“RL” was devastated when the gardener who looks after her holiday home in the Caribbean got colon cancer.

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He could not afford a potentially life-saving operation, so the Natwest customer made an international transfer of £1,735 to pay for it.

She used correct payee bank details from a drop-down menu on her online banking app.

Days later she learned that the funds had not arrived – forcing her gardener to delay his operation.

The Brit called up NatWest, which said it would chase the payee bank.

While waiting for the transaction to come through, she also arranged for a friend on the Caribbean island to hand over money for the delayed operation .

But the gardener’s health had already deteriorated by the time he went under the knife.

Tragically, he died just a few days later.

“RL” learned that her money had been sent to a branch of the payee bank on a different Caribbean island.

In a letter to the Telegraph, she wrote: “I called NatWest and was given the run-around again. 

“I logged a formal complaint and asked for the returned funds to be immediately credited so I could then use the same funds as a contribution towards funeral costs.

“I’ve now had contact from a complaint specialist who quoted terms and conditions, saying the bank has no responsibility for any payments that go astray.

“The complaints specialist clearly wanted to close down the complaint quickly.”

Two months later, there is still no sign of the money RL sent her dying gardener.

She said: “Sadly, it’s too late to help our friend and every day we spend time with his widow, I can’t help but wonder whether those extra days may have been important to him.”

Natwest said that the payment did not reach the right account because RL entered the wrong Swift code.

But the bank admitted it was wrong to initially tell RL that the payment had been returned – and offered her £150 in compensation.

A Natwest spokesman said: “We are working with other banks to try and rectify the situation as quickly as possible.”