A Premium Bonds customer quizzed NS&I for a second time after their December prize has still not arrived – despite them being told they have been paid.
The saver initially contacted NS&I on January 17 as they had won a prize in the December draw but it had not reached their bank account. But almost a month later, their winnings have seemingly still not arrived.
In their original message last month over X, they said they had completed a cheque replacement form to get the winnings but were unsure they had filled it in correctly, as it didn’t require information about which Bond the winnings related to.
NS&I told them then that the form should take two working days to process and their money should arrive after three working days once processed.
Today (February 13) they reached out over X to their bank, Halifax, to say they still had not received the payment, and asked if they could check online.
After the customer said she was using the desktop version of the bank, Halifax said: “Any payment to your account will be shown on your statement and you can check this via the desktop site.
“If it’s not being shown, you’ll need to contact the sender to let them know, so they can arrange a payment trace as only the sending bank can do this.”
The frustrated saver said in response: “I’m at an impasse as they claim it was sent and it is for my bank to check and confirm, I will contact them again.”
The bank then said if the payment had been received, the amount would show on their statement. They added: “If it’s not been shown, you will need to go back to the sender I’m afraid.”
The customer tried again with NS&I, saying: “I have tweeted, sent a cheque replacement request and letter, and called regarding this, what else can I do please?”
NS&I said in response: “We’re sorry to hear this is yet to be resolved for you. From when you completed this form we’d have expected you to receive the new prize warrant by now.
“So that we can chase up and deal with this we would ask that you please call us again.”
The monthly prize draw for Premium Bonds takes place at the start of each month. There was an error last year where people received prize notifications three weeks after the draw.
NS&I said in this previous case there was a “techincal error” that meant there was a delay in the prize notifications being sent out.
For the latest personal finance news, follow us on Twitter at @ExpressMoney_.