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#809751 - 09/05/07 09:47 PM [b]MERCHANT ATTEMPT TO COLLECT DEBITCARD CHARGEBAC
accountlady Offline
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 17
Once visa debit/checkcard issuer has investigated and chargedback visa debit card transactions as unauthorized. Can the merchant or thirdparty attempt to collect the amount from the cardholder?

In this particular instance the merchant did not respond to the Retrieval reguests or attempt to dispute the chargebacks.

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#809873 - 09/06/07 03:52 AM Re: [b]MERCHANT ATTEMPT TO COLLECT DEBITCARD CHARGEBAC accountlady
rlcarey Online
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rlcarey
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 85,072
Galveston, TX
If the customer owes the money to the merchant, the merchant could still sue them or pursue other collection means.
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#809882 - 09/06/07 07:35 AM Re: [b]MERCHANT ATTEMPT TO COLLECT DEBITCARD CHARGEBAC rlcarey
accountlady Offline
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 17
If the customer authorized the transactions why wouldn't the merchant respond to the retrieval request?

Per BOA cardholder has no further liability to merchant.

Per the above response, I take it that is not necessarily true.

Does the customer have a right to a copy of what the investigator based the decision on(to permanently chargeback the amount)?

This would be helpful when the customer has no idea what they were being charged for or how the merchant was able to submit the charges. i.e. did they get an authorization from visa if they considered it a "charge transaction". How does customer even know what the Investigator requested from the merchant?

I am confused as to how 0% liability would apply if the Merchant can avoid providing documentation to support the charge, fail to dispute the chargeback and then send the cardholder to collection. It would seem they would be violating visa rules. ?

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#809898 - 09/06/07 11:24 AM Re: [b]MERCHANT ATTEMPT TO COLLECT DEBITCARD CHARGEBAC accountlady
rlcarey Online
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rlcarey
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 85,072
Galveston, TX
OK - You owe me $1,000. You tell me that to just go ahead and charge my VISA card for it. I submit the charge and it is returned because you changed your mind and claimed it was unauthorized. Rather than going through all the rigmarole associated with a dispute, I just let the charge be reversed and sue you for the money.

Now, this is assuming that the original debt is legitimate in the first place, but I don't see how the fact that just because a merchant allows a charge to be reversed by VISA it would extinguish a legitimate debt owed by the customer.
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The opinions expressed here should not be construed to be those of my employer: PPDocs.com

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#810083 - 09/06/07 02:37 PM Re: [b]MERCHANT ATTEMPT TO COLLECT DEBITCARD CHARGEBAC rlcarey
SavannahOne Offline
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,163
Georgia
Agreed. Visa reversal would be a good "reason to believe inaccurate" under Fair Credit reporting if a collector threatened to report the account to the bureaus, but I would think the merchant would still have the right to pursue judgement in court if they could, in fact, prove the transaction was authorized. That said, I do not claim to be an expert on the Visa Merchant agreements and it is possible they include a waiver of pursuit on such claims. If so, that would be a "killer" defense in the judgement hearing.

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#811794 - 09/07/07 09:54 PM Re: [b]MERCHANT ATTEMPT TO COLLECT DEBITCARD CHARGEBAC SavannahOne
accountlady Offline
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 17
Sorry, just a few more questions to put the pieces together.
The transactions were processed as "checkcard" so does that mean the merchant or their processor went through visa? If so, did they have to provide information regarding what the transactions were for(i.e. did they have to provide a visa code indicating category of charge)?

If, so who can be contacted to provide the information, Visa or the Bank Investigator that investigated the charges? Also, should the charges have been processed through Visa if the proper procedure is to be followed. Should the charges have indicated type of sale? Should that have recieved an authorization number through Visa for each transaction. (customer signed up for Verify by Visa). This processor has contract with Visa.

Also, can the customer get a copy of what the investigator based his decision on?

This started as a dispute due to unauthorized transactions, where customer wanted to know what the charges were for and who the Merchant(s) was, as the charges were processed by a eprocessing company. So not even sure if the processor ever contacted the merchant that initiated the transactions. Not sure whether all from one or several merchants.

If answer not known by members here, anyone know who might have the answers.

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