I recently paid someone £100 using the mobile payments app Barclays Pingit, but the money never reached this person. I was told by Barclays that if the payee doesn’t have the Pingit app installed they have five days to do so and claim the money, otherwise it will be credited back to me.
But when I made the payment no such notice was flashed, leading me to believe the payee was registered with Pingit and had received the money. When I was told this was not the case, I called the Pingit helpline and found out that when someone installs Pingit (especially if they don’t bank with Barclays, as in this case), Barclays creates a virtual account for them which stores the money “sent” and then waits for the beneficiary to log in and claim it.
If the payee subsequently uninstalls the app, the virtual account continues to exist and Barclays still gives the payer the impression that the payee has a valid Pingit account.
My money is now sitting in this virtual account and I cannot get it back. I have since paid the person via a direct bank transfer, so I am now £100 out of pocket. Please help! SS, London
It is timely that you sent us this complaint given the growing popularity of apps like Pingit, and Barclays plans to roll it out even further to Twitter users.
Amid security concerns about making payments via mobile phones and the internet, your case highlights how money can go astray even if sent virtually. What was odd was that your payee, who banks with HSBC, went into a Barclays branch to try and sort this out, yet the bank was unable to help.
After our intervention, Barclays said: “We have apologised for the inconvenience experienced and refunded the duplicated payment back into SS’s account. On this occasion, the reason the funds could not be accessed by the intended recipient appears to be a result of the Pingit app having been deleted.
“The reasons for deleting the app are unclear at this time, but in order to receive the payment it would have been necessary for the intended recipient to simply re-register the Pingit app on their smartphone.”
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number
.png?w=600)
