I have never been denied a chargeback, done over 10 of them.

All done online with the chase online tool.

@wcnghj: Wanted to add I don't use MC. Just Visa and Discover.

Ooh, good list.

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.

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]

"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.

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

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

Do these "disputes" end up showing on a credit report or effect a credit score?

@nucwin83: I think it's more for the like... freecreditreport.com issue.

"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.

@idip: Sigh... we need an edit button.

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?"

@Felix the Cat:
Yeah... I fail to see how that's bad? Keep your receipt.

I only once had to do a charge back. I ate at an out of town restaurant a couple hours away where I was for an event. The restaurant took forever with my card to bill me. I felt it fishy, so I checked my activity as soon as I got home. There were five separate charges from the restaurant, all for different (and wrong) amounts. I got the charge back confirmed (for every one of them) basically no questions asked.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Third party repair shop, maybe?

@wcnghj: 10?? What in the world are you doing that requires so many chargebacks?? I've only tried a chargeback once in my entire life, and it turned out to be a valid charge anyways

I have never gotten declined for a chargeback either. The one time however that a credit card was fraudulently opened in my name when I was in the army I was able to get the CC company to cancel the debt but it had already been sold to a collector. In that case, when the collector wouldn't take no for an answer, I just disputed it on my credit report. I suppose the same thing could happen if a chargeback were declined - just add a customer statement to the credit report and refuse to pay the disputed amount. You'll get a lot of harassment however.

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.

@wcnghj:

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.

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!

@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.

@mrm514: Agreed. I look at keeping receipts as my responsibility as a consumer rather than a major pain in the rear, and don't expect a merchant to make up for my mistake any more than they should expect me to make up for theirs.

@Felix the Cat:

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

I've done two but they were through visa. Never had a problem. One was with a webhosting oompany that auto renewed me even after I went into my preferences and unchecked the box for it. They didn't even have a phone number so I gave them 48 hours to respond to email then just called Visa.

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.

I don't like to you Visa because it starts with the letter V. Master Card is closer to my name so i generally go and use that card.

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

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.

@Radi0logy: I think it's "abusing the system", and ruins it for legit people in the future...

On point #7: For what it's worth, I've had to do several international chargebacks due to fraudulent charges related to a stolen card -- from France, even. On both MasterCard and Visa cards.

The bank gladly processed them.

@idip: I totally agree, but those aren't the only situations where a charge is unauthorized. I just think the OP could've clarified a bit better. I've seen double charges, a waiter or bartender entering the wrong data on a charge (e.g. 43$ instead of 13$), and folks just placing a larger charge than authorized. Add in that the local places here look at you like you're trying to scam them when you bring in a bank statement and ask for a refund, and I can see a number of occasions where a bank would have to intervene even though the merchant was indeed authorized to make a specific charge.

I too work in a chargeback/claim section at a bank. Here are some more reasons:

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.

I've only had to a chargeback once, and that was because a mobile phone rental place in Germany did not refund my deposit correctly. I pretty much just had to send Capital One the receipts and contract highlighting what I was supposed to be charged and where in the contract it said I was supposed to receive the deposit back, and they took care of it without any additional hassle.

@The Bigger Unit: "Screw the honor system, I'm out of here!"

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

Charge-backed once, with the help of Visa, for almost $2k. Laz-y-Boy furniture refused to budge on lousy fabric that began fading/stretching, looking old within 3 days of delivery (sept.). Brought a cushion into the store where I was quickly hustled out.

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.

@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.

and sometimes, you're just going to lose.

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.

Lovely consumer protections we enjoy??? Er....which protections would those be?

@idip:

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?

@Felix the Cat:

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.

@Felix the Cat: I've returned a few things to Target without a receipt and they gave store credit. Course, that's just this local Target. Others have been less helpful.

I did a chargeback with MasterCard (from Chase) for over $600 and it was approved no problem.

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.

@Coles_Law: Would that cause problems with the warranty, though?

Who even uses chargebacks all that frequently? Personally, I don't have enough serious disputes with merchants to need it. But then again I make a point of only patronizing places that I know won't jerk me around.

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").

@Brian James Schend:
It's not really Target's responsibility to refund "Defective" merchandise. The manufacturer of the blender has a warranty, you should be calling them if it's broken and no longer inside the return window. Taking it back to Target is just laziness on your part.

@verucalise: That's not entirely true...If you leave a chargeback open or unresolved for long enough, the credit card company will report the entire account as 'in dispute' and you will see it on your credit report. Fortunately, it goes away once the 'dispute' is resolved

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.)

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.

@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've only had to perform two chargebacks (Vonage wouldn't let me cancel so I forced them to cancel me) since I usually can persuade them to give me a refund or fix the issue. I'm not extremely picky just as long as I see the company is trying (even if half ass).

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.

@Felix the Cat:

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

@Esquire99: I disagree. Target sold him something that was supposed to work. If it doesn't work then they took his money without honoring their side of the deal and it's totally their responsibility.

@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...

@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.