Customer claims she did not authorize two online POS disputes on her account. She gave no indication when she filed the dispute whether or not she'd previously allowed her daughter to use her card or not....but as part of our investigation we receive documentation from the merchants indicating the merchandise was delivered and the address shipped to was the address used by the customer (one order contains another local - small town address, and the second order contains the mother's address). The order details, also provided by the merchant, list the daughter's name as the customer. Can we deny this dispute and hold the mother responsible for the charges? We are a MasterCard branded card issuer.

If she claims they were unauthorized - no.

I would call the mother and let her know that you have evidence that the transactions were conducted by her daughter and let he know that if you credit mom - you will pursue the daughter for payment. Mom might then choose to withdraw her claim.

So if customer's (mother's) name and address matched on the investigation documents we received from the merchant, would this information be sufficient to support that she authorized it? Or is it all based entirely on whether she says it is authorized or not? What is considered adequate/sufficient investigation documentation to support that a customer did authorize a transaction, even if they tell us it was unauthorized??

The order details, also provided by the merchant, list the daughter's name as the customer.

You need to prove mom authorized it. The fact that the daughter stole her card and then had merchandise delivered to that address is neither here nor there.

Ok, thanks. And asking the question below more in general terms (not with regard to the specific scenario/dispute previously discussed).

What is considered adequate/sufficient investigation documentation to support that a customer did authorize a transaction, even if they tell us it was unauthorized??

Signature, if merchant provides evidence the order was placed by them personally, photographic evidence, etc.

On these types of wonky deals just make sure you don't give them another card unless you have a very good reason to do so because they have a tendency to happen again.

Our son often has gifts for his family for birthdays or Christmas delivered to our house and then hustles over here in time to wrap them and take them home with him. The delivery address is only a piece of the puzzle when you suspect there's some intra-family messing around with debit or credit cards.


Bank personnel need to be trained to ask about that possibility, not just record what the cardholder offers. If it's not mentioned in the claim, it should be part of the investigation to contact the cardholder and ask the question.

You make some valid points John, thanks for this feedback.