Customer purchases concert tickets online. When he presents tickets at the concert, he finds they are counterfeit. Does he have a claim?

It appears as if the customer is admitting that he authorized the transaction. It is not a true Reg E dispute. It must meet one of the following to be a Reg E dispute:

(a) Definition of error. (1) Types of transfers or inquiries covered. The term “error” means:

(i) An unauthorized electronic fund transfer;

(ii) An incorrect electronic fund transfer to or from the consumer's account;

(iii) The omission of an electronic fund transfer from a periodic statement;

(iv) A computational or bookkeeping error made by the financial institution relating to an electronic fund transfer;

(v) The consumer's receipt of an incorrect amount of money from an electronic terminal;

(vi) An electronic fund transfer not identified in accordance with § 1005.9 or § 1005.10(a); or

(vii) The consumer's request for documentation required by § 1005.9 or § 1005.10(a) or for additional information or clarification concerning an electronic fund transfer, including a request the consumer makes to determine whether an error exists under paragraphs (a)(1)(i) through (vi) of this section.

I concur. This is a situation to consider for chargeback rights but it is not a Reg. E error.

VISA/MasterCard do have protections for the cardholder in place in this situation. Since Reg E does not apply, you are free to require more legwork on the part of the cardholder than you could if one if the errors that James cited were to apply. You may require that the claim be in writing, or that the cardholder first try and resolve the issue with the merchant.

Since it is very likely the customer will not be able to track down the merchant, the bank may have to file VISA chargeback code 53 or MasterCard code 4853 - "Defective Merchandise/Not as Described."

Since this is not a Reg E claim, in the event the chargeback process does resolve the dispute in the merchant's favor, you will be free to revoke any provisional credit that you provide to your customer.

Also note that this would not be a claim that the transaction was unauthorized, so Visa/MasterCard zero liability provisions are not an issue.

The most important question is, what concert did they get the tickets for? If it was for Beiber they deserve what they got!

I would also close tha card. Since it's fraud, who's to say they may not try to run additional transactions or sell the card information.