Anyone ever paid money to the wrong mobile account ?

Z

zag

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Back in March I accidentally paid money to O2 instead of Meteor while at an ATM. It was an easy mistake to make due to the power of branding - all our office accounts are O2 and I just automatically hit the O2 button on the ATM. My mistake, no problem admitting that.

I keyed in my phone number and money disappeared from my bank account as expected. I eventually realised a few days later when no credit had been applied to my phone, checked the receipt and noticed it was to O2.

Got on the phone to O2 "customer service" and had one of those bizarre conversations which started off along the lines of "What is your O2 phone number ?" "I don't have one, that's the problem" "Well, if you don't have an O2 phone number why are you ringing O2 ?"

Anyway, eventually managed to get the point across that I simply made an error and gave O2 money that they couldn't apply to a phone account. I reckoned since they could credit accounts in the blink of an eye and send SMSs even faster that getting the money back wasn't going to be a problem. It would have bounced out of their payments system immediately since they had no subscriber account with the number I keyed in. The logical thing for their payments system to do would be to return the transaction to the bank and it would eventually find its way back to my account.

Of course, this didn't happen. I rang again last week to be told that this type of transaction is only processed once a month (never mind that I had given them details 2 months ago) and that it happens at the end of the month. "Good" I thought - the money will be back in my account in a few days. "But don't expect to see the money for a few weeks" said the person on the other end. I asked for a call reference since I had already given these details the first time I called and nothing had happened, but there was no detail the person could give me that I could use as a reference, so if the money doesn't appear it will be back to square one again.

It's not the amount of money that is important to me (but I would like it back), it is the fact that there seems to be *no* system in place to handle what must be a reasonably common event, and whatever system is in place patently doesn't work since the issue was reported and detailed back in March and the transaction still hasn't been reversed.

z
 
Hi Zag

I haven't used ATMs to pay bills. I have used online banking and you had to set up payee details to achieve this. I would guess that it's a reasonably common event and forcing people to set up payee details would solve the problem.

Will O2 know who paid them? Do they know what account it came from?

Brendan
 
Will O2 know who paid them? Do they know what account it came from?
Click to expand...

Yes, to the second question, indubitably.
Ergo yes to the first, too.

I've made a similar silly mistake once, but with a difference — right network, wrong number (by a digit — Doh!). So I figured all I could legitimately do was blind-call some other customer and say "I'm awfully sorry, I've just credited your account with €20 by accident, I don't suppose you'd care to send me a cheque, etc."

Needless to say, I'm far too proud to do that...! ;)

But this is different... Hope you get some satisfaction, Zag!

Dr. M.
 
Hi Zag,

Often wondered myself about this. I don't see why your bank or www.comreg.ie/ could not do something for you. As you say yourself its not the amount its the principle of the matter.

It appears to be a handy cop out for 02.
 
AIB

Yep i have done this i tried to send credit to my nieces phone , she has a 086 number but has switched to vodafone. The on line tansfer was OK but i used the automated phone service and it would not let me credit an 086 number while choosing vodafone , so i said stuff it , i put in O2 and inserted the number thinking that if a mistke was made it would be reverted back to me.

I do not like the disclaimer that AIB have on the site also , which tells you that if you have a problem you need to contact your mobile phone service provider.

I have not done anything yet as i cannot stand the usual 20 minute phonecall to some inane CS person.
 
Re: AIB

I don't see why your bank or www.comreg.ie/ could not do something for you.
Click to expand...
I do not like the disclaimer that AIB have on the site also , which tells you that if you have a problem you need to contact your mobile phone service provider.
Click to expand...
I don't see what a bank can be expected to do about it. If somebody authorises payment from their account to another, the payment is made. To get that transfer reversed it requires authorisation from the recipient for their account to be debited.
 
Re: AIB

The way I see it - I authorised my bank to debit my account and transfer money to O2 with a reference for O2 to use. I gave them the wrong reference, but that's not for the bank to know.

O2, however, now know (and would have within minutes of the transaction notification from the bank) that the reference was wrong. I have given them all the details from the ATM receipt so they know the date, the amount, the ATM number, the transaction number from the ATM, my account number, my sort code, my phone number. They have all the information they need to credit the transaction back, but for some reason they only do it once a month and managed to miss it for the last 2 months.

z
 
Re: AIB

I don't think O2 should have needed any of your details, only to return the payment and the bank can credit your account. My post above was only intended to point out that the problem is with O2 and the bank cannot simply reverse the transaction without the recipient's approval.

I know how you feel Zag, these things can cause huge frustration. I've been in a similar situation, trying to get a refund from a service provider, for just short of 8 months. The amount is not large but they screwed up, admitted this and agreed to refund but just have not paid me back. In the absence of a reference number I did manage to get a name, ext. number and e-mail address and have been receiving empty promises from the same person on a regular basis for some time, but at least I don't have to repeat the story again :)
 
Re: AIB

I had a similiar problem, but probably an easier one to sort. Using AIB online I wanted to credit his 087 Pay as you go phone. Instead I entered my own 087 number, which is a bill phone, by mistake. I rang Vodafone 1907, and they had it sorted in about half an hour, crediting his phone with the money. I found them really helpful.
 
re

I did the same thing.
I changed from Vodafone to 02 and kept the same number. I then topped up through Vodafone instead of 02. I contacted the bank and vodafone and my money came back into the account after a few weeks.
 
For the record, the money was refunded within a few weeks of my original post.

z
 
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