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Managing Chargebacks

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Overview

Where there are purchases, there are payment disputes. As with any transaction, there’s always a risk that your guest will dispute the validity of their purchase. When a cardholder disputes a payment and contacts their bank asking for a refund, this is called a chargeback. When this happens, the disputed funds are withdrawn from your account until the dispute gets cleared.

ROLLER doesn’t decide who wins or loses a dispute - that’s up to the bank that issued your guest's credit card (like American Express or MasterCard or Visa). But our ROLLER Payments team can help you make your case to your guest's bank. 

Identifying and contacting your chargeback guest

When a cardholder (your guest) initiates a payment dispute against you, their bank will initiate a chargeback and you will be notified via email by our ROLLER Payments team.

To find details of the transaction and the guest who filed the chargeback:

  1. In Venue Manager click on the search bar at the top of the page > enter the payment reference (included in the notification of chargeback) into the search field 
  2. The booking that is linked to the transaction will be displayed and you can click into it to see guest details, payment information and more.

We suggest getting in touch with your guest and discussing the chargeback before you respond. This will allow you to clarify their issue and possibly resolve the problem directly. It’s possible that there is a misunderstanding or they simply did not recognize or remember the transaction when they viewed their statement. If you arrive at an agreement with the guest, have them send you an email confirming the agreement.

Disputing a chargeback

The requirements for defending against disputes vary depending on the reason for the dispute. For all types of dispute, you must provide documents with details of transactions to help you build a strong case to challenge the dispute. The ROLLER Payments support team will guide you with recommendations on what kind of evidence to supply for your given circumstances, but some common examples include:

  • Transaction details, usually found in the booking details view and Transactions list view, such as:
    • Confirmation email
    • Payment Amount
    • Time
    • Payment type
    • Card Brand
    • Cardholder Name
    • Masked PAN
  • Guest's digital signature (i.e on waiver)
  • Evidence the guest received the service at the agreed date and time
  • Record of previous non-disputed payments
  • Proof that the transaction in dispute has already been refunded
  • Proof that your policies and terms and conditions were conveyed to the guest

Any evidence you gather to dispute the chargeback must be submitted by the given deadline or you will automatically forfeit the dispute. You'll supply that evidence to the ROLLER Payments team, who will submit the evidence with the appropriate parties on your behalf and keep you informed of the outcome by email. 

If the chargeback is successfully overturned, the funds under dispute will be returned to you. If the chargeback is not decided in your favor, you will be debited for the chargeback amount which includes any chargeback fees from your next payout. This will be displayed in the ROLLER Pay Transactions report and ROLLER Pay Daily Summary report and the Transactions list view.

Bank Transfer chargebacks (SOFORT)

For chargebacks received from bank transfer payment methods such as Sofort there is no facilitated dispute management. There is no automated way to defend and reverse these chargebacks, e.g. there is no interbank scheme (as there is for cards, like Visa and MasterCard) that facilitates this process. No recourse is possible and funds will be returned to the account holder by default.

It is recommended you follow up with your guest to collect payment for Sofort chargebacks and/or terminate any bookings associated with the chargeback, if necessary. 

 

Defense timeframes

There are strict timeframes to exercise and defend a chargeback. The timeframes differ depending on the issuer. The notice of chargeback will include the Number of days to act (in calendar days). This will list the amount of time available in calendar days to respond to the chargeback.

 

Accepting a chargeback

While disputing a chargeback is a good idea if you have compelling evidence to submit, you may find a chargeback is filed against you that is difficult to contest, or you may decide that the amount in dispute is not worth the time and effort to fight for.

Accept the dispute to avoid a lengthy (and possibly costly) dispute process. You may want to accept the dispute if:

  • Your supporting documents do not satisfy the defense document requirements.
  • The transaction amount is not high enough to spend resources on compelling evidence.
  • The transaction amount does not outweigh the risk of losing the chargeback fee for the second booked chargeback.
  • The transaction is known to be fraudulent.
  • The shopper has returned the goods, or you have failed to deliver the goods.

You can accept the dispute and absorb the cost of the disputed funds. Do not refund the guest's credit card. The bank has already withdrawn funds from your account until the dispute is cleared. Instead, please respond to the notice of chargeback stating that you do not wish to dispute the chargeback and the ROLLER Payments team will communicate your decision to the relevant parties.

 

 

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