Best Practices for handling Disputes

Step 1: Review the dispute category

Step 2: Work with the account owner

Step 3: Decide to accept or challenge the dispute

Handle all disputes through RGP Support/Stripe. You can’t address a formally disputed payment (such as by refunding the customer directly) outside this process because the issuing bank has already refunded the account owner through the chargeback process and you risk refunding the customer twice.

Dispute Example:
For example, the customer listed Subscription Cancelled as their dispute reason. The customer claims that you continued to charge them after a subscription was canceled.

How to prevent subscription canceled disputes:

• Promptly cancel subscriptions upon request in RGP.
  • RGP tip: Use the RGP Online Membership Change Request Form to have a paper trail of the termination request and provide your customer with a confirmation of the cancellation.
• Make it clear in your signup process that your customers are agreeing to a recurring payment. Also, make sure that your cancellation procedures and policies are clearly communicated to your customers.
  
  • RGP tip: Use the online membership sales terms and conditions to have a signed digital copy attached to their customer record showing they were informed of the cancelation and refund policies and have agreed to the reoccurring payment of ___ amount on the ____ date of the month.
  • RGP tip: If not on an RGP Premium Plan - have a digital Smartwaiver document that new members sign that states your membership terms and conditions. Once signed that record will be attached to the customer record. 
• Communicate cancellation policies on billing invoices.
  • RGP Tip: A new feature as of build 134060 - Adding custom text at the bottom of Billing invoices
    This feature allows you to prove to the customer's bank/card that you repeatedly gave instructions on how to terminate their membership and the customer did not follow the instructions on how to cancel their membership/subscription.

How to overturn subscription canceled disputes:

Explain and demonstrate one or more of the following:

• The subscription was still active and the customer was aware of and did not follow your cancellation procedure. 
  • Provide signed membership terms and conditions
  • Provide billing invoices with cancellation instructions
  • Provide any membership change request forms submitted after your cancelation policy timeline (i.e. bill on the 1st cancelation request must come in 5 days prior to billing being run)
• You already issued a refund to your customer
  • invoice/refund payment from the customer record in RGP
• The customer said they withdrew the dispute. Get this in writing and submit it as evidence. 
  • Always provide evidence for every dispute you hope to have resolved in your favor, even if your customer told you they’re withdrawing the dispute. Many card issuers treat failure to submit evidence as an acceptance of liability on your part. This means that even if the customer did withdraw the dispute with their issuer, you can still lose the dispute if you don’t submit evidence.

Consider the following guidelines to make sure your supporting evidence files are effective:

• Consult the evidence recommendations for your specific dispute category.
  For example, subscription canceled evidence would be:
  

  FOR THIS TYPE OF RECOMMENDED EVIDENCE	DESIGNATED EVIDENCE LABEL
  Your subscription cancellation policy, as shown to the customer.	cancellation_policy
  An explanation of how and when the customer was shown your cancellation policy prior to purchase.	cancellation_policy_disclosure
  A justification for why the customer’s subscription wasn’t canceled, or if it was canceled, why this particular payment is still valid.	cancellation_rebuttal
  The date on which the cardholder received or began receiving the purchased service in a clear, human-readable format.	service_date
  Documentation showing proof that a service was provided to the cardholder. This could include their check-in history, class attendance, etc.	service_documentation
  A notification sent to the customer of renewal or continuation of the subscription, or an acknowledgment from the customer of their continued use of the product or service after the date they claim they canceled the subscription (if available).	customer_communication
  Any argument invalidating the dispute reason, such as a PDF or screenshot showing: If the service was consumed prior to the billing (in cases where billing occurs regularly, but consumption of whatever is being billed for happens prior to the billing) If the service was partially used, whether the disputed amount exceeds the value of the unused portion If the customer is mistaken about what the actual cancellation date was (for example, in cases where the cancellation was set for a future date) Whether you already issued the refund the cardholder is entitled to Whether you already provided a replacement service Whether the cardholder said they would withdraw the dispute	uncategorized_file uncategorized_text

• Organize each piece of evidence according to the evidence type it satisfies - be as succinct as possible.
• Combine items of the same evidence type into a single file.
• Check that your evidence files don’t exceed the combined size limit of 4.5 MB.
• Banks evaluating the dispute won’t review any external content, so don’t include:
  • Audio or video files
  • Requests to call or email for more information
  • Links to click for further information (for example, file downloads or links to tracking information)