Chargeback

markw · Post by **markw** » Fri 02 Jun, 2006 9:45 am

I have just recieved a letter from the credit card company I use saying that a customer didnt recognise a charge to his account and that unless i prove that the purchase was legitimate then they will take the money back from my account. Well thats reasonable - the customer has my goods and is just about to defraud me, and I have to prove my legitimacy. I can trace the sale back easily and reprint the sales invoice - dig through a mound of credit card bottom sheets and post it all off to prove the point. My time and effort wasted - credit card company time wasted and all by someone who couldnt remember buying goods from my shop - despite handing him his invoice and credit card top copy. Surely it should be the purchaser who should be asked to produce a bit more evidence than i cant remeber buying anything from x.

Post by **John** » Fri 02 Jun, 2006 10:54 am

Careful Mark,

I suspect that, sometimes, when the card company is unable to recover payment from the customer, they will resort to trying to stiff the vendor.
What's the betting that the signature is not a match?

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Fri 02 Jun, 2006 9:16 pm

I had an entry on my credit card last year that I did not notice until after the three month period when you can challenge a payment. The business name on the card was a company name, that told absolutely nothing about the type of business it was.

I could not remember what it was for or who the business was and could not find any receipt for it and the only way to find out was to challenge the payment and I hadn't noticed in time to do that.
The amount was $250 and I just had to suck it in and say bye bye to the money whether it was a legitimate payment or not.

If the name on your merchant account is different from your business name, you too will be confusing your customers!

markw · Post by **markw** » Sat 03 Jun, 2006 8:17 am

Osgood - you make a good point about business names - like many my business name is different from my gallery name - My invoice contains both names. It makes sense to keep these things simple but I have found that trying to change them confuses the bank far more than it does my customers.

I had this same thing happen a few years ago and it was relatively easy to prove that the transaction was legit. What alarms me now is that since chip and pin was introduced we no longer have the customers signature and so have to go to much greater lengths to prove that the customer has recieved the goods and passed over the plastic. I feel aggreived that my customers inability to keep an adequate record should make him a legitimate complainant.

I dont know if you use Chip and Pin in Oz - with its introduction came a whole raft of changes that put the emphasis on preventing fraud squarley on the shoulder of the retailer - get it wrong and you lose - not the credit card company, despite the fact that they have made it more difficult for you as a trader to identify a dodgy customer when they sign - now they just punch in four numbers.

The "dodgy" customer is coming in next week to collect some more framing work - An old man who can just about get around on two sticks - he's been a good customer for years and I know that he will be very embarrased for causing such fuss. I will point out the different business name - fasten the top copy to his invoice - and await another letter when he forgets who I am. If the card company only asked him to carefully keep all reciepts and check them off against his statement they could probably save us all a lot of trouble.