Ever since online shopping met up with identity theft, the credit card companies have been deluged with credit card disputes. “I did not get my Amazon order” or “The eBay seller was a thief and never delivered the goods” (this actually happened to me) are common pleas made by consumers such as you and me hundreds if not thousands of times a day, to the credit card companies. So whats a lender to do?
Although you have a right to dispute a charge on your credit card account, the credit card company would like you to believe otherwise.
If you have paid for something with a credit card and did not receive it, you have the right dispute it on your credit card company. Just know that you have to dispute it within 60 days after it first appears on your credit card statement. If you dispute it, that does not mean that it comes off your credit card statement automatically, but the credit card company must investigate it. They will ask you for documentation proving your dispute. While its hard to prove a negative, you should still cooperate with the company as best as you can by providing emails, letters and any correspondence you have with the merchant.
Don’t be surprised that even after you have supplied all of your well founded documentation showing that you paid for the goods or services and did not receive them, that the credit card company declines your dispute. Yep, this happens a lot. Why? Because sometimes the credit card company, by law, has to eat the loss. No one likes to do that.
If you have a valid credit card dispute, do not back down from the credit card company.
Under the law, it has to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation into your dispute. This means that they have to talk with both you and the offending merchant. Sometimes, the merchant will respond and other times, it may not and yet the credit card company may still decline your dispute. If your dispute has been denied by the company, ask it for all documentation that it received in its investigation to show that you received the goods. You should know that the onus is on the credit card company to prove that you ordered the goods and services and that you received them. Sometime, at this phase, the credit card company will back down and credit your account, but don’t count on it.
Do NOT be daunted by the credit card company’s Chip Card Defense.
Many credit card today have chips built into them which makes them almost unreproducible. This is pretty sophisticated technology. By using the chip in your card when you purchase something at a brick and morter store, the credit card company knows that the physical card was given to you, was actually used in the transaction. Back in the early 1990s, prior to the chip technology being used, credit cards could be cloned pretty easily. Someone could scan your credit information without you even knowing about it and make a copy of your card and use it everywhere. Not so anymore with chips.
Citibank uses the chips in their cards. Several consumers have come to us complaining that their Citibank accounts were debited for thousands of dollars in goods that they did not purchase. Citibank has rebuffed these challenges by stating that a chip card was used and declined our clients’ timely posited credit card disputes. Citibank seems to forget that when it comes to online purchases such as from Microsoft, Doordash and thousands of other merchants, their chip technology does not mean a thing. Goods and services, including delicious sandwiches can all be purchased with credit card information with no chip being involved.
Moral of the story
If you have a credit card dispute:
- Be sure to timely send that dispute to your credit card company within 60 days of when the bogus charge hits your credit card account;
- Be sure that your dispute is in writing either by U.S. Mail or better yet by email;
- Do not take “No” for an answer from the credit card company;
- Call us at Credit Repair Lawyers of America and we can help you at no out of pocket charge at (404) 649-5780 since the credit card company has to pay our fees and costs in any successful action. You can also email us for more information at [email protected].
