Consumerist
-
health insurance
Man Gets $10,000 Back From Insurance Company Thanks To Metafilter
We readily admit that there are places on the Internet other than Consumerist where one can harness the Internet hive mind to solve consumer issues. Ask Metafilter user Jason sought help when his former insurance company wouldn't stop auto-billing him, and emerged victorious, collecting the $10,000 he was wrongly charged...plus interest! More » -
furniture
What Do You Do When Family Friends Don't Provide The Furniture You Already Paid For?
Ryan is stuck in a bad situation. His father is friends with a the guy who owns a local furniture store, and the store has failed to deliver some custom-made furniture that was fully paid for up front as a goodwill gesture. Now Ryan wants the order canceled, but the owner and his wife are refusing to cooperate. More » -
chargebacks
Store Goes Out Of Business Before Delivering Crib
Christopher and his wife bought a crib through a local store, and two and half months later they still haven't received it. Now the store is going out of business, and Christopher isn't sure what he can do to get his money back. More » -
ripoffs
HealthyBack Forces Free Pillows On Customer, Then Charges Him $120
Tony bought a Tempur-Pedic mattress from healthyback.com last December, and they sent him two pillows as a "free gift." Tony didn't want the pillows, but HealthyBack refused to take them back, and assured him they were part of a promotion.
When he tried to return the mattress, HealthyBack charged him $120 for the non-returnable pillows. More »
-
chargebacks
ImLive.com: Disputing An Erroneous $450 Porn Charge Is A "Serious Violation Of Our Terms Of Use"
Someone hacked reader E's account on the adult site ImLive.com and bought up $450 worth of credits. By the time E. caught the charge, half of the credits had already been used. When E. informed the site that he was planning to file a chargeback with his credit card company, he was warned that doing so would be "considered a serious violation of our terms of use." The site's suggested alternative was simple: they would restore the used credits, and E. could watch lots and lots of porn. More » -
insiders
Top 10 Reasons Your Chargeback Will Be Denied
A reader who works in the chargeback section of a major credit card company has just about had enough with people tossing around "chargeback! chargeback!" as the solution to every customer service problem. While it is a great tool, you gotta make sure you use it right. To help you do that, here's our credit card company insider's guide to the top 10 reasons why your chargeback will get rejected. More »
8:00 AM on Wed May 6 2009
By Ben Popken
0 views, 116 commentsMost discussed Felix the Cat: I don't recall ever getting declined for any chargeback, but then I don't misuse the system and if I had more »
-
chargebacks
Woman Who Missed Obama's Inauguration Starts $10,000 AmEx Chargeback
See, here's why you pay for big ticket items with a credit card. A Chicagoan who gave $10,000 to the Presidential Inauguration Committee (PIC) back in January to secure a spot at Barack Obama's swearing in, never got to see the event because of the security and crowd-control clusterfrak. Unfortunately, the PIC has ceased to exist, and has basically taken a "sorry about that, but thanks for your money" attitude, so she initiated a chargeback. The Washington Post reports:
American Express has given her an "interim" refund in full, pending a review that will involve the credit card company presenting to PIC officials all of Blessman's documentation on the services she feels she was denied.
"One Spurned Purple Ticket Holder Claims Victory" [Washington Post] (Thanks to Megan!) (Photo: Patricia Jones Blessman)
-
dsw
DSW's Dirty Trick Backfires; Now Customer Has Free Shoes
DSW is playing dirty with Brook, who tried to legitimately order two pairs of shoes on January 30th. Due to an error on DSW's side, the order was never fulfilled. He called and resolved the problem and they re-processed the order, but a few days later DSW decided to send the order a second time, and this time they jacked up the price by $20. They won't let him cancel the order and say they'll only refund the smaller of the two amounts if he returns it. Surprise, DSW! According to the FTC, you just sent Brook some free shoes. More » -
-
journalism
Reporter Pays Double MSRP For G1 Phone, Uses Flashmob To Get Revenge
A Time Out New York reporter paid nearly double MSRP for a new G1 phone she bought off Times Square from Cellular Stop. After she realized she'd been had (internet access and texting were sold to her as "add-ons"), she went back to the store asking for an explanation. Instead, she says, six clerks began circling her and her friends, screaming and cursing and threatening to "break" their "fucking faces." Her friend was tossed against a wall and another clerk tried to smash her camera. More » -
customer service
ALDO: Sorry For Sending Wrong, Broken Sunglasses, Here's Free Shipping (But No Refund)
I ordered some sunglasses from ALDO. They arrived in a bubble-mailer, with a broken bridge. They were also the wrong color. I filled out their online return request and selected "defective" from the dropdown box. A couple days later they replied with their compensation "offer" - free shipping off my next order. Um, no. Making their offer even less satisfactory, ALDO just sent me a separate email general promotional email with a coupon code for free shipping. So I replied back describing the situation in more detail and asking point-blank for a full-refund. If they don't give me a refund, I'll do a chargeback.
UPDATE: ALDO Refunds My Sunglass Money
-
weddings
Dressless Brides Picket Bankrupt Millburn NJ Bridal Shop
About 10 women who paid up to $4,000 for dresses they never received picketed the bankrupt Calvary Bridal House in Millburn, NJ this past weekend, screaming and holding hand-made signs that said things like "Fraud" "Scam" and ""Bride in stress, where's my dress?" More » -
southwest airlines
Do The Math, Southwest: 25-Minute Layover, 20-Minute Security Screening
Tsk tsk, Brandon, obviously you failed in your responsibility to wear Velcro sneaker when flying Southwest Airlines. Otherwise you wouldn't be in this mess. Brandon writes:
...I flew from Sacramento to the connection hub in San Diego, where I had a 25 minute layover. While I would not have chosen a 25-minute layover,
Southwest doesn't give you your flight times until you've booked....the two gates were in separate parts of the building, separated by security...UPDATE: Brandon got a refund after a Southwest rep on Twitter saw the story on Consumerist. (He also agrees his statement about not getting the flight times was incorrect, details inside... More »
-
bannings
Newegg.com Holds Woman's Account Hostage Until She Gets Her Brother To Reverse Chargeback
Newegg seemed to think Jenn was responsible for her brother's chargeback with them. When she tried to place an order using her own name and credit card number, but with the same shipping address as her brother, her account was suspended. Jenn figured she could resolve the problem with a conversation or two with Newegg's customer service department, but as you'll see from the transcript below, Newegg's CSR blatantly says Jenn's account won't be approved until her brother reverses his chargeback. More » -
bad company
Company Bills Customer For Chargeback
After Ilan successfully filed a chargeback on a company, the company decided to bill him directly for the amount that was refunded. What's even sneakier is the company (which Ilan didn't name) waited until after they reported the matter resolved to the Better Business Bureau. Now Ilan's wondering what options he has to fight back. More » -
chargebacks
Chargebacks Have Geographical Limitations
Longtime Consumerist reader TBT read the fine print for a credit card she recently opened with Bank of America, and discovered that buried in pages 13 and 14 is a section that limits your right to request a chargeback to your home state or within 100 miles of your home address, and only for purchases over $50. He found this shocking, but, actually, this is a limitation provided by the Fair Credit Billing Act. If you dislike it, here's a great post of ours on writing effective letters to Congress. -
chargebacks
The Chargeback Blacklist
The ChargeBackBureau sells merchants a blacklist with names of customers who have done chargebacks. Merchants are supposed to be able to access its lists and deny transactions to customers if they see they're chargeback-prone. When a consumer is put on the list, they get sent an email warning them they're "going to have trouble purchasing goods or services on the Internet in the future." ChargeBackBureua's headquarters are conveniently located in Panama, which is convenient for its American clients, as such databases are illegal in the US. Chargebacks are an important tool for consumers to fight back against merchants who won't give you what you paid for. Here's how to do one. If a merchant won't do business with you because you stood up for your rights before, then you shouldn't do business with them either.
Dispute charges at your peril [SFChron]
-
terms and conditions
Merchant Tries To Forbid Chargebacks
A reader wrote in to ask us if we've ever seen anything like the "Chargeback Abuse Policy" that Luxury Car Tuning in Las Vegas includes in their terms—"You agree not to file a credit card or debit card chargeback with regard to any purchase," and if you do anyway, you have to pay any fees that normally the merchant must pay when dealing with a chargeback. The reader wants to know, "Is this allowed by any merchant agreement that you know of? Sounds pretty ridiculous to me. How likely would it be that they could get away with this?" More » -
airlines
4 Hints For Getting Your Ticket Money Back When The Airline Goes Bankrupt
We got passed a communique from the Fiserv debit-card processing company to its clients that offers some insights for consumers concerned about getting their money back if they have bought tickets on an airline that has gone bankrupt (as several have recently). Here's the takeaways:
- Chargebacks can be filed on all tickets, whether they were purchased directly from the airline or from a third-party
- You don't have to take a replacement flight offered by another carrier if you don't want to
- You have 120 days from the date of expected travel to file a chargeback
- Depending on merchant policy, travel insurance may be transferable or redeemable
(Photo: Getty)
chargebacks
New York, 7:21 PM
Fri Jul 3
26 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@consumerist.com
Co-Executive Editor:
Ben Popken
Email | AIM | Twitter
Co-Executive Editor:
Meghann Marco
Email | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Chris Walters
Email | Twitter
Weekend Editor:
Carey Greenberg-Berger
Email | AIM
Associate Editor:
Alex Chasick | Email
Assistant Editor:
Laura Northrup
Email | AIM | Twitter
Comments Moderator:
Email | AIM
Contributing Editors:
Lucy Bayly | Email
Phil Villarreal | Email
