Visa 13.6 · Mastercard 4853

They promised you a refund and it never arrived

A promised refund that never lands is its own dispute type, and it is among the easiest to prove — because the merchant has usually put the promise in writing. If they agreed to refund you and the money never reached your card, your bank can take it back for you.

Does this apply to you?

• The seller agreed to a refund in writing and nothing arrived
• They issued a credit note or voucher when you were entitled to money back
• You returned an item they received, and no refund followed
• A cancelled booking or event was never refunded as promised
• The refund was smaller than the amount agreed

How long you have to file

You have 120 days, counted from the day the refund was promised.

That is the card network's outer limit. Your own bank often sets an earlier one, and a missed deadline ends a dispute however good the case is — so treat it as the day to have filed by, not the day to start.

What to gather before you file

• The written refund promise — email, chat transcript, or support ticket
• The date they promised it and the date you are filing
• Proof the item was returned and received, such as tracking
• Your card statement showing no credit arrived
• Any follow-up messages chasing it, with no reply or an excuse

What the seller will argue

The merchant's usual defence is that the refund was issued and must be somewhere in the banking system — sometimes with a transaction reference attached. Occasionally that is true and the money is genuinely in transit. More often the reference belongs to a credit that was never actually settled, so ask your bank to check whether the credit ever reached them, rather than accepting the reference at face value.

What to do, in order

1. Find the message where they promised the refund, and note its date.
2. Give it a reasonable time to arrive — card refunds can take a few working days, though not weeks.
3. Chase them once in writing, and keep the reply or the silence.
4. Check your statement carefully for a partial credit under a different name.
5. File with your bank as a credit not processed, attaching the written promise.

When this will not work

If the seller only ever offered store credit or a voucher and you accepted it at the time, this dispute is much weaker — the agreement you made is the one the bank will look at.

Other problems we cover

• Your order never arrived. Here is how to get your money back
• They kept charging you after you cancelled
• What arrived is not what you paid for
• You paid for the real thing and received a fake