Posted By: stonec
Visa chargeback - merchant dispute - 07/15/21 06:52 PM
We are trying to determine whether to honor and process a merchant dispute on behalf of a client who claims to have received a product that did not match the physical description of what they ordered.
The website the client purchased from - accessed via a link on Facebook - is no longer active, meaning we cannot locate an exact item listing nor the terms of service from the seller. So while we agree that it sounds like what they received was not what they ordered, we have no way to confirm this.
The client has worked at length with the seller, providing an extended email exchange in which the seller outlined terms for returning the product but informed the client to first wait while they did some inventory work. Later in the conversation, the seller offered our client a partial refund of 20%; a full refund would not be offered due to the high costs associated with international shipping between the US and China. Our client refused this offer, attempting to negotiate a minimum 75%. It did not appear that the seller agreed to these terms but our client still requested a shipping label and has prepared a return package, still unsent.
At this point, our client contacted us, requesting that we dispute the transaction for the full amount of the purchase, without returning the product.
My inclination is to deny this request based on the results of our client working with the merchant; they are ready to accept a return of the product for a refund of some amount. Without being provided terms that clearly state a full refund is guaranteed on all returns, I believe we have sufficient evidence that the merchant was ready to compromise and try to make things right and I feel a chargeback is not warranted. However, I am not sure where this sits within Visa's dispute rules for merchant disputes and whether we have sufficient information to submit a case for full credit.
Does anybody have advice on this situation?
The website the client purchased from - accessed via a link on Facebook - is no longer active, meaning we cannot locate an exact item listing nor the terms of service from the seller. So while we agree that it sounds like what they received was not what they ordered, we have no way to confirm this.
The client has worked at length with the seller, providing an extended email exchange in which the seller outlined terms for returning the product but informed the client to first wait while they did some inventory work. Later in the conversation, the seller offered our client a partial refund of 20%; a full refund would not be offered due to the high costs associated with international shipping between the US and China. Our client refused this offer, attempting to negotiate a minimum 75%. It did not appear that the seller agreed to these terms but our client still requested a shipping label and has prepared a return package, still unsent.
At this point, our client contacted us, requesting that we dispute the transaction for the full amount of the purchase, without returning the product.
My inclination is to deny this request based on the results of our client working with the merchant; they are ready to accept a return of the product for a refund of some amount. Without being provided terms that clearly state a full refund is guaranteed on all returns, I believe we have sufficient evidence that the merchant was ready to compromise and try to make things right and I feel a chargeback is not warranted. However, I am not sure where this sits within Visa's dispute rules for merchant disputes and whether we have sufficient information to submit a case for full credit.
Does anybody have advice on this situation?