Disputing a CC charge procedure

[Chuckanut]

I have a question regarding a disputed CC charge. The situation is a bit unusual so I will go over that first.

A National Park concessionaire is telling me that it cannot cancel my June reservation and refund my deposit because my name is not on the reservation that was made. It's under a different person's name. That is news to me. I have their email confirmation that lists my name, and the first night's deposit was billed to my credit card. I then emailed the concessionaire my confirmation email and my request to cancel and refund. So far I have heard nothing.

The deposit was made using my Citi Bank Visa card. I went online and disputed the charge answering all the questions they put to me. However, nowhere in the dispute process was I asked to provide any documentation of my position. Is this normal? I am concerned that the concessionaire will tell them something incorrect and my dispute will be rejected.

Any advice from those who have gone through the process would be appreciated.

 

[audreyh1]

I think you should call the number on the back of the card and talk with someone at the CC company about your dispute.

 

[jollystomper]

When I had a similar type of dispute a few years ago, I filled out the online form and called the CC company (Chase in this case). Their procedure was to contact the vendor, and if the vendor provided proof then they would come back to me and ask for my documentation. I was prepared, but the vendor either never responded to Chase or did not have adequate proof, and the charge was taken off.

 

[njhowie]

If the reservation is not under your name, and your credit card was used, then when you call your credit card company to dispute the charge you simply say "It was obviously a fraudulent charge as my name is not on the reservation". Say you called and tried to resolve but they refuse.

I understand that you did make the reservation, etc., etc. but if the merchant says otherwise, then fine - someone else obviously/fraudulently made the reservation using your credit card.

 

[Sunset]

If the reservation is not under your name, and your credit card was used, then when you call your credit card company to dispute the charge you simply say "It was obviously a fraudulent charge as my name is not on the reservation". Say you called and tried to resolve but they refuse.

I understand that you did make the reservation, etc., etc. but if the merchant says otherwise, then fine - someone else obviously/fraudulently made the reservation using your credit card.

I absolutely love these type of logic wins.

 

[HarveyS]

Why not call and say you are the person who the reservation was made by. You have the email so I assume you have all the relevant information. Then ask to cancel. The refund will go to the payment type that the original charge was made to.

 

[CoolRich59]

I vote for calling as well in the hope that you're connecting to a customer service rep who has some knowledge of how these processes work.

Last year, I made a hotel reservation via a third party app (Hotel Tonight). Got to the hotel where they asked for my credit card in case of "incidentals". No problem. When I got home, the hotel had charged me for the room despite my having already paid via Hotel Tonight. I called the hotel, they said they'd reverse the charge, but didn't.

I called my credit card issuer to dispute the charge. The customer service rep pointed out that, if he disputed the hotel's charge, the hotel could simply provide documentation showing that I did stay at the hotel and then they would then have to honor the charge. Instead, he disputed the charge from Hotel Tonight. He told me that it would be on Hotel Tonight to look into the dispute and sort out why their charge was correct and that the hotel was wrong in charging me.

He was right. Once the dust settled, the hotel reversed the charge and the Hotel Tonight charge was reinstated.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

There is no need to call them. For the most part, there is no documentation required initially but if the vendor says the dispute is incorrect, THEN the CC will ask you for documentation. I have disputed 4 charges this year alone (two different CC companies) and only one has asked for further documentation.

 

[Aerides]

The deposit was made using my Citi Bank Visa card. I went online and disputed the charge answering all the questions they put to me. However, nowhere in the dispute process was I asked to provide any documentation of my position. Is this normal? I am concerned that the concessionaire will tell them something incorrect and my dispute will be rejected.

that's how it works. You dispute, they chargeback. The merchant will counter, and you will get rebilled. Then you get to appeal their counter.

You'd be better off calling your CC bank and might get a chance to explain the whole story. I wouldn't try to claim Fraud since the card wasn't lost, and it's not fraud, and that could back fire on you with the bank. CC's don't like it when someone claims fraud...fraudulently.

 

[Chuckanut]

Why not call and say you are the person who the reservation was made by. You have the email so I assume you have all the relevant information. Then ask to cancel. The refund will go to the payment type that the original charge was made to.

I have no idea who that other person is. Other than it is not me. My email clearly shows my name as the person who made the reservation.

 

[CaliKid]

This is simple. You contest and they take it off your bill. IF the company disputes your dispute then it gets re-billed and they ask you to provide documentation. I just went through this recently. First time I ever had a company dispute the dispute.

 

[youbet]

I have a question regarding a disputed CC charge. The situation is a bit unusual so I will go over that first.

A National Park concessionaire is telling me that it cannot cancel my June reservation and refund my deposit because my name is not on the reservation that was made. It's under a different person's name. That is news to me. I have their email confirmation that lists my name, and the first night's deposit was billed to my credit card. I then emailed the concessionaire my confirmation email and my request to cancel and refund. So far I have heard nothing.

The deposit was made using my Citi Bank Visa card. I went online and disputed the charge answering all the questions they put to me. However, nowhere in the dispute process was I asked to provide any documentation of my position. Is this normal? I am concerned that the concessionaire will tell them something incorrect and my dispute will be rejected.

Any advice from those who have gone through the process would be appreciated.

In the two issues I've had, the collecting party did not fight the dispute and that ended it. If the collecting party denied the dispute, then the credit card company would have asked me for further documentation. I think many disputes go quickly in favor of the payor and the CC company saves time and energy not handling unneeded documentation from the get-go.

 

[youbet]

I have no idea who that other person is. Other than it is not me. My email clearly shows my name as the person who made the reservation.

Did you book this on rec.gov? If so, does your account show the reservation? If their system sent the email confirmation to you but logged it in someone else's account (zero clue how that could happen), then there is the potential for this to get complicated.

Was this a campsite or a lodge room?

The other slightly complicating factor is that you should be given your one night deposit minus a cancellation fee. With this dispute, the whole charge will be taken off your account. You'll save the cancellation fee! I doubt the concessionaire will like that.

 

[target2019]

I have a question regarding a disputed CC charge. The situation is a bit unusual so I will go over that first.

A National Park concessionaire is telling me that it cannot cancel my June reservation and refund my deposit because my name is not on the reservation that was made. It's under a different person's name. That is news to me. I have their email confirmation that lists my name, and the first night's deposit was billed to my credit card. I then emailed the concessionaire my confirmation email and my request to cancel and refund. So far I have heard nothing.

The deposit was made using my Citi Bank Visa card. I went online and disputed the charge answering all the questions they put to me. However, nowhere in the dispute process was I asked to provide any documentation of my position. Is this normal? I am concerned that the concessionaire will tell them something incorrect and my dispute will be rejected.

Any advice from those who have gone through the process would be appreciated.

I disputed a charge recently, that went through PayPal. PayPal was no help, so I disputed through Discover CC. There was an upload function so I sent the receipt PDF.

Your situation is more complicated I think. It will be interesting to see how our disputes are handled. My vendor does not answer phone, email, or web query. PayPal has no online way I could find to dispute. Also, I did not login to my PP account to make the purchase. That may have been a mistake by me, but we'll see if the $80 credit on my Discover account sticks.

 

[njhowie]

PayPal has no online way I could find to dispute.

1. Log in to your PayPal account
2. On the right, it has buttons for Send, Request, and More, click on More
3. Choose the last option for Go To Resolution Center
4. Click Report a Problem
5. Go from there

 

[target2019]

The purchase was not made from my PayPal account. The charge is not there, so can't be disputed.

 

[njhowie]

The purchase was not made from my PayPal account. The charge is not there, so can't be disputed.

I guess I'm confused then as to how your charge "went through Paypal". Are you saying the merchant has Paypal as their credit card processor and it showed up on your credit card statement as billing from Paypal even though you gave your card number directly to the merchant?

 

[gwraigty]

I've disputed charges via phone with success each time. There's a good back and forth in the conversation with the reps that allows them to get the whole story down.

 

[sengsational]

I've done several disputes with Citi. All went my way.


All I did was wait, and that's what I suggest you do. I put all my disputes in a spreadsheet with date/action records so I didn't loose track. I just wanted to make sure some time limit didn't expire while I wasn't paying attention.


You mentioned the 'just the facts' form entries. That happens on the vendor side too (probably). "Did you deliver the product or service?" they might ask.



I've had to provide additional details, and address documentation supplied by the vendor (in the more distant past).



This is like mediation, and I've found some CC issuers seem to be more on my side, but all seemed reasonably balanced.