Cancelling credit card transactions a.k.a. disputes when you don’t receive your packages

So I didn’t get a package I ordered the other day. I was so frustrated on the phone trying to verbally prove to them that I am not lying, I have no idea where it is, and yes, it could possibly have been mis-delivered, that I talked to someone who used to work at a bank doing this very job – credit card disputes.

I learned a few things I thought I’d share with all of you because I had no clue, and maybe you didn’t either.

You have to contact the Sender first

You have to contact the Sender first and ask them for a refund. This is what I did, and got the runaround which made me very annoyed especially when she started saying things like:

“Well the law doesn’t permit me to process your refund unless you contact Canada Post and get them to open a formal investigation.”

I normally don’t lose it on customer reps, and I actually didn’t on the phone, but I did say:

“First of all, this is not a ‘law’. Please do not call it ‘the law’ as it isn’t one, and isn’t illegal for you to process my refund in Canada.

Second, you are referring to your company POLICY which is something your company made up and can change, because… they created it!

Third, isn’t that your job? It is your responsibility to me as a consumer to make sure the item has been delivered. You should be the one contacting Canada Post, not me.”

Much like a board of administrators on a condo, who can decide who can or cannot do certain things based on the majority and for the good of the whole condo, they can easily vote and change it to whatever they want, based on the fact that it is co-owners of the dwelling who can decide to change the rules.

NOT a law. It is a POLICY.

Anyway, you have to contact the Sender first and make an attempt to make it right.

Still nothing? You can call the next day if the package doesn’t arrive

So if your package doesn’t show up on your doorstep, and Amazon/Best Buy/Whoever shipped it with a tracking number and it SAYS it was delivered, you can pick up the phone the next day, call your credit card company and dispute it.

No questions asked.

No tracking number or delivery date?

Visa and Mastercard have different dispute day durations you have to wait. With Visa, you must wait 15 days. With Mastercard it is 30 days, but again, if you have a tracking number and a delivery date, this waiting period doesn’t apply.

Credit card companies may just write off the amount under $40

A lot of companies may look at the amounts and if it is under $40, it gets written off.

BUT!.. if you keep ordering and ordering under $40 thinking you can keep getting these items for free by disputing each transaction, there will be a pattern and you WILL have your card confiscated and/or be prosecuted.

They look at your history of disputes

If you are filing a claim every month, and the amounts are big or small, it is obvious you’re scamming and they WILL catch you.

I have only filed one claim in the past 3 years, and this will be my second. I really don’t abuse this because I don’t want to, don’t need to, and should not do it as it is illegal.

The Sender’s bank and the Credit Card company’s bank go to a kind of court to dispute this

The credit card company fights on your behalf to get the amount taken off (you get your money back anyway, at this point it is them fighting to not pay it), and the Sender has 90 days to respond.

Many Senders don’t respond at all, and they lose by default, and the Credit Card company gets their money back.

Some who do respond, have to make a real case for it.

To start the process, call the credit card number at the back

Dial them up, tell them you want to open a credit card dispute for a transaction as you did not receive your package, and then provide them all the info.

“Hello. I am calling today to dispute a credit card transaction on my card because it said it was delivered 3 days ago but I have not received anything. I have already contacted the Sender, and they are refusing to give me a refund.”

Done. Easy peasy. Follow the process and be done.