Moorwand Ltd sent an email to K Wearables customers on 29/07/2022 stating they intend to close K Wearables accounts. This is our response of what to do now and the future.
We are a small business that has been built with the efforts of everyone that has believed in the product - particularly our customers over the years. We are not prepared to yield to a company due to their financial klout, or abuse of their position in the financial ecosystem.
1: WHAT HAS HAPPENED
1.1: Notice of account closure
1.2: Moorwand Dispute
2: CURRENT POSITION
2.1 Loading funds onto your account
2.2 Using money on account
2.3 What if my ring / device doesn’t work?
2.4 How to complain
2.5 What to do with my ring / device
2.6 Orders placed but not despatched
3: FUTURE FOR K WEARABLES
3.1 Re-launch
3.2 Outstanding funds transfer
3.3 Outstanding order
3.4 Refunds to be processed
1: WHAT HAS HAPPENED
1.1: Notice of account closure
On Friday 29th July, Moorwand Ltd sent an email to all users of the K Wearables Prepaid Mastercard programme providing a 2x month notice to closure of all accounts. Funds can be spent from the account, via a linked ring or other device, but no funds can be loaded.
Moorwand is the e-money issuer to the K Wearables prepaid Mastercard programme and as issuer, they are at the top of the financial services ecosystem. The details of customer accounts were provided to them by our processor - a request which they are not able to refuse. All your account details are stored in a PCI compliant environment.
1.2: Moorwand Dispute
As outlined in a statement from Founder, Phil Campbell, there has been a long standing dispute with Moorwand over their representations prior to our migration in April 2020 and the quality and timeliness of services since that have had a significant negative impact on the programme.
We are experienced programme managers that have worked with other issuers and so have a solid baseline to compare against. Furthermore, we have consulted with other professionals in the industry to ensure that we have a fair and balanced opinion.
We have attempted repeatedly to raise our concerns with Moorwand, but there has not been a satisfactory conclusion.
There had been an agreement for us to migrate to another provider and KWearables had progressed that and informed Moorwand of the progress. Despite this, Moorwand has since progressed a number of actions, which has culminated in this account closure notice.
In our opinion, there is clear documented evidence to support our position over Moorwand’s failures and it is this that we have collated in order to file a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman against Moorwand.
2: CURRENT POSITION
With Moorwand’s actions we have been unable to issue new devices for some time and more recently to support the automated loading of funds. With their more recent action, K Wearables has no access to key systems to be able to support our customers.
2.1 Loading funds onto your account
Please do NOT attempt to load funds onto your account - we don’t have access to those funds and we no longer have access to be able to process the return of transfers.
2.2 Using money on account
You can still use the money on your account and run the balance down to zero. However, we are not in a position to remove any unused funds and return them to you (which KW would do under normal business operations). In such a case, we suggest that you file a complaint with Moorwand directly - see 2.4 How to Complain below.
2.3 What if my ring / device doesn’t work?
Under normal operations, K Wearables would provide you a replacement ring / device, or be able to return your funds. Given Moorwand’s actions, we are not physically able to do that at this time..
We suggest that you file a complaint with Moorwand directly - see 2.4 How to Complain below.
2.4 How to complain
If there is an issue over funds on your account - such as being unable to use them due to lack of a device, then we would suggest that you:
Approach Moorand via operations@moorwand.com requesting the return of your balance, raising this as a Complaint.
If this is not resolved with 5x business days, then you can raise a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service via: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
These links will be helpful:
https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/how-complain
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/how-to-complain
You will need to include the name of the issuer, Moorwand Ltd and the reference number: FRN: 900709
2.5 What to do with my ring / device
Please keep your ring / device safe for now - regardless of its condition.
See 3. Future for K Wearables below.
2.6 Orders placed but not despatched
In the current situation, there is little we can do - including processing refunds. Moorwand provided us no notice in regard to blocking our issuing of new rings - we discovered as a result of following up what appeared to be a technical bug.
3: FUTURE FOR K WEARABLES
It is our view that this action has been taken by Moorwand in order to avoid addressing our dispute rather than the failure of the business. We are extremely grateful for all the positive messages of support that we have received directly.
3.1 Re-launch
K Wearables had already progressed a long way down the path to a new issuer. Unfortunately in financial services, it requires the co-operation of the outgoing issuer which has proven to be a "challenge"
However, we have confidence from speaking with various partners involved, that we can still achieve that within the near future. We cannot offer guarantees yet, but the partners involved are working towards that goal and we are grateful for their continued support.
This would allow for accounts to return to normal, including top of funds and making payments with linked devices.
3.2 Outstanding funds transfer
Assuming we manage the above, we will ensure that any outstanding funds are transferred to live accounts, so they can be used as normal.
3.3 Outstanding order
Assuming the above, we would also then provide an update on an outstanding order - allowing us either to issue it to you, or ….
3.4 Refunds to be processed
... process any refund. But at the risk of repeating ourselves, that is based on the migration of the programme.
Finally, we apologise again for the inconvenience experienced. We appreciate the positive mesages of support and hope we can reinstate the service you expect from us
The K Wearables Team