Ovo refund didn't reach bank account

lardboy

Hello all,

I'm dealing with the estate of my recently deceased mother. Long story short, she was in credit wth her energy supplier (Ovo), who arranged for a refund to be paid back into her account (with Natwest).

I have spoken to Ovo and Natwest to chase this. Ovo says they sent the refund to Natwest on 28th May and I need to speak to Natwest. Natwest say the have never received it and I need to double check with Ovo.  Now I'm just beng shuttled between the two organisations.

Who's at fault here and who should I be pressing, any advice? I have seen the bank statements from Natwest for the period around 28th and there's definitely no OVO transaction there, so I'm inclined to pursue OVO, but any advice would be welcome

Thanks

born_again

How did Ovo say they refunded it?

lardboy

They say the refunded it back to the account from where the original direct debit was taken. I'm just checking the account details with them.

born_again

lardboy said:

They say the refunded it back to the account from where the original direct debit was taken. I'm just checking the account details with them.

Did they use the DD process or send it as a banking payment?

Also what is the status of the account at the bank, as many are blocked to payments in & out. So it is possible that payment is sat in a internal account at bank.

lardboy

The account is closed but Natwest advised that they will still accept payments to a closed account and the payment wouldn't have been rejected because the account was closed. I asked whether it could be in a suspense account somewhere but they insisted it wasn't

Not sure whether Ovo used DD or banking payment, at this point...

SiliconChip

I'm pretty sure whoever you spoke to at NatWest was wrong, if the accounts has been closed then no credits can be made to it. A payment could be returned to the payer but I suspect that the way OVO have done it means it's more likely to have been redirected to a NatWest suspense account. If you haven't been dealing with the NatWest bereavement team then I'd suggest you try to get in touch with them rather than a normal customer advisor, although they don't appear to offer contact by phone, at least for initially reporting the death:

https://www.natwest.com/support-centre/dealing-with-difficult-times/bereavement/how-do-i-inform-you-of-a-bereavement.html

boingy

Was the account closed or was it switched using the CASS service?

Rob5342

What Natwest said to you is different to what they state here where they say all payments in and out are stopped.

https://www.natwest.com/life-moments/bereavement.html#faqs

Who was it you spoke to at Natwest? They list a bereavement advisor phone number in that link.

Shakin_Steve

boingy said:

Was the account closed or was it switched using the CASS service?

Why would the account of a deceased person be switched?

boingy

Shakin_Steve said:

boingy said:

Was the account closed or was it switched using the CASS service?

Why would the account of a deceased person be switched?

Maybe they switched it before they died. That's the only way payments to a closed accounts can be accepted and would make the NatWest advice correct. But thanks for your input. As constructive as ever. Maybe one day you'll consider focussing on the first post of a thread and offering suggestions rather than just picking apart the suggestions of others. It adds nothing to the thread and you do it a lot.   

Shakin_Steve

boingy said:

Shakin_Steve said:

boingy said:

Was the account closed or was it switched using the CASS service?

Why would the account of a deceased person be switched?

Maybe they switched it before they died. That's the only way payments to a closed accounts can be accepted and would make the NatWest advice correct. But thanks for your input. As constructive as ever. Maybe one day you'll consider focussing on the first post of a thread and offering suggestions rather than just picking apart the suggestions of others. It adds nothing to the thread and you do it a lot.   

The first post was exactly what I was 'focussing' on, which is why I thought it pretty ridiculous to ask, when a refund was requested from an energy company to a deceased persons account, if the account had been switched or not. If they'd switched it before they passed away, and the switch had completed, then it would have been forwarded to the new account.