Their chargeback went through. Put a note in the system about them that they could only pay in cash. Of course, they haven't called back ever.

They charged my card anyway, saying that I had to cancel 24 hour prior to my reservation in order to get a refund. "Too bad, lady" was what the clerk said.

Uh... I don't think so.

A chargeback was initiated and since I left within 10 minutes of checking in and had a hotel receipt for a hotel across down, I got my money back.

""Don't dispute things as unauthorized unless you never gave the merchant your credit card number."

So... if I authorize a 250$ charge and the merchant decides to toss an 800$ charge on the card instead, I'm just SOL? Might want to clarify that. "

It isn't "unauthorized"; it is a dispute about the amount of the transaction.
(the details about what the amount represents is between you and the merchant - the credit card company doesn't know the details of the purchase).

I charged back the extra fees that were not mentioned when the reservation was made and I could not use the "unauthorized" form - I forget what they called the disputed amount form.

I had one of these last year [extra wireless telephone handset from Northwestern Bell] and the manufacturer wanted me to include a check for $8.00 with the defective phone [dead out of the box] to get warranty service.

I took it back to OfficeMax and they replaced it (it was a closeout and they don't carry that line anymore).

@changed my name: A unique serial number...just like the old days. I think my dad was able come up with his on demand, 55 years after the fact.

Ah, I see. So don't sign up for anything "Free" if they ask for my cc info (I don't do that anyway. If I have to pay shipping or give them any info, it's not free.)

So a confirmation page with your order info on it would be sufficient for the second scenario (assuming you have a screenshot or printed it out)?

I canceled my internet with AT&T years ago. Five months went by and suddenly AT&T started billing me again. I called them and asked them why they were billing. "You never cancelled?"

"Then why did you wait until now to charge my card?"

"We couldn't get it to go through."

"Then why didn't you contact me?"

"We sent you an e-mail." Of course, the e-mail went to the AT&T account I cancelled and never accessed from that day forward.

Figuring I had a slam dunk case since there was no way in hell my AMEX wasn't working for four months (I'd used it several times during that period), and AT&T couldn't show any signs that I'd actually used the service in those months. AMEX sent me a huge folder weeks later that showed printouts of AT&T's screen shots telling AT&T's side of the story (copied from my last call to them) and said they were upholding the charge. It was my responsibility.

@secret_curse: I've noticed that too. How does that not warrant the banhammer?

@wcnghj: Those equifax charges sound like you tried to do the trial more than once and got charged on the second or third go around. Free trials are almost always a one time deal, if this is the case, you should be charged, if its not, then ignore this lol.

@citking: I had to write my full social security number on my duffle bag during basic training in 2001. (Army) I'm not sure how they are doing things nowadays.

Small claims court if local, otherwise get a police report.

DONT call visa directly. Call your card issuer.

A consumer statement will not help your score.

Send the police report to the collection agency and sue if they don't fix in small claims. Report to AG, BBB, FTC, etc.

Sue them in small claims court. Easy, and about $20.

I know all about disputing with Junk Debt Buyers and CRA's. Plus, my state has a department of consumer credit protection.

Lets See:
1. iPod Touch. Battery lasts about 1 hour, advertised for four. My 1st chargeback.

2. HSN refused to pay for return shipping on broken jewlery.

3. Equifax charged $69.95 for a free trial I cancelled 10 days before it expired. Email rep never replied, phone rep was clueless.

4. Equifax charged $79.95 for a free trial I cancelled 10 days before it expired. Email rep never replied, phone rep was clueless.

5. Equifax charged $29.95 for a trimerge credit report. Phone rep clearly did it to make commission, said it would be free for the above explained trouble.

6. Duplicate charge from tutor.com, they emailed me and we solved it there.

Some other unauthorized things.

I thought that was a load of crap so I refused the shipment when it arrived and had the fedex driver send it right back. Took a few weeks for Mastercard to say "ok we'll do the chargeback now" but in the end they did after the merchant promised a refund within 10 days and then failed to actually do it.

That sucks having to do that many charge backs. Hope it all worked out.

This was in June. Season tickets don't get printed and mailed to anyone until July. A 30-second phone call would have saved the subscriber his lawyer's fees.

You are probably right in assuming that the percentage of legitimate chargebacks is higher in brick and mortar situations but if it can be proved that the customer made an online purchase but failed to follow instructions, a chargeback is not an appropriate remedy.

@Brandi Hendrix: Yes, he also has a bridge to sell you. Sigh

@wcnghj: I would say 10 is a bit extreme. Probably one of the strangest use of a chargeback was when one of my friends and former co-worker once filed a chargeback against the company we worked for because she didn't authorize a purchase that was charged under the name of another one of our co-workers. On her cc statement it clearly showed what the charge was for (football tickets) and where the charge was from (it included our office phone number!) Instead of asking someone at our office to investigate the issue, she filed a chargeback.

The other feature I love in by BofA account is the ShopSafe service. This is the original reason I signed up for a MBNA (before they were part of BofA) account and I use it all the time. No double charges or over billings since you set the limit.

If you could provide some proof that the "vast majority" of chargebacks are attempts to defraud that would be nice.

It's nice to just think, "hey I got my money back there is nothing to worry about" but it's not that simple in our debt filled society. Just because you received a chargeback of the money doesn't mean that the merchant won't keep the debt on their books. Then most likely they will sell the debt to a debt collector who will come after you for it, even if you got the chargeback resolved in your favor. This debt collector could very well report the debt and then it will show up on your credit report.

I've disputed a few things and always come out ahead, but there was one time when Discover was waffling. I simply told them (nicely) "I haven't paid this bill yet, and I won't. If you want to get your money for this transaction, you'll need to get it from the merchant, because I simply won't pay, and I don't care what you do."

They did the chargeback and all was well. That was a big charge - around $450 as I remember - so the threat was worth it. For $1800, it would be a cold day before I paid that bill....

9. Does not fly if the vendor dragged their feet, delayed fixing the issue, held the product in the service department too long, etc.

8. Does not fly if the car is still broken.

5. They'll just claim you have a receipt for sending an empty package.

3. Oh, yeah ... let the merchant drag the problem out past the 60 day time frame.

1. So you do have to open the box in the store to make sure it's not some paving stones (unless, of course, you're at Lowe's or Home Depot buying paving stones).

I think that's one of the catchphrases around here.

I also work at a company that deals with chargebacks constantly. Most of the chargebacks are based on lies, customers claiming their cards were stolen online, etc. Of course, they don't ask for new cards -- that would be inconvenient for them -- they just get the charges reversed.

You're not the only one I've heard with LB 'inner working' issues. A friend had a defective recliner - it would never retract smoothly. Six tech visits and not only wasn't it fixed, a squeak developed. And the tech ripped fabric.

They eventually gave up and threw the thing into the basement/kid area.

They're living on their past reputation. My issue was with fabric (within 3 days, chenille looked 10 yrs. worn) - and had asked if they would allow me to pick a new fabric. Now I'm doubly glad I got away from them - I bet the bottom of the sofa would have fallen out by now!

Visa would always say something to the effect that "Oh, the company has a signed receipt." Well, I DIDNT RECEIVE the product in the mail, Mr. Visa Rep! "Im sorry, but it DOES SHOW that you ordered the product." But it wasn't sent...I dont friggen have it!

From my experience all the store has to do is respond with "they owe us the money" and you lose.

My friend had to go through hell just to get a drum kit replaced after the one he bought started screwing up within a week.

@downwithmonstercable: I've had more than a couple. The first was when Cingular switched to ATT Wireless for billing. I auto-pay (I know, I know), and the mash of letters didn't tell me who it was - I disputed because I didn't recognize the merchant. Most of the others have all been with an airline, where they tell you to file a chargeback if you aren't sure about a charge.

I think I've filed a total of 5 or 6 in the last year or so.

I know of a guy who has now on 2 occasions been robbed by online payment systems to the tune of 6 thousand dollars by scammers who received an item, signed for it, then filed a charge back claiming they did not get it. Even with documentation that the package was delivered and signed for, the charge back went through and the merchant got screwed out of his product and his money.

There are even some manufacturers that disagree wholeheartedly with you, Jeff - a fairly decent amount of especially electronics I purchase include a disclaimer card from the manufacturer admonishing us to call them first with respect to warranty issues instead of trying to return the product to the store. Some storefronts are nice and will replace your item while dealing with the manufacturer for you, but it is not one of their delineated mandatory responsibilities.

We had a cardholder who was in California. Her MC debit card was stolen, and taken to Tijuana. When we filed the chargeback, we asked to see a copy of the signed receipt -- the signature was not hers.

MC rejected the claim because we could not prove that the signature on the back of the card was not the same as the signature on the receipt. Even though she had proof that she was not in Mexico at the time, MC rejected the claim because of the signature.

"I don't know if they can separate the costs on a chargeback, or if they have to process the whole thing, but it bit me."

Yes, it's called a "partial chargeback." I work for an online merchant and my job is to respond to chargebacks, and we see partial chargebacks from time to time; typically in cases where we've issued a partial refund to the customer, but they feel they deserve a refund of the full amount. We'll get a chargeback for the difference between the amount of the refund and the total charge.

Everybody thinks they are super consumer or are victims. Of course there are scammers as well.

The super consumer types are the most dangerous . Chargebacks or contacting the credit card company is A tool in a dispute with a company . But it is NOT the only tool . Most who use this probably hate letter writing or being put on hold by an 800 number with a menu.

But those in charge of chargebacks have got to realize that is their job to deny or approve . If you are that tired of handling chargeback requests or disputes find another job . If you think there is fraud turn it over to the fraud department . But I don't want to see truely screwed consumers denied a chargeback because a high & mighty customer service is burnt
out .

The dispute was for a cruise where the cruise line went bankrupt. I was trying to file an insurance claim for provider default, and the insurance company insisted I file a dispute and get a denial letter before processing the claim. I thought it was just a formality, so imagine my surprise when it worked!

Sadly it was outside of chargeback time. Hell, we didn't get the furniture until 2 months after they charged us so there may have never been a chargeback time for it.

Here's a situation I saw the other day at a film festival that I know will be disputed:

Group of friends buys 10 $9 tickets to a movie showing at a festival (only time it shows). On the way, their van breaks down and they walk 5 miles and show up too late for the show.

The show was sold out and had a line of people waiting to buy space available seats. The festival ends up reselling the group's seats to the rush line.

The group knows the festival resells the seats and asks for tickets for another show, but is refused because the terms on the ticket do say "no refund/no exchange".

I'll bet $5 the group went home to dispute the charges. I can see both sides on this one and I'll be curious how it is resolved. Of course, if they had buyer's protection on the card, they *might* be covered.

Chargebacks are really supposed to be a last resort if you can't get anything done with the company you purchased something from. Your not supposed to throw the term chargeback around willy nilly as if it can fix all of your problems.

So I opened a case with my credit card company to start the process. Newegg disputed the chargeback, saying it was legitimate even though the item in question was not sent to my name, to my address or even to my state. I asked them how they could have approved this charge on their website when the address did not match the billing address on the credit card. No answer. Just the run around how I had to file a fraud case with MC. I sent several written letters to my CC fraud department, and even had to open up a fraud case with my local police department before they would continue to pursue it because Newegg kept fighting the chargeback. After about 3 months, numerous letters, and countless phone calls to both Newegg and my CC company, the chargeback was done. Even though I've never had another problem with that CC anywhere else, Newegg won't allow me to use it on their site any more, which is fine, because I look elsewhere first now before buying from them.

@wcnghj: Seriously....what warrants 10 chargebacks? I have done one, and it was because my CC number was stolen.

here's an example: joe sees an ad on tv for FREE VITAMINS* at pillpopper.com. he goes online & orders his vitamins FREE (buy pays s&h). what he doesn't notice is that he is also signing up for weekly $250 vitamin drop shipments UNTIL THE END OF TIME, b/c he failed to read the fine print. what he did do was check a box that said "i agree" before he entered all his cc billing info, which constitutes a signature under federal law.

in this case, joe has no chargeback right. he authorized the charges, he just doesn't want to pay for them/refuses to acknowledge that he got duped.

case #2: joe orders $200 worth of vitamins & they bill him for $1000. if he has a receipt for $200, or can otherwise prove that he only ordered/received $200 worth of vitamins, he most certainly has a right to chargeback the difference (provided he tried to work with the merchant first & they refused to help him).

@citking: I have no idea about now, but at one point in the Army, almost any piece of paper with your name has your SSN. I still have orders for my decorations that have the SSN of the other award recepients as well. I probably have a box of files with over 100 SSNs on various rosters, Article 15s, orders and such. I call the information my "retirement fund" in case things get too bad in the future.

@veverkap: Almost all of Felix the Cat's comments are astroturfing for their blog. Oddly enough, this entire article seems to be an astroturf for Visa...

They have let us return things by using the same credit card that we purchased without a receipt.

First, I make sure I am entitled for a refund.
Second, I attempt to work with the company. 90% of the time they are willing to work with me. If for some reason they decide they won't work with me; I let them know I'll contact the AG (Attorney General) the moment I get home. Most would call the AG going overboard, but only a small few business people don't shudder at the thought of having to deal with them. 100% refunds so far.

If they managed to get around the AG, then I would do what was needed to perform a legal chargeback.

@johnva: I wonder about that also. I can't imagine most people having more than one or two disputes a decade.

only dispute I've ever filed was with Chase a mere two months ago. I got double-charged when putting gas into my motorcycle. The 23-digit transaction ID on the dupe was numbered 8 higher than the correct one, and the amount was only $2.87. Chase called it a 'courtesy adjustment' and credited my account for it. The rep said it's actually not uncommon, though in 20 yrs. of buying gas with a CC, I'd never had it happen.

i work in accounts receivable and have to deal with disputing chargebacks CONSTANTLY. 99% of the time, it is an issue that the customer never contacted us about. if you are charged twice for something, give us a call first to see if we will just fix it!

a lot of people seem to use chargebacks as ways to not pay for anything. i'm not sure if everyone realizes that merchants are asked about these things and it isn't just free product...more often than not, we get claims that they didn't receive their orders for the past, oh say, FIVE MONTHS, and yet we have tracking and proof of delivery for every single order. luckily, we almost always are successful with our disputes.

Number 2: "Don't dispute things as unauthorized unless you never gave the merchant your credit card number."

Just curious then, how would you dispute something where you were doing business with a merchant (and you gave them your credit card for authorized services), and they added charges on for services that were not requested, and you did not receive a receipt for those unauthorized services (extended warranty, additional services at the auto repair shop, someone double charges your card etc.)

The only types of disputes I've filed were when I had mysterious charges show up on my card, and those were always removed promptly (although in one case the CC company pushed me just a little, asking me if "I could have forgotten it").

I passed most of the 10 criteria, except I had no second opinion. I just used Chase Dispute-A-Charge online tool and it was gravy.

As far as Target, they have refused to refund defective merchandise. Some got a blender as a Christmas gift, it was bought long before Christmas, and they opened it up and it didn't work. Reciept was expired, they no longer had the same model in store, and Target refused a refund.

That behavior is borderline chargeback territory.

I'm still confused.

Let's say I bought something online with my hypothetical Visa and paid for it and they then charged me for something else that I didn't get and didn't know they were going to charge for. That would be a fraudulent charge, would it not? If I had my confirmation (or in the case of a B&M store, my receipt), how could they argue with it?

Is this just a new tactic for them to try and not give me my money back?

I did a chargeback on US Coachways after I rented a 56 passenger bus (with restroom) for a trip to a horse race down here. Bus breaks down on the way, so they scramble to call other bus companies in to pick us up.

They end up sending 2 smaller buses, a 12 passenger mini-van type bus and a 40 passenger bus. 40 + 12 < 56. This turned out to be a huge problem as the driver of the larger bus refused to leave, as he was worried he would be pulled over and ticketed. To me, he seemed inordinately scared, so I wonder if he had a license or if it was suspended. After much debate and waiting for the buses to show up, we end up leaving 2.5 hours late.

To get into the race, you have to show a bus pass. Of course, I only have 1 bus pass. So the bus has to let us off outside and we lug everything a good distance to the infield.

To top it off, it begins thunderstorming at the end of the race. Since the other bus can't get back in to pick us up (no bus pass), a good 20 of us get stranded at the track. Fortunately, we're able to all eventually find rides with friends, free shuttles, etc.

Needless to say, it was a total debacle, and as an organizer, I was extremely embarrassed. When I called up to complain, I was brushed off -- eventually, I got to a supervisor, who had the audacity to offer me $100 off the next trip I took with them (the trip I just took cost ~$1800).

They also only offered the $100 after I threatened a chargeback. Did the chargeback through AMEX, sent in detailed accounts of what happened, yet I still lost in the end.

Sadly, this company had a term in it's contract stating something like "we can send you whatever bus we feel like it, and you can pound sand." Totally ridiculous and I question it's legality, but that's what I ended up losing over.

This was therapeutic to type out, even if it doesn't really help anyone. Screw US Coachways.

@Inail: Unless you default in any way on your credit card, like late payments, no payments, then no. It will not effect anything to do with your credit report.

This is something between you, the disputed company, and the credit card company. Regardless of whether the credit card company comes back in your favor or not, it won't affect a thing.

Talked to the store, their bigger store, corporate in MI. A tech came out and said yes, the fabric seemed defective. They didn't budge. No one wanted to hear the story.

Visa stepped in. Waited 3 weeks. Visa called me with an update - which was LB would not do anything. So Visa asked me what I wanted. I said 'my money back and they can take their furniture back - which is what I tried 3 days after delivery.' Visa went back to them, called me to update me, and surprisingly, the day after Thanksgiving, they said they'd come get my furniture 'tomorrow.'

I said au contrare - I work. You may come after 6 or on the weekend. They said 'You can't do that you've had the furniture for three months for free.' OK. I said, now you can come Saturday morning at 9 am. Then I called Visa (direct line to the group handling my situation) to tell them.

That night, off I went to buy new furniture (Macy's). Purchased, got a discount, and they delivered Friday.

Saturday, the wretched LB items went away. Visa called to make sure it had taken place and to let me know LB store tried to get me to pay both delivery charges (Sept and Dec). Visa denied their wish.

Long story short - be nice, keep records, write it all down, and SEND a letter, not email. In a letter you tend to be succinct, and spell better.

"You're ruining it for the rest of us!"

1) You didn't cancel your "free" trial in time. Believe it or not, this is a HUGE reason why people don't get a lot of their chargebacks back. Read the TOS or T&C before you sign up for anything over the phone/online.

2) Try to work it out with the company first. Most chargebacks will not work if there is absolutely no attempt on the consumer's part to work it out- and a lot of claims are denied this way.

3) Payday Loans. Enough said.

The bank gladly processed them.

I had a sketch done, and it was great, so I ordered prints of it too. When they arrived, they were terrible. I sent them back, told the guy I wanted a refund for just the prints, as I was keeping the sketch.

He was a butthead about it, said there was nothing wrong with them and refused to issue a refund, so I initiated a chargeback.

Eventually the CC denied the chargeback because they processed it for the entire purchase (sketch plus prints). All the artist had to do was tell them that I still had the sketch and that was enough for them to deny it. --EVEN THOUGH-- I explained no less than 4 times to the CSR at the CC company that I still had the sketch and only wanted a refund for the prints.

I don't know if they can separate the costs on a chargeback, or if they have to process the whole thing, but it bit me.

So I took a play out of the consumerist book and looked up the artist's schedule of appearances (mostly local malls and such). Emailed him and told him unless I get my refund I would be waiting for him at each and every location to tell potential customers what they can reasonably expect for print quality until I've caused enough lost business for him to cover the money that I lost.

It worked, got my refund right away.

Too bad, he's a great artist, but his photography skills aren't that great, and he's not very good in the business department.

Same thing with political parties, i relate better to Democrats because its like 1 or 2 letter away from my name. The letter R is so down the Alphabet it may as well be a Xylophone

The other was at a bar the bartender rang up like 80 worth of drinks or tipped himself with the two I ordered. Didn't get a receipt because he didn't bring me back anything to sign.
I had trouble getting a hold of anybody but the bartender when I tried contacting them and left a message for him. I even filed a police report which he did get arrested eventually. The owner of the bar finally got back to me two months after it happened.

Slightly off topic, but worth mentioning - my daughter bought some head phones from Best Buy a couple of weeks ago using a gift card (so therefore no credit card record) and promptly lost the receipt. Within a week one side of the headphones quit working, so we tore the house apart looking for the receipt, only to come up empty handed.

On a whim, we decided to take the headphones back without the receipt to see if they would exchange them. It turns out that my daughter had given them our BB 'reward' card when she bought the headphones. The BB service desk lady looked up our reward card transactions and printed a receipt for the original purchase right on the spot, and we used that receipt to complete the exchange.

Yeah, BB isn't my favorite place, but they moved up a step with that little extra customer service.

Jim

@nucwin83: Absolutely. I had to file a chargeback with my credit union's mastercard over my installation of Wildblue internet. They tacked on another $100 in charges when I specifically said I didn't want to prepay my leasing charges, I wanted to pay the $5 extra a month. My installation cost $300, when it was supposed to be about $180! I also was never notified of the final charge. I was told $180 or so which was acceptable. When it hit my account 2 weeks later, I was furious.

I contacted them, spoke to 2-3 different CSR's over the next few days to straighten out the charges... none of them would help. One rep even went as far as to say "You aren't the first one to call and tell us this, but unfortunately, it's not on our end-- it was the dealer who did said you agreed to prepaying these fees. But just think of it this way, you saved $20!" Then I was told their system wasn't set up to fix this error. I asked for a credit for the $100, they wouldn't budge. I tried every reasonable route.

I filed a chargeback on the full amount, and won. After Wildblue was forced to refund my $300, they shut me down and I called them up. All of a sudden, they were willing to negotiate the charges. I ended up repaying the full $300 but they gave me 2 months of free service ($100) plus I was never charged the $5 leasing fee a month.

So in the end, it all worked out.

I've only ever done one chargeback; it was with my Chase Visa for a $350 charge from a pyramid scheme I got suckered into in college. They were great, I just sent them some of the emials I received from the scammer after charging the amount and they reversed it that day.

It probably helped that I called about 8 hours after I made the charge online, and this was back in '98, so the charge was still pending when I called.

With the Consumerist's emphasis on using your CC for certain purchases due (in part) to the ability to do a chargeback, I think this list needs to be referenced on every story featuring chargebacks as the answer!

The chase tool is pretty easy to use. But beware, some merchants will just let chase do the chargeback and send you to collections. That happened to me and chase wouldn't take much responsibility.

On a side note, is anyone here in the military anymore? Can you tell me if they still make you stencil your social security number on the side of all of your bags? It was really convenient for an identity thief to just walk down the row of rapid deployment bags and copy down everyone's SSN. Stupid government.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Third party repair shop, maybe?

One of those things where it is like, "Well i didn't know he was going to charge me"

"Then why did you give him your credit card?"

"Offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage"

and then asks you for your credit card number even though you think it's free because you over looked the fine print or just didn't know.

It's one of those things.

Nevermind, the CitiCard WAS a Mastercard. Figures. I learned something today. Goodbye Mastercard! Hello Visa!

#11 You have a dispute with Best Buy on a Citibank card. CONFLICT OF INTEREST. You remain screwed.

So... if I authorize a 250$ charge and the merchant decides to toss an 800$ charge on the card instead, I'm just SOL? Might want to clarify that.

I don't recall ever getting declined for any chargeback, but then I don't misuse the system and if I had a legit reason for asking and did not get it then I would close that card.

On returns to stores, most are pretty good, even without a receipt, if they can identify it as their item usually they allow an exchange or credit for other purchases.

The major exception to this seems to be Target, who about 5 years ago put in a major pain in the rear policy and most recently seems to have even tightened up that. Summary: No receipt - NO RETURN OR EXCHANGE. See the blog Target Sucks for details: [targetfiling.blogspot.com]

Regarding number 8: I can see how you'd get a second opinion letter for a repair but how would you get a second opinion on something like a video game console? How likely is it that Nintendo or Sony is going to send a letter for you?

How long until someone who works at MasterCard disputes number 1? I'm not sure what they can come up with unless it's not true or Visa does the same thing.

All done online with the chase online tool.