Was the item that you purchased not delivered, or was the service that you paid for not as described? Is the merchant unreachable or unwilling to help?
In some cases, you may want to get a refund for a card payment. No worries, we’re here to help you! 🙌
Important Note: Don’t forget to check our tips on How to recognize fraud and stay safe
Do you not recognize the payment and suspect that your account has been fraudulently charged? You can learn more what to do here
What is a refund?
A refund (a.k.a chargeback) is a form of purchase protection by Mastercard. In the case of disagreement between you and the merchant, you can formally dispute the payment via the Mastercard card scheme.
How can I get a refund?
Firstly, always make sure to contact the merchant directly after you’ve noticed the transaction that needs a refund, in most cases the refund is done by the merchant and the whole process takes a couple of business days.
Most merchants would happily assist you in correcting the charge and returning your money. That's why before using Mastercard purchase protection, we ask you to settle your dispute with the merchant.
Please make sure to share your order reference details with the merchant. This insures their support team understands your situation correctly, and can provide you with the right solutions.
✅ As a tip, we always advise you to contact them by chat or e-mail so you have the transcript of your communication with them!
Card payment refunds from the app:
Follow the steps below to see how you can request a refund in the app:
- Home
- Tap on Total
- Select your payment
- Tap on (...) More
- Tap on 🟣 Get help with this payment
As a bank, we're obligated to provide the merchant who charged you with 7 days in which to respond to your claim and take the needed actions.
That's why if the method with requesting a refund from the app didn't help in your case, we kindly ask you to reach out to the merchant that charged you, to ask them if they can help you with a refund.
We're required to give the merchant a fair opportunity to directly help you with a refund. This is important because we need to hear both sides of the story, whilst making sure that you're denied assistance and resolution from the third party, before we take matters into our own hands.
As mentioned above, please, share your order reference details with the merchant's support department so that they can provide you with the right solution regarding your case.
✅ As a tip, we always advise you to contact them by chat or an e-mail so you have the transcript of your communication.
Card payment refund at the terminal or Retourpinnen
Especially in the Netherlands it's common to receive a refund for a purchase made at a physical store by inserting your card at the payment terminal. If you made the original payment with that card, it'll work flawlessly.
👩🏻🏫 Pro tip: Check that the card is entered with the chip into the payment terminal for the best results.
When can I request a refund and what do I need to do?
- If the payment was made with your Maestro Debit card
Maestro payments aren't covered by Mastercard purchase protection, we therefore can't submit a chargeback request, In this case you should contact the merchant for further assistance and details on your refund request. 🔎
Do you suspect a transaction error was made with your Maestro card? Please contact our support
- If the payment was made with your Mastercard
Mastercard payments are covered by the Mastercard purchase protection. But we can only start the chargeback process if the merchant was unable or unwilling to help you. You should contact the merchant for assistance and details on your refund request first, before we can help you.
In case of a chargeback process, there are some additional details which are good-to-know:
- Please give the merchant 7 business days to respond to your refund request.
- Have your goods not arrived? Please give the merchant 30 days to deliver your goods.
- Did the merchant agree to refund you? Please give the merchant at least 15 business days to process the refund.
- Are you requesting a refund for ordered goods or services? Please upload a detailed description of the goods or service (preferably an order confirmation) in the refund request.
- Did you have any communication with the merchant? Please upload screenshots of this in the refund request.
For more tips, you can check the paragraph above.
- If the payment was an ATM transaction 🏧
ATM transactions are covered by Mastercard protection. Did you not receive your money from the ATM machine?- Request a refund in app.
For ATM disputes, there's no need to contact the merchant first. You can directly request a refund in the app as mentioned above.
What if the merchant is not responding or is unwilling to refund the charge?
We always ask our users to reach out to the merchant that charged them to resolve the issue. However, sometimes the merchant might not respond or might refuse to help.
Don't worry though, as we're here to help you! 🌈
If the merchant hasn’t replied to your request after 7 days, or if they informed you that they aren't willing to help you with a refund, you can contact us with the details of the dispute and a copy of the communication with the merchant. This way, we'll be able to look into the possibility of initiating a refund from our side.
If this happens, please reach out to our Support Center and send a message with the following:
- Describe the information and provide all relevant information (date and time of the transaction, issue with the item/service, payment events)
- Provide Screenshots of your communication with the merchant
- Attach any documents that you find relevant to the case (invoice, terms & conditions of the merchant, etc.)
It's important to give as much information as possible, as we need it in order to help you with your refund!
If you need a refund for a payment that you do not recognise, you can find more useful info at this page.
What happens next
Once the one-week period has passed and you have provided us with proof of communication and all relevant documents, we can proceed with performing the refund ourselves.
It's important to note that the merchant might still be able to dispute the refund within 45 days, please check our pricing sheet, for more information about incidental costs. Our team will remain at your disposal to help you throughout the whole process. 👍
Things worth knowing about when requesting a card payment refund
For merchants that are impacted by Covid-19, this 7-day response time is extended to 15 days.
The process of reviewing your claim and processing with the refund may take from 1 to 12 business weeks. Depending on the individual case, different steps may be taken within the process.
It's important to note that the merchant might still be able to dispute the refund within 45 days. Our team will remain at your disposal to help you throughout the whole process. 👍
Please check our pricing sheet for more information about incidental costs
How could I request a refund for a Direct Debit?
You can easily request a refund for a Direct debit by following the steps below:
- Home
- Tap on Total
- Select your payment
- Tap on (...) More
- Tap on 🟣 Get help with this payment
You'll receive a push notification in the app once there is updated news!
If you're interested in finding out more about direct debit refunds, you can check this article we created for it!
I made a transfer to the wrong IBAN. How can I get my money back?
In this case please contact us immediately so you can look for a solution for you.
How do I know if I received the refund?
We've simplified refunds so going forward, all new refunds you’ll receive will be shown as an incoming event at the top of your timeline. This will make it very simple to see where your money went, and when it came back to you.
You can also export a bank statement to verify if you’ve received the refund correctly.
What Can’t be Refunded?
Refunds aren't possible for the following types of payments:
- Bank transfers
- iDEAL & SOFORT payments
- Wise payments (ex TransferWise)
- B2B direct debits
- the transaction concerns a deposit into an investment or crypto currency account
- the transaction involves or has been executed via e-money wallet (like PayPal or Curve card)
- the transaction concerns a donation (i.e., a payment to a charity)
- the transaction was executed on a gambling or betting website.
Because we process these payments instantly, their systems do not allow us to request refunds for you after the payment was made.
If you're looking for a refund for one of these options, we recommend directly requesting it from the other party.
Want to learn more?
Explore more bunq Knowledge here.
