £300, add in the £100 you have already recieved....hey presto there is your £400. Or am I missing something here?

No, I was intending to pay my card off monthly over the next few months (£50-£100 depending on my monthly wage). As I said, I have savings I can lean on, but I didn’t want to dip into my savings to pay my friends back when I had the refund there. Essentially, I’m in a position where my card has been cleared months sooner than I’d intended and I’m having to plug the gap with savings.

emmajones1976

In that case, take the £50-£100 you were going to pay each month, keep it aside, add in the £100 you already have, and you will have your £400 quick enough, with an assed bonus that you wont have to pay any more interest.

MammyL85

emmajones1976 said:

In that case, take the £50-£100 you were going to pay each month, keep it aside, add in the £100 you already have, and you will have your £400 quick enough, with an assed bonus that you wont have to pay any more interest.

  I understand that’s an option and had already considered it myself, but as I said it wasn’t my preference, which is why I asked the initial question. 

emmajones1976

You say it doesnt feel right, but look at it from the other way. You owed a company £300. They get £400 put on the card which clears the debt. Putting you back into debt again isnt responsible lending.

eskbanker

MammyL85 said:

I do have savings which I can lean on but my intention was to pay my card off monthly, as I would do ordinarily without having to dip into my reserves.

Unless your Barclaycard is a 0% one, the interest on the balance will be substantially more than you'd be earning on your savings pot, so in financial terms it really is a false economy to convince yourself that you have valuable reserves while concurrently running (and funding) a balance on a credit card:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/pay-off-debts/