Keith needed help after an e-money business reversed a payment related to a concert ticket sale, leaving him out of pocket.
What happened
Keith spent £300 on two concert tickets, only to realise a few months later that he couldn’t go. Since the concert was sold out and he knew he could get a good price, Keith put his tickets on an online auction website. Chloe agreed to pay £500 for them.
But just after her payment reached Keith’s e-money account, the promoter announced the tour had been cancelled. Chloe asked Keith for a full refund. But Keith told her he couldn’t send any money yet because he was still waiting for the ticket agency to send him his own refund.
Months later, Keith got his refund. He contacted Chloe and told her she would soon get £300 from him. She was confused, and reminded him that she’d paid £500. Keith said that he could only afford to send her the amount he’d originally paid for the tickets – their face value of £300.
Chloe complained to the e-money business she’d used to pay Keith. It told her it would fix the situation by reversing the payment. It took £500 from Keith's e-money account and gave it back to Chloe.
When Keith found out, he also complained. He said the business shouldn’t have interfered and pointed out that the terms and conditions said disputes should be raised within 45 days of payment. It had been more than 45 days when Chloe contacted the e-money business.
The e-money business argued that this didn’t matter, because Keith had failed to follow the ‘acceptable use’ policy. Keith complained to us.
What we said
We looked at the e-money business’s terms and conditions. Along with the 45-day point that Keith mentioned, we saw that the business was allowed to reverse payments in certain situations.
Keith didn’t deny the facts. He’d taken £500 from Chloe, and he’d never given her any concert tickets. He also accepted that he would never have been able to give them to her because the concert had been cancelled.
Given these facts, we thought it was fair and reasonable for the e-money business to take the £500 from Keith’s account so that Chloe got a full refund. We did not uphold Keith’s complaint.