Bank not returning money

[Musicaltheatremum]

My first post so bear with me.
My son A and his friend B paid their electricity bill in November. It was only £31 as they had been away.
In early january they got a reminder for the bill so phoned the power company who said the money had not come to them.
They went to their bank who initially said it was impossible that they had made a mistake but eventually said it looked like they had sent it to another power company and that they would get the money back and pay the correct provider.
The boys' power company put a hold on the account for 6 weeks to allow this to be sorted.

Last week another bill arrived from the power company. They had still not received the money.

My son and his friend went back to the bank today and spoke to the teller who was sympathetic but couldn't tell them if anyone had tried to get the money back. The boys then asked that as it was the bank's fault and it was taking so long, could the bank just pay the bill and wait for the money to come back. Apparently they could do this at the manager's discretion. The manager however said that it couldn't be proved that it was the bank's fault as friend B (whose bank account they were paying the bill from) would have had to authorise that the amount was going to the right place. B said he just handed the teller the pay in slip with the bank details and she did the rest.

Apparently it will take 30-60 days to get the amount back (a process that they should have started 7 weeks ago)

The boys were furious. They said the manager talked down to them and refused to acknowledge that the bank was wrong and refused to do anything to help speed this up. I felt because they were 19/20 that they received no respect.
They are proceeding with a complaint but the boys have exams starting next week and can really do without this.

I'm not sure why I am writing this but I am furious on their behalf. I guided them what to say and how to approach it but to no avail. (I am60 miles away) does anyone know of any legal redress.

Good luck.

Whoever received the money is not under obligation to pay it back. All the bank can do is write a letter and ask that they do so voluntarily. If they do, great, if they dont, then your next option is small claims court. This is what I was recently told after my salary from 1 month of freelance work was paid into the wrong account.

Whoever received the money is not under obligation to pay it back

That is incorrect. Any money paid over in error is repayable, and actionable if not repaid. The bank will always take it back again.

Bank said it was nothing they could do!

Lodge a complaint with the Financial Conduct Authority.

And name and shame the bank on Twitter.

If the bank have made the mistake they should refund the money to your Son from their own miscellaneous account ( set aside for this purpose ). They can then get the money back from the company and refund their own account.

This is standard bank practice. A formal complaint needs to be logged and he needs to request a 'closed final letter' to enable him to progress the complaint to the Banking Ombudsman. This should ensure that the bank actually resolve it. If the complaint is progressed to the ombudsman it will cost the bank £500 in fees so they will want to avoid this.

Well received a phone call from my son. He phoned the complaints department who sorted everything out for him. Refunded the money and gave £25 compensation plus £6.25 for the phone call. Chap on phone was disgusted the way they had been treated by the bank and is going to try and get a letter from them to say what happened.
He is glad it is sorted as he has exams coming up.

Good luck with the letter. I've never once received a letter from any bank when they've messed up - despite my request and their promise.