Manage disputes on Easol
Managing disputes is crucial for your business. This guide covers the dispute process on Easol, from notification to resolution. Understand how to provide evidence, prevent common disputes, and handle dispute enquiries and refunds on disputed payments.
What is a dispute?
A dispute (also known as a chargeback) occurs when a customer questions a payment with their card issuer. When a dispute is raised, the transaction is reversed, and the funds are held by our payment processor, along with a dispute fee levied by the card network. This will be deducted from your account balance and recorded on your weekly statement for the sales period in which the dispute is raised.
You’ll also receive a notification via email of the new disputed transaction. The email will contain a link to a Disputed Payments report so you can track the details and status of the transaction.
For each dispute, there is a dispute resolution process where you can present a case to prove that the charge was valid and encourage the card network to uphold the transaction. The notification email from the Easol team will request all available evidence to support your case.
Evidence that clearly ties the cardholder to your experience, and therefore the transaction, builds the strongest case. This could include communications with the customer, proof of their attendance in person, or evidence that the same card was used onsite at the experience.
Tip: Tailor the evidence you provide to the dispute reason code to build the strongest case. See the Dispute category type table below for more tips on preventing and overturning specific reason codes.
Easol will submit evidence on your behalf before a deadline set by the card issuer. If the dispute is resolved in your favour, the awarded amount and any associated fees will be adjusted back to your balance on your next weekly statement.
Note: The card issuer may elect to return the full or a partial amount of the total disputed amount.
If the dispute is resolved in the customer’s favour, the funds are returned to the customer and the levied fees are upheld. This decision is final, and there is no option to appeal the ruling.
Please note that no action will be taken on the booking in the event of a dispute being raised and/or resolved. It is at your discretion how you wish to manage the booking.
What is a dispute enquiry?
Some card networks will initiate a dispute enquiry before raising a formal dispute. This is more common for American Express or Discover cards. MasterCard and VISA no longer raise enquiries.
If an enquiry is raised, you’ll be notified via email and have the same opportunity to submit evidence to answer the card issuer’s enquiry.
In the event of a dispute enquiry, you may also wish to reach out to the customer to clarify the circumstances of the payment and potentially avoid a formal dispute.
Tip: Typically, enquiries are raised because a customer doesn’t recognise a transaction on their statement. Update your Statement Descriptor via Settings > General > Payments to help customers easily identify your payments and avoid disputes.
If the card issuer determines the evidence provided to be satisfactory, the case can be resolved without incurring a dispute fee. If not, the enquiry will be escalated to a formal dispute.
Alternatively, upon receiving the enquiry, creators may opt to refund the payment in full to mitigate the risk of a formal dispute being raised.
Note: the payment must be refunded in full to avoid a chargeback. Enquiries on partially refunded transactions can still become a formal dispute.
Can I refund a disputed payment?
Once a cardholder initiates a formal dispute, it is no longer possible to process a refund on the charge.
Similarly, a cardholder cannot initiate a dispute on a charge that has already been refunded in full. That said, if the payment has been partially refunded, the cardholder can initiate a dispute for the unrefunded amount.
If the card issuer initiates a dispute enquiry before a formal dispute, you are able to refund the payment, rather than submitting evidence, to avoid a formal dispute. If a full refund is completed on a charge before the enquiry escalates to a dispute, the cardholder is no longer able to dispute it.
Note: If a refund has been requested but not marked as Completed, the customer can still dispute the charge. A full refund must be completed to protect against a dispute. You can verify the status of a refund request in the booking timeline.
What if a cardholder raised a dispute by mistake?
We always recommend reaching out to your customer as a first step to try and resolve the dispute directly.
If a cardholder notifies you that they disputed the payment by mistake, please encourage them to contact their card issuer to withdraw the dispute.
Note: Most card issuers allow the cardholder to withdraw a formal dispute after raised; however, dispute enquiries cannot be withdrawn. That said, a cardholder may be able to decline to escalate the enquiry into a formal dispute.
Even if a dispute is due to be withdrawn, we recommend treating the dispute as normal and Easol will still submit a response on your behalf to demonstrate the validity of the transaction.
Many card issuers consider the failure to provide evidence as an admission of liability on your part. Therefore, even if the cardholder does withdraw the dispute, it may be lost if no response is received.
As such, we recommend sharing all evidence, particularly the correspondence about the cardholder’s intention to withdraw the dispute, with our team to be included as part of the resolution process.
Once the response is submitted, a withdrawn dispute follows the normal timeline, and the issuer will provide a won or lost decision in up to four months.
Understanding dispute statuses
Needs response
This is a new dispute whereby evidence has not yet been submitted as part of the dispute resolution process. Review the reason codes below and provide as much compelling evidence as possible to support@easol.com.
Under review
The dispute is now pending the card issuer’s final decision. Any evidence available will have been submitted on your behalf by Easol and cannot be edited at this stage. Please note it can take up to 3 months for the card issuer to deliver their response.
Won
The dispute has been resolved in your favour. The awarded amount and any associated fees will be adjusted back to your balance on your next upcoming weekly statement.
Partially Won
The dispute has been resolved in your favour but the card issuer has chosen to only award a portion of the disputed amount. The remaining amount will be returned to the customer.
Lost
The dispute has been resolved in the customer’s favour, the funds have been refunded to the customer and the levied dispute fees upheld. This decision is final and there is no option to appeal the ruling.
Accepted
You choose not to fight the dispute and as such the cardholder was refunded and the dispute fee charged. It may be the payment was determined to be fraudulent or the customer was legitimately entitled to a refund. Easol will only accept a dispute on your behalf if specifically advised.
Understanding dispute reason codes
| Reason Code | Description | Tips to prevent and overturn |
| Fraudulent | The most common dispute reason whereby the customer claims that they didn’t authorise the payment. The cardholder may have failed to recognize a legitimate charge on their statement and raised the dispute in error, or they might have genuinely been a victim of someone using their card fraudulently. |
Ensure your statement descriptor is easily recognisable helps customers associate a charge with your business. Provide evidence that the legitimate cardholder made the payment such as customer communication. |
| Credit not processed | The customer claims they’re entitled to a full or partial refund because they returned the purchased product or didn’t fully use it, or the transaction was otherwise cancelled or not fully fulfilled, but you haven’t yet provided a refund or credit. |
Ensure you’ve added your Terms & Conditions to make your cancellation policy explicit to customers. Provide evidence that shows the customer has already been refunded or that the customer was aware of, and isn’t entitled to a refund, per your T&Cs |
| Duplicate | The customer claims they were charged multiple times for the same product or service. | Provide evidence that each payment was for a separate product or part of an instalment plan. |
| Product not received | The customer claims they did not receive the products or services purchased. |
Ensure your support email address is available on your website to make it easy for customers to get in touch in the event of an issue. Provide evidence that the product was in fact received, for example show that customer attended the experience in person, such as ticket check-ins. |
| Product unacceptable | The customer received the product but claims it was defective or not as described at purchase. | Use Merchandising fields when setting up your products to ensure that description of your products is comprehensive, complete and accurate. |
| Subscription cancelled | The customer claims that you continued to charge them after a subscription was cancelled. |
If using Payment Plans, ensure your cancellation and refund policies are explicit in your Terms & Conditions. Provide evidence that shows the customer’s plan is still active or or that the customer was aware of, and hasn’t followed,your T&Cs |
| Unrecognised | The customer doesn’t recognize the payment appearing on their card statement. This is similar to the Fraudulent reason code. |
Ensure your statement descriptor is easily recognisable helps customers associate a charge with your business.
Provide evidence that the legitimate cardholder made the payment such as customer communication. |
| General | This is an uncategorised dispute, we recommend contacting the customer for additional details about the dispute. This should be a fairly rare instance. |
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.