When Money Got Debited But Did Not Credit! My Experience With Phonepe Customer Support

I am covering the UPI related payments since 2016. But never experienced the most common problem of this system- ‘The money got debited but did not credit into the beneficiary account. ‘ Although, I have told remedies and customer service details to my readers. But I never experienced this problem first hand. Recently I have gone through this experience, and now I know some more points about the customer support of the Phonepe. I would share this experience with you, and I hope you would also share yours.

Paid through Phonepe, Money Debited

Since a few months, I don’t bother about the wallet for neighbourhood purchases. All the merchants, big or small, accept the money through the Paytm, Phonepe, Google pay etc. By endorsing the UPI Apps, my visits to the ATM also reduced. The cherry on the top is the cashback.

So I have also paid ₹415 to the Dhirendra, the chemist. He did not get the message from the bank. Neither there was a notification from the Phonepe. Since a slight delay is typical, I left for the home. I was hoping that the Dhirendra would get money after a while. He was also hopeful.

Merchant Did not Get the Amount

Then came the bummer. Next day, the Dhirendra messaged me that he did not get the money. Oh, it was a matter of concern. It has been 15-16 hours has been passed. So, I checked my Phonepe transactions. The transaction was successful.
I  sent the screenshot to the Dhirendra and requested to check the bank account statement. I thought that there could be some problem with the notification. The money would have transferred.

But, unfortunately, his reply was negative. I was not sure that he would have checked the bank statement, so I reiterated to check the account along with the transaction history of the Phonepe.

Contacted Phonpe Customer Support

Meanwhile, I have raised the query through the in-built support of the Phonepe. You can also do that through the transaction history page.

Immediately, there was a system-generated response which assured me of the successful transaction. It suggested that if the merchant denies, I must contact the bank. I have sent this chat screenshot to the Dhirendra.

Contacting the bank would have been a time consuming exercise. So, I was even prepared to forego the amount if it requires a visit to the bank.

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Checked Bank Statement (Surprised!)

Now it was time to check my statement. Although I have received the SMS of the debit, still I checked my ICICI Bank statement through the net banking. As expected, there was mention of the UPI Debit.

Surprise, the date of the transaction was 15th July! Whereas, I was checking this statement on 14th July! I Got the SMS on 13th July!

What is this nonsense! But It gave some solace to me. Maybe Dhirendra would get the money on 15th July! I discovered one more thing that it was Sunday on 14th July and 13th July was the second Saturday. So, there was a bank holiday on both days.

Does this mean that the UPI system does not work on bank holidays? I should not. It is a 24×7 system which never delays the payment. But the facts are not lying. So, it is possible that sometimes, bank holidays matter.

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Another Discovery

Meanwhile, Dhirendra again checked his bank statement of PNB and did not find any entry. He was desperate, so I went to meet him. I checked his Phonepe transactions, but there was no such entry as well.

There was another discovery. I got to know that Dhirendra’s Phonepe account linked with the BOB account instead of the PNB account. Whereas, He does not use the BOB account for such transactions. He was unaware of how his Phonepe got linked with the BOB account. So, again, I said to check the BOB account.

Was this the reason for all this botheration? But why did he not get SMS from the BOB account? Why is the transaction not visible in his Phonepe App?

Escalated the Complaint

I have escalated my complaint through the Phonepe app. You can do this by replying to first response of the Phonepe. I have said that the transaction doesn’t appear in the merchant’s Phonepe transaction so they should check it. It may not be a matter of the bank.

Within 5 minutes, I got a call from the Phonepe Customer support. They enquired about my problem and told me that the Phonepe would enquire with the bank. I would get the money back, but it may take upto a month.

How To Complain Online to The RBI

Respite!

During the call, I got a Whatsapp message from the Dhirendra. Hafter hanging up the call, I saw the message. The Dhirendra has informed that he has got the SMS of the amount credit. Hurray! I took the sigh of relief. What a fast action!

But did Phonepe take any step? Or It was just a procedural delay, and Dhirendra got the money on 15th July as seen in my ICICI Bank statement.

Now everything was right in place.  Dhirendra got the money. He can see the transaction as well. The Phonepe customer support has replied to my complaints that the can see that merchant has got the money. It was true. The problem resolved on 15th July evening.

In my case, the Phonepe was very prompt. Yes, the first response was automatic. A chatbot has replied. But after escalating the complaint, the Phonepe has acted very fast. Within an hour, there was a call and problem resolved. Hats off to Phonepe!

Learnings

• Don’t Panic Check whether your app is linked with the right bank account.
• Check the statement of your bank account. There may be some problem with SMS delivery.
• Check the bank statement of the sender. Is there any future date in the statement. If yes, wait till the date.
• The in-built support of the Phonepe is very robust. Try to use that and create a support ticket. You would get a call. The ticket is efficient and fast than calling the customer care number. You may find fraud customer care number, so try to go through the app itself.

The Phonepe Customer Support maybe best among all the UPI apps. I don’t have any experience with the Google Pay or Paytm support ticket. You should share that. I know It is challenging to call the customer support number. Hence, I want to know your experience of the support tickets.