Customer disputing "unrecognized" charge

[rubysky]

We recently received a phone call from the bank, saying one of our customers does not recognized her credit card purchase from us.

Detail:

1. We ship FedEx, with Signature
2. Billing and shipping address are different for this order
3. We do AVS and CVV(card code), all info are matched for this order

Customer is preparing to file a dispute, based on the above information, what is the recommended procedure in dealing with this case?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help and advice.

RS.

[ogletree]

Your credit card company will send you a letter asking for that information. You just have to wait for it to come. If you have a signature and all that it should work out. I have no experience in that. That is what is supposed to happen. It is a good idea to have your company name and phone number show up on other peoples cc bills.. Make sure the company name is the same as what your website says. I bought web hosting one time and it showed up as pool supplies on my cc bill. I had no idea what it was.

[rubysky]

I just called our bank. What they told me was, the charge-back will go thru, for Visa/Master UNLESS,

1. We shipped the product to the AVS address
2. The package is signed for by the card holder (and not anyone else in the household)

I guess this is the risk factor we have to price in to our pricing structure...

RS.

[chicagohh]

I guess this is the risk factor we have to price in to our pricing structure...

Correct. It's unfortunate, but anyone can make a successful chargeback if they just don't sign for the delivery... even easier if they have it shipped to an address that is not the billing address. It does not matter if the address is family or a neighbor - If the card holder did not sign for the delivery your screwed.

The good news is there is really not that many completely dishonest people out there... I think a lot of people would steal a *little* if it fell into their lap (office supplies etc.), but not many will think out and execute a plan to steal.

[nancyb]

there is really not that many completely dishonest people out there

Whoa, hate to disagree, but as far as internet sales go there ARE lots of dishonest people out there. Probably not as many - if the item is shipped to the AVS address - so, unless you are willing to run much larger risks, don't ship anywhere but the billing address.

Oh, and FedEx leaves packages of supplies I've ordered (worth thousands of dollars) on my doorstep without even ringing my doorbell. One time they even left a package not 5 feet from the street on the driveway in front of my car. Had I not been going out, it could easily have disappeared.

[derekwong28]

I think this was probably a genuine case of credit card fraud rather than customer abuse. The card was probably stolen or hacked.

Any large orders where the shipping address differs from the billing address would have a high index of suspension. I would have refused shipment in this case, or tried to contact the real cardholder at the billing address.

[ogletree]

I ran a business on ebay for a while and never had a problem with a charge back. There are red flags to watch out for. There really are not that many people trying to fraud you. There is no protection from what you say. Sometimes you can just try calling the person and just look for red flags. There are bad people but they are looking for suckers just pay attention and you will catch most.

[chicagohh]

but as far as internet sales go there ARE lots of dishonest people out there

Not in my area. It may depend on what your selling. Since switching products a year ago I have not had a single chargeback, nor a single fraud order. That said, I do glance through my orders each day before batch processing the cards and I have removed some suspicious ones.

[killroy]

Just a curious annectdote. I once bought a template online for $9. It was the second purchase in that week. Suddenly my phone rang and the asked me if I ordered the template. I was completely taken aback, and stuttered out my yes.

I'm sure that call and associated service cost them more then the $9 they got from me for the template ;)

SN