Don't Expect VISA to Bail you out.

[BrandonsZ]

In May last year I got an unauthorized charge of around $40 to my VISA. The business in question double charged me for a tool I bought. So I call them up, work it out and .... never get credit for it.

 

I basically forget about it till December when I recieve another tool! I think, what the heck is this a bomb? I throw caution to the wind and open it and it is a returned tool from another guy with christmas wrapping paper around it and is placed in another box from the company and sent to me.

 

Now I'm a little perterbed because I remember they never credited me and now this? So I call them up and they say they will credit and gave me a code from ups to return. I remind them of the previous charge and they agree it needs to be credited.

 

So on my next credit bill I see a credit from the business, AND ANOTHER CHARGE!

 

So at this point they charged me three times and credited once for the same tool.

 

At this point I go straight to the credit card company (VISA) and ask them to stop payment. They agree and I turn in the necessary paperwork and a letter stating the situation. I pay up my card and leave out the roughly $40. On my next statement, there's the $40 and a finance charge of ~$3.

 

I call them again, explein everything again and they say it'll take 15 business days to remove the charge. I stop using the card and about 30 days later (in early February) I get the next bill. It's still there $40. So now I have to pay it to avoid a black mark on my credit and after three more conversations with VISA they still get confused, don't know what's going on, say it's going to take 15 business days to resolve.

 

It seems they have a new method of avoiding to stop payment. (Remember if they stop payment, they lose 3% on the deal)

 

1. They tell you to wait 15 business days.

2. They make you explain it to a different person every time.

3. No one knows who any of the other people you talk to are and can't get you transferred to them.

4. Eventaully you have to pay and then they are confused that you have no outstanding charge on your card. (nothing to stop)

5. Finally they say that your must stop payment within 30 days, don't know who you talked to or if they even work there, have no record of any previuos transaction or conversation, even though I carefully wrote down the name and number of everyone I talked to and their supervisor's name, these names don't seem to exist past that conversation.

 

 

Next step call the business again and ask for my money back, again.

[Dan Juday]

You have to get their attention.

 

Cancel the card immediately by mail. Cut up the card and send it with your last statement and a check for any outstanding balance, valid or not, and include a detailed letter explaining everything with names and dates.

 

If the balance is too high to payoff transfer it to another card. (This is even better as they see your business go to a competitor).

 

You will get a phone call in short order from someone who can fix the problem NOW and not in 15 days.

 

They want your future business more than the $40 or the 3%.

 

Trust me, this works.

[JMortensen]

There is a form on the back of every credit card statement that is specifically for disputing charges. Disputing charges should be done as a last resort, because it costs the merchant money. Anyone with a problem on their bill should always call the merchant and try to work it out FIRST. There is however a time limit. You can't say you had a fraudulent charge a year ago and have them take care of it. I think the reason why the dispute form is on the statement is so that you can dispute the charge BEFORE you pay the bill. So basically you have 30 days IIRC.

 

Visa/MC/AMEX/Discover basically all have the same protection for the cardholder, but Visa/MC are definitely more customer oriented, and AMEX/Discover are more merchant oriented. You have to play by their rules though.

[Clifton]

It's an unauthorized charge. Don't even call the tool company. Call the CC company. I had an issue with Clutchspecialties not refunding me, after the second call and no results I gave up. Called Visa and they took care of it. make sure you know who you talked to and when. They will ask.

[JMortensen]

It's an unauthorized charge. Don't even call the tool company. Call the CC company. I had an issue with Clutchspecialties not refunding me, after the second call and no results I gave up. Called Visa and they took care of it. make sure you know who you talked to and when. They will ask.

I agree with you in this case, because they've screwed him a couple times already, and I've seen enough other businesses that run the same kind of scam hoping people won't notice the charge, or will be confused and if there is more than one person making orders with that card they may not know whether the order was legit or not.

 

In general though, don't just dispute a charge. It's a prickish thing to do if the merchant is legit. I used to work for a LARGE (legit) mailorder company, and it really pissed me off when people would dispute a charge without even calling us first. FWIW, if a merchant gets over 4% of their charges disputed, or has 3% of their charges reversed for unauthorized charges, Visa/MC regs say that their merchant account will be shut down completely. That used to be my job for a while. Shutting off accounts and holding money. You want to talk to a PISSED OFF criminal, take $250,000 from his bank account and tell him you're putting it in a holding account until you can verify the charges. Kinda fun when you were SURE they were criminals, but it was pretty stressful when you weren't sure!!!

[BrandonsZ]

I followed every peice of advise here except cutting the card up and sending it to them. The CC company has their thumbs up their a**es. I get a different person every time and every time they don't know who anyone else is and their manager/supervisor is not in.

 

They haven't taken care of it. Today they told me it should be off my account "within 24 hours".

 

I expect to call them again tomorrow, in 24 hours and one minute.

 

I had to call the vendor again for the third time and they again said they'd credit me. Now I have to be sure I don't get two credits.

 

It's getting worse, one of the people at the CC was so pissed at me they hung up on the vendor when we were all on the phone and I painstakingly tried to explain it again.

 

I don't think all the people at the CC company are literate.

[Guest norm[T12SDSUD]]

I must have one of the BEST CARDS IN THE WORLD!!

 

 

My Pentagon Federal Credit Union Credit Card.

 

One January while checking my statement I see that JC Whitney had illegally signed me up for their $79 USA discount plan.

 

GUESS WHAT??

 

I check my one year old January statement and the baztards had chraged me over a year ago and I didn't catch it!!

 

Long and short is that I wrote my PFCU credit card department and 3 weeks later they gave me a $158 credit PLUS interest accrued!!

 

Now THAT'S a GREAT COMPANY!!