Whenever someone has a dispute with a merchant over a credit card charge, we always suggest they attempt to issue a chargeback through their credit provider. But not all card issuers and credit card networks handle chargebacks in the exact same way.

CardHub.com surveyed all the major networks — Visa, AmEx, MasterCard, Discover — and the 10 largest credit card issuers to see how each would deal with a variety of customer disputes.

All of the institutions that replied to the survey (Visa, U.S. Bank and Chase declined to respond) stated that the money would be refunded to the customer in any case where the merchant does not reply to the chargeback dispute.

The one scenario with the widest variety of responses involves a customer who claims the merchant inflated a gratuity but does not have a copy of the receipt to prove their claim.

Wells Fargo says it will refund your money and charge back the merchant. USAA says it will credit the disputed as long as it “appears reasonable based on the amount and type of the transaction,” Discover asks the merchant for a copy of the receipt, and HSBC just flat-out says the customer is liable.

Also of interest is that while USAA will get your refund money to you by charging back the merchant, the bank says that it will go into its own pockets to refund small amounts.

Chargeback Policy Report [CardHub.com]

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