Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Ecommerce Hosting & Discussion : Chargeback

[sponk]

I had this customer order a script of our website on november 24th. It is our business practice to manually verify each order.
Thus, I checked the IP and it matched his home state and when ordering through our system, the customer has to enter the 3-digit CVV2 number on the back of his card in order for the AUTH transaction to get approved.
So now he had access to our members area and thus the ability to download our script and utilize it.
Now he has iniated a chargeback claiming "Fraudolent Mail/Phone Order"... He must be a real smart one. I thought before you issue a chargeback, you are required to contact the company who charged your credit card and try to resolve the issue by requesting a refund. And yes, our phone number is listed with our business name on a customers billing statement.
So anyways, he never contacted us and now we have to pay a $25 fee for the chargeback. I called my merchant and he said well that is a risk you take when accepting credit cards online.
Lately now I've been calling each customer who placed an order to confirm that he did order it... but that won't help either as he could just lie and say I never ordered it. So the only way out is requesting a signature of the customer... does anyone have any suggestions?

[Corey Bryant]

Some credit card processors will issue a letter to request you refund the money. And depending on what it is for - some will just issue a chargeback.

There is really no tried & true method for preventing a chargeback @ all. Not even a sig. I used to know this one person who would go eat dinner, and then call his CC company & tell them the food was no good & he wanted his money back. They always issued a refund. Why? Because they did not want to lose him as a customer. The CC companies favor the consumer because you as a merchant are more than likely going to take credit cards or risk losing business.

[domains]

Hmm that is a pain! I have been through the same thing.
Do you have his phone number? I would give him a call and ask why he has initiated a chargeback and has not contacted your company.

It is also possible he didn't recognize the charge on his statement and simply called the CC company and had them issue the chargeback.

Good luck!

[sponk]

Damn, No I have not contacted him yet.
This should be a punishable offense if caught... and I believe it even is.

[Corey Bryant]

If in fact he is using your script on his site & if the domain name is registered to the same person & address, contact your CC processor, Loss & Prevention. Tell them what is happening. Let them look into it & see what they can do for you.

It would be different if he said the script does not do what he thought or he was not happy with the script, but since he used the word Fraud - that is a bit different.