I’ve posted here before but for background I work for an energy company in their inbound department working with customers accounts.
Also posting from mobile etc
Me dc: dodgy customer
DC: Hi I’d like to organise a refund of the credits on my account back to a bank account today?
Me: sure thing, let me take a look into that for you today
Customers usually ask about refunds if a) they’re making weekly /monthly payments on their account that are more than their electricity bills or b) if they have solar panels installed which entitles them to a credit on their account for any excess electricity they send back into ‘the grid’.
However this customer is new, he’s only had one bill. I take a look into his transactions and I notice he’s paid about 4000 dollars into his electricity account … over the space of two weeks.
Me: alright how much were you looking to get refunded?
Dc: about 4000 dollars. And I want it refunded back into a bank account.
Me: ok sure. Let me place you on a brief hold while I chat to our payments team.
I call up the payments team because this is definitely fishy. They take a look at the transactions and let me know they’re all Amex payments, all made from different cards, some of which aren’t in his name.
They can process the refund, but it will have to go back to each individual card the payments were made from.
Me: so dc, you want a refund of 4000 correct?
Dc: that’s correct.
Me: unfortunately as these payments you’ve made are all Amex payments I can’t refund them back into a bank account. The funds would have to go back to the card the payments were made from
Dc: that’s ridiculous. I want to speak to your payments team.
Me: our payments team don’t handle customer queries directly. Even if I did put you through, they would just say the same thing.
Dc: well what if I want to switch electricity companies? Then what about my refund!
Me: even if you switch retailers, the refund process remains the same.
Dc: I’m going to go to the ombudsman about this.
Me: well you are more than able to do that. But as these payments were made from cards not in your name, that refund process will remain the same
Dc: whatever, leave it for now then.
Me: sure thing. as it stands then any credits on your account will go the next bill !
He hung up on me after that. Technically we can’t prove it’s fraud because anyone can make a payment towards your electricity account but don’t think you can use it to try and get a big lump sum payout.
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