Chargebacks are a not-so-fun aspect of accepting payments online, and we are here to help guide you through what to expect if you do receive one. We also have a few tips on how to help prevent getting a chargeback in the first place.
What Is a Chargeback (or Payment Dispute)?
A chargeback, also referred to as a payment dispute, occurs when a cardholder questions a transaction and asks their card-issuing bank to reverse it. The ability to dispute a payment is meant to protect consumers from unauthorized transactions, but it can mean big headaches for businesses, especially when they’re issued in error.
When a chargeback happens, the disputed funds are held from the business until the card issuer works things out and decides what to do. If the bank rules against you, those funds are returned to the cardholder. If the bank rules in your favor, they’ll send the disputed funds back to you.
Unfortunately, this can be a complicated and time-consuming process involving a lot of paperwork and documentation.
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I've gotten a chargeback—what do I do?
Built-in processor/Clearent businesses:
While you can always count on Schedulicity Rockstars to help guide you through the chargeback process, our partner- Clearent (Merlink-chargebacks) will send you a letter in the mail that will list the chargeback situation as well as the amount of time you have to dispute the chargeback. Clearent is your chargeback sidekick, and feel free to lean on them for any questions about how to take your dispute head-on 866-637-5467. 🔮
If you've received a notice from Clearent that a client has initiated a chargeback, here are two steps you can take to help dispute the situation:
Act quickly - you'll want to act in a timely manner to have the best chance of winning the dispute.
Be thorough in providing the right documentation - that means check and double-check that you're providing all the info Clearent is requesting and if you have extra documentation that will further help your dispute, it's always a good idea to send that too!
As a heads up, you can log into: https://merlinkresponse.com/ and upload the necessary documentation for your chargeback or you can mail or fax the documentation to Clearent, in order to keep things as secure as can be! 📩 From there, they'll take care of you during the entire chargeback process!
From the Schedulicity side of things, give us a shout if we can help with any screenshots as here's some helpful information to grab:
Make sure your appointment confirmation emails are up to date with your No-Show Policy. You can book a test appointment and email the confirmation to yourself to see what your policy contains, and then take a screenshot and send that to Clearent.
Update your Business Listing to display your No-Show Policy.
Any time a client books an appointment for a service that has a "Hold with a Credit Card" or "Deposit", the confirmation email for their booking will include your No-Show policy. Make sure each of your service are set up for hold cc or deposit so clients will be sure to know of your policy as soon as they book their appointment.
Chargeback Fees
Even if/when you win a chargeback dispute, chargeback fees still apply. There will be a $15 handling (Clearent fee) on the 5th of the following month.
Chargeback Timeline
Generally speaking, the chargeback process can differ between payment processors, and it traditionally takes between 60–90 days to resolve.
Stripe businesses:
If you're a Canadian user with Stripe, and you received notice of a chargeback, Stripe will be your go-to for questions there. Check out the link below to their support page to help guide you through the process. 🚗
Stripe support: https://support.stripe.com/
What can I do to help prevent chargebacks?
Understanding chargebacks and why they happen is the first step to preventing them. There are three types of situations that can cause a client to initiate a chargeback:
Credit card fraud – The customer’s credit card information was stolen
Friendly fraud - Forgetting about the purchase, not recognizing your business name, displeased with product or service, and unclear return, no-show, or pre-pay policy.
Merchant or Processing Errors - This may include accidentally double-charging a customer, entering the wrong information or amount of a purchase.
Whatever the case, here are a few ways to help prevent them from happening. Check it out! 👇
The first and best thing you can do to help avoid a chargeback is have your no-show policy, cancellation policy and return policy posted and visible in as many places as possible, such as your business listing page, your website, and in the confirmation emails clients receive for their booking. You can always adjust your policies here within Schedulicity. Also, take a peek at waivers if you want to make sure clients are acknowledging all your policies.
A lot of business owner’s overlook this simple step of making sure your Business name is correct on your Credit Card Receipts - sometimes a client might not recognize your name if it’s different on your credit card receipts. Also, having a phone number visible on your Business Listing will help give a client an easy way to reach out with any questions on their charges. If you need to change your Business name with our built-in processor, please reach out to us and we'll help get that updated with Clearent.
Lastly, when you've finished checking your client out, it's always a good practice to email them the itemized receipt right away so they have a copy of it for their records.
What's Next?
If you have any questions on chargebacks in general, or if there's anything we can lend a hand with along the way, feel free to drop us a line to chat.
Learn how to adjust your account policies here!
Check out this blog post on Chargebacks 101.