Overview
The purpose of this article is to be a helpful reference to Boulevard customers who receive a dispute from their client and need to issue a response to the Card Issuing Bank.
Dispute Notice
Dispute notices are sent to the email listed within your account information on your Dashboard:
To find your Disputes within your Dashboard, follow these steps:
Click on the Cog at the top right your Dashboard.
Click on the left menu where it says ‘Payment Processing’.
Click on the button to the right that says ‘View Merchant’.
On the next page you will see a menu, click on ‘Disputes’.
Once you click on Disputes, you will see your Dispute(s) list.
Click on the Dispute Case Number to the left to get to the response page.
There are various reasons your client will use to dispute a charge. Common Dispute reasons are:
Merchandise/Services Not Received.
Goods/Services Not as Described.
Canceled Merchandise/Services.
Canceled Recurring Transaction.
Other Fraud - Card Absent Environment.
Duplicate Billing.
Before you respond to a dispute, first take note of the Reason that the charge is being disputed. If you are caught off guard by this dispute, we recommend first calling your client to understand why they issued a dispute. It is possible they did it in error and/or they may be willing to compromise and have the dispute reversed with their Card Issuing Bank.
Responding to Disputes
It is recommended that you draft a Response/Rebuttal Letter on a Word document (convert to a .PDF file after) first calling out to the Card Issuing Bank why the dispute reason is inaccurate and to tell your side of the story as to why it is inaccurate and how the transaction is valid and what you have done as the merchant to prevent a dispute. Example:
“Dear Card Issuing Representative,
The dispute reason of ‘Merchandise/Services Not Received’ is inaccurate as the services were performed on March 1st at 9:00AM and the cardholder signed our Intake Form (please see attached) that we disclosed to them and that they are required to acknowledge and sign before services can be performed.
Additionally, the cardholder is a repeat client of ours and below is an image of their purchase history, their billing details, and their contact information. The Services Were Received.
Please find their signed form attached as well as a receipt with your authorization code on the bottom”.
Additionally we Recommend:
Uploading any image files (.PNG, .JPEG) within your Response Letter such as back & forth text message information with your client and save it as a .PDF to ensure image quality.
A copy of your policies if they are listed on your website.
Email correspondence with your client.
Any signed documentation that proves you either disclosed a policy to your client and/or that they did participate in the transaction they are disputing.
Your Response is being sent directly to your clients Card Issuing Bank, not to Boulevard so you will want to address all the facts surrounding the transaction, any communication including dates and times you spoke with the cardholder, and to note any accommodations and/or concessions you made as the merchant to try to prevent the dispute from happening and/or follow up you did to come to a compromise and have your client request to reverse the dispute.
While Boulevard has no position, influence, or decision-making authority on how disputes are awarded; we are here to support you in any way that we can. If you have any questions about a dispute or how to respond please email us at paymentservices@blvd.co