Credit dispute

[Bflotomny]

I have had a Discover card for a few years. On several occasions I have used it online and had issues with the vendor. I immediately called Discover and put the issue into dispute with them. Each time they said they wouldn't/couldn't do anything until I contacted the vendor directly and tried to settle.Then I was told to call back in two weeks. If I hadn't tried to settle the issue directly why would I contact the credit company? Without the leverage of withholding payment through the credit card I had little or no success.
I have done the same thing with other credit cards (AE, Visa, MC) and they put the problem in dispute, give me a temporary credit, and they try to settle the issue directly with the vendor.
I just was interested if others have the same experience with Discover.

 

[GrayHare]

If you fail to dispute such issues directly with the merchant before invoking a chargeback it becomes grounds for the merchant to have your chargeback reversed, and the card company to decline your dispute.

While it appears Discover is properly advising you in this situation, they do have a reputation for screwing up the dispute process and dumping problems back on the cardholder. I try to avoid using their card.

 

[sengsational]

Discover has done well for me. I always invest at least a little time trying to get it resolved with the supplier, if only to say "yes" to the "did you try to resolve it with the supplier" question. Each time, I got a resolution in my favor with no fuss. I always write a letter, since the rules say it must be in writing.

Barclaycard, on the other hand, just made me jump through way more hoops than I thought should have been required, but I did get it resolved in my favor. Priceline did not honor their matching guarantee, so I booked through hotels.com. I paid for the same hotel, same nights, but through the site that had the lower price (hotels.com). I thought it was a slam-dunk because I had screen shots saved from my phone that clearly showed the price on hotels.com and also the chat session where they kept saying the price was not available to the public (which is clearly was).

At first, Barclaycard gave me the temporary credit, then later took it away. At that point, I re-instated my claim and waited. And waited. Finally I called and they said, "Oh, that's been resolved in the vendor's favor". What? Without bothering to tell me? So I re-instated my claim again, and said Priceline is saying this price wasn't public, but it was. What part of that screen shot is so hard to understand? Finally, they gave me the credit. We're talking a couple hundred bucks, so, for me, worth arguing about.

 

[MikeD]

I had a dispute with a vendor and Discover decided to pay them anyway and charge me. I refused to pay. Discover sued me. I went to court and the "lawyer" repping Discover didn't know about my case. The judge told us to talk to each other. I told him I wan't paying. He dropped the case. So I "won" after lots of worrying and literally about 350 to 400 phone calls from the Discover bill collectors demanding payment. I just came out where I should have been in the first place. It must've cost Discover about five thousand dollars.

I use my credit union Visa card with 2% back and I have a score of 843 last time I checked!

Mike D., Beating the System!

 

[Aerides]

If I hadn't tried to settle the issue directly why would I contact the credit company?

You'd be surprised how many people just go straight to the card co and don't try first with the merchant. Depending on the nature of the dispute, some claims do require you to first attempt with the merchant for your full rights to apply.

 

[CoolRich59]

Discover sued me. I went to court and the "lawyer" repping Discover didn't know about my case.

That is amazing. Unless you owed thousands of dollars, I can't see why they thought it would be worthwhile to hire a lawyer and go to court.

I had a dispute with Dish Network and refused to pay. They threatened to sue me and I told them 'go ahead'. Of course they didn't.

But, I turned the tables on them and complained to the BBB. Dish Network could not even produce a copy of the contract, much less any documentation showing that I had agreed to the charges they were demanding.

I ended up getting a full credit.

 

[Bflotomny]

Thank you all for your reflections on Discover. Discover came into my life as a balance transfer card that later became the card of choice because of it's cash back. I have been uncomfortable with it since my first chargeback issue with them.
Like most of you I have several other cards that can replace it with easier processes. Good bye Discover.

 

[harley]

I've got 3 Discover cards (one for the business). I pay for nearly every purchase with it (including the $1 drink at McDonald's), plus hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of items on the business card. Of course, over the many years and thousands of transactions I've had a number of issues with vendors. I have been able to resolve (guessing) 95% of them with the vendor, but on the few occasions I've had to take it to Discover, they've put it in dispute immediately and I've never had to do anything else. Usually by the next statement it's been resolved and is off my record. I think they're great!

 

[sengsational]

I had a dispute with a vendor and Discover decided to pay them anyway and charge me. I refused to pay.

I always pay in full, even if I think I don't owe it. It just makes sense to me to take that bit out of the equation. It's not like the credit card company is going to do anything different with the challenge you're making with the merchant; that department doesn't even know if your credit card bill has been paid or not. Of course I keep track of whether they've paid the vendor or not, so every month when I reconcile I'm reminded that "they still owe me" the disputed amount. And if they refused to agree with me, there's nothing stopping me from taking them to court, like you did, even though I paid in full every month. The difference is that I wouldn't be getting hounded from bill collectors.

The reality is, though, I doubt I'd go to court. I've sued once, and it totally wasn't worth the mental gnashing! I think the amount would have to be thousands, and I'd have to have an air-tight case, before I'd consider suing again.

 

[easysurfer]

Make sure you document the dispute. Once, I mistakenly paid for someone else's gas. I told gas station and discover. Got a temporary reverse charge only to later have Discover say no proof on my part.