SBI Unipay's failed bill pay transactions, delayed refunds leave customers in limbo. Here's what you can do next

A bill payment aggregator acts as an intermediary between customers and multiple billers (like utility bill payments, telecom provider, credit cards, etc.)

On March 21, Ajay Kumar, a resident of Hyderabad, tried paying his HDFC Bank credit card bill of Rs 25,723 via the SBI Unipay platform using his HDFC Bank debit card, but there was a transaction failure message on the platform. The amount was deducted from the HDFC Bank account but it was not credited to the credit card account.

He raised the complaint to the State Bank of India (SBI) customer support through an email on March 25 after waiting for the refund for a few days. Kumar says, “There was no response from the bank for a week, so then tried to reach the bank’s customer service through social media platform X by posting the complaint and tagging the bank.”

After constant follow-ups through e-mails and social media posts, there was a response from the SBI customer service on April 6 asking him to inquire with the source bank (HDFC Bank in his case) about the transaction failure. He later inquired with the source bank where the money was deducted but not credited to the destination. Then the source bank (HDFC Bank) reversed the deducted amount on April 8.

Also read: Axis Bank credit card fiasco: Customers hit by fraudulent international transactions must act quickly to protect themselves

Similarly, Ankur Das and Parikshit Thakkar received 'transaction failed' messages from the SBI Unipay platform for making credit card bill payments worth Rs 50,403 and Rs 22,173, respectively. In both instances, the amount was deducted from the savings accounts and not credited to the credit card accounts. They have not received any response for raising the complaints to the SBI nor refunds from the bank. These customers have also posted a complaint against SBI Unipay on the social media platform X after no response from the SBI customer service.

Moneycontrol reached out to the SBI to understand the issue of credit card transaction failure on the SBI Unipay platform, refunds, and delays in response to customer complaints. But there was no explanation from the bank till the time of publishing this report.

The problems while using the SBI Unipay platform
Like Kumar, Das and Thakkar there are several customers who paid their credit card bills via the SBI Unipay platform. The payment was deducted from their bank account (payment was successful), but the bill payment failed on the platform. According to SBI Unipay, customers should get their refund within 3 to 4 working days, but even after 10 working days many customers did not receive their refund.

“Such failed transactions are not shown on the SBI Unipay platform, so customers cannot directly file complaints on the same platform. The customers need to provide the transaction ID to raise a complaint via an email,” says Sumanta Mandal, founder of TechnoFino, a platform that reviews debit and credit cards.

The customers are complaining on the social media platform X that the customer complaint email ID mentioned on the Unipay platform is not responding to their emails. Even after 3 or 4 follow-ups, there has been no reply from the SBI. The customers are helpless and trying to contact SBI on social media platform X, but still their issue is not getting resolved.

“Surprisingly, this Unipay platform is not a startup; it is a part of the State Bank of India, India's largest bank (in terms of number of total customers). Such an act is not expected from a bank like the SBI,” Mandal says.

What is a bill payment aggregator?
A bill payment aggregator acts as an intermediary between customers and multiple billers (like utility services, telecom companies, credit cards, education fees, municipality taxes, insurance premiums and more).

The benefits of using bill payment aggregators are the convenience of all bills in one place, flexible payment methods, alerts of new bills generated, reminders of due dates to pay the bills and auto payment features with some of the bill payment aggregators before due dates.

Some of the bill payment aggregators are Amazon (Pay) India, Google Pay, SBI Unipay, BillDesk, MobiKwik, Freecharge, CRED and more.

Also read: Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank to levy surcharge on utility payments with credit cards

What is SBI Unipay?
SBI Unipay is an online bill payment system launched by the SBI. Using the platform, customers can pay their bills via any of the online modes of SBI, rather than physically going to any bank branch.

The customers can make payments for credit cards, utility bills, education fees, municipality taxes, insurance premiums and more.

The bills can be paid using net banking, credit cards, debit cards, UPI, prepaid cards and mobile wallets.

The customers of the SBI and other banks both can pay their bills on the SBI Unipay platform.

What should customers do in the case of a failed transaction on SBI UniPay?
For your failed credit card transactions using SBI Unipay and refunds you can register your complaint online on SBI’s customer support portal, on email ids support.bbps@sbi.co.in or support.unipay@sbi.co.in, and still not received any resolution after 3-4 working days, send an email at socialconnect@sbi.co.in with the complete details of your concern, mentioning the case ID in the subject line. The case ID will be provided while registering the complaint online or sending the mail with the transaction details on the support IDs mentioned above.

“If the payment was successful and the credit card bill payment failed from the merchant's end (SBI Unipay), then it's SBI Unipay's (merchant) responsibility to look into this,” says Mandal. But if the SBI is asking to contact the source bank, as it happened for Ajay Kumar, then the customer should contact them and get clarification.

“In case there is no response from the SBI on your emails, you can tag SBI (@TheOfficialSBI) on social media platform X and post your issue,” says Mandal.

If the SBI or your source bank does not solve your problem you can file a complaint with the RBI ombudsman. Remember one thing, file a complaint with your bank first, then wait 30 days for resolution. “If your bank doesn't solve your problem within 30 days, then you can move the RBI banking ombudsman,” says Mandal. If you do not get a satisfactory resolution from your bank; you can move the RBI banking ombudsman within 30 days.

As per an RBI guidance issued on September 20 2019, a bank must compensate its customers if failed transactions do not get refunded within T+5 days. Mandal says as per the RBI guidelines customers can ask for Rs 100 per day compensation if the refund doesn't happen within five days after making the transaction (account debited but confirmation not received at merchant’s system).

In the case of the due date for the bill being missed due to a payment failure while using a payment aggregator, who will bear the late payment fees?
In the case of payment failure for utility bills or a credit card bill, the customer needs to pay the late payment fees. It’s advisable to pay the bills at least 4 to 5 days before the due date while using the payment aggregator services.

How should you choose the right bill payment aggregator?
You need to consider factors like a user-friendly interface to pay bills, security measures (to link net banking, tokenise the cards, etc.), transaction fees (if any), and customer support while choosing a third-party bill payment aggregator. You should also evaluate user reviews and their reputation.