Infinia Poor chargeback experience with HDFC Infinia for Cleartrip Smartbuy transaction

[niks]

I had a not so good experience with raising a chargeback request for a Smartbuy transaction I did on my Infinia card.

In Dec'24, I had booked a 2-day stay with Azaya Beach Resort Goa using my HDFC Infinia card through Smartbuy. The partner was Cleartrip who in turn (as I found out from the hotel) had booked through Expedia.

On arriving at the hotel, I discovered that the hotel was a disaster. Far from being a 5-star hotel as advertised, there was hardly any staff, rooms were terrible, no water in the bathrooms, and so on. I immediately spoke to the manager on phone (there was none on duty) and we finally negotiated that I will check out immediately & they will process the refund back to the original source within 7 days. I requested them to send me an email confirming the same and he promised he will send it the next day when he is back at work. I had no choice & left the hotel.

After I returned from my trip, when I tried to call the manager, he started blocking my calls & did not send me any email.

Hence, I called up Cleartrip support & raised a ticket. Cleartrip asked me to send them a written communication from the hotel confirming they are willing to refund. I explained to them that they are not responding to my calls & emails. Cleartrip themselves wrote to & called the hotel property but the hotel did not respond to them as well. Surprisingly, the hotel is a Cleartrip partner, but Cleartrip just closed the ticket claiming no response from the hotel.

After a few days, I finally raised a dispute with HDFC Bank and asked for a chargeback. I informed them that both the hotel & Cleartrip have been of no help. HDFC also unfortunately took the same stance that they need an email confirmation from the hotel to process the refund. I explained to them that I am not raising a “refund” matter but a “disputed chargeback” because the hotel is acting fraudulently & not responding either to me or to Cleartrip. However, HDFC refused to entertain any request for a “chargeback”.

Finally, I happened to visit Goa again last week & again visited the Hotel. After being confronted face to face, the hotel staff finally sent me a mail confirming they agree to the refund & based on that Cleartrip finally processed the refund.

I am disappointed at HDFC Infinia’s so called great service since they avoided calling it a “chargeback” or “dispute” and every time treated this as a “refund” case. Probably, HDFC cannot go against its own Smartbuy partners and cannot raise a chargeback against their own partners? For me all is well that ends well, but the Infinia support was surprisingly disheartening.

 

[Anupama_Jha]

Ahh, finally relieved after reading that you got the refund. Yeah, it is what it is. AMEX is reportedly better in such cases.

Imagine you raised a chargeback, and HDFC contacted the merchant to prove the genuineness of the transaction. However, the merchant failed to do so. In that case, the bank should automatically deduct the same amount from the merchant’s recent settlement or place a hold on their account.

 

[Anupama_Jha]

I would recommend to file complaint against hdfc to rbi ombudsman and claim compensation for refund delay and mental agony

 

[drmsiva]

Good that you got the money back.

I also had bad experience with Infinia - though I cancelled the autopay in HDFC portal (sihub), the company deducted the monthly payment. When I complained to HDFC, they blamed me rather than the accept the issue and informed me that I utilised the service which was not correct.

After my email informing them that I would take it up with RBI, they refunded me. They got back to me again recently saying that they have investigated the issue and it was my fault rather than issue with their autopay system. I am in the process of complaining to RBI regarding this.

Amex is the best in these situations but their FCY charges are high (I only have Gold and Plat travel cards) for overseas transactions.

 

[Anupama_Jha]

After my email informing them that I would take it up with RBI, they refunded me. They got back to me again recently saying that they have investigated the issue and it was my fault rather than issue with their autopay system.

Sorry I didn't understood here. If they have refunded, what they are demanding now? Reversed back or??

 

[drmsiva]

Sorry I didn't understood here. If they have refunded, what they are demanding now? Reversed back or??

Yes - they did a provisional credit initially and would be cancelling it after their investigation!

 

[Sobirvs]

Okay, let me clear alot of things people don't get.

I have worked in the past full time and sometimes still work with chargeback resolution. (mostly international).

"Chargeback" or a dispute, is not a HDFC feature, it is a VISA/MC feature. HDFC doesn't have the authority on this. HDFC is just a member of VISA/MC. Raising a chargeback is your right. You can go to VISA/MC to put a penalty that HDFC didn't honor this right of yours to put a chargeback. You don't even have to talk to HDFC about this. If Phone banking isn't doing it, go to the branch and just ask for dispute form for the credit card. You don't even need to tell why u need the form. Just ask for the form.

You should have done the same with phone banking, ask what's your dispute procedure on the phone or asked a copy of form on email and an official email of hdfc where you can send the form.

It is not for HDFC to decide if you can put a dispute or not. Once you get the form - fill it appropriately with a reason. Now comes the important part and my opinion - Even if you would have filed a chargeback you would have lost this. Chargeback is filed by you, and hdfc sends it to VISA/MC, and they send it to acquiring bank where the merchant has the merchant account (not current account unless he banks with the same bank). You would have gotten a temp credit of the full amount however it's a temp credit. Now as a responsible member of VISA/MC, HDFC has to investigate this issue in an unbiased manner and then report it back to the card brand (visa/mc).

Now, about the quality of service of "infinia", let me tell you chargeback process is absolutely the same with any card, regardless you have a 200 rs fee card or 2L annual fee card. CHARGEBACK IS THE SAME ON ANY/EVERY card. "Infinia" doesn't guarantee you to win a chargeback or priority chargeback as timeline is same for all card brands. Now, there are banks out there who actually do give like a specific amount (like 5-10L) guarantee of funds reversal regardless they get it back from the merchant(hotel) or not and take responsibility themselves but that usually applies to fraud cases. Yours however isn't.

Now, there are only limit number of options for you to file a chargeback, most popular ofc is fraud, but that's not in your case, so yours can be "product/services not as described" reason code. You could have fought this with evidences that you have but unfortunately you didn't have any evidence (call recordings aren't entertained by any card brand), an official transcript, or a receipt/invoice/email evidence do work however. Even if hdfc had initiated chargeback, hotel would have just given invoice and receipt and they would have won. The only way here for you to win is if hotel would have not responded to the chargeback within stipulated timeframe(usually 30 days in case of visa, earlier this was 90 days but not anymore). Hotels usually are big business and they hardly get chargebacks so ya, that could have been the case that hotel didn't respond to chargeback and you automatically won however if they would have replied, you would have lost.

You can file a 2nd chargeback (arbitration), however in this case, you have to put money here. It's basically a bet. Case is investigated by the card brand now, not HDFC in 2nd chargeback. For example hotel puts 50,000 rs as a bet, so you have to put 50,000 rs too and whole money goes to visa/mc. Whoever visa/mc decides , wins the whole jackpot of both sides betting amount. Unusually 2nd chargeback is very very rare in India, it does happen in the US/CA/AU/UK quite often by my personal experience. Banks probably don't even know how to initiate 2nd chargeback, but by going to the right people, it can be initiated.

Anyways, the whole fault unfortunately lies with you that you went into a rush and didn't ask for email/evidence from hotel in written. But again, you being wrong doesn't mean HDFC is right, HDFC has no authority over who can put a chargeback and who cannot. When HDFC denied you for chargeback, you could have asked this in writing on email with HDFC where HDFC gives u in writing that they won't initiate chargeback. You could send this evidence to both RBI and VISA/MC for monetary penalty.

Chargeback process is best with Amex (not bank branded amex, but amex directly). Why? coz Amex both sells cards directly + they control the whole amex network so they can do whatever they want. Amex many a times even if customer loses the dispute , amex compensates the customer from their own pocket, hence why customers love amex. But I like visa/mc too when it comes to dispute. It's just that in case of visa/mc , many third parties are involved, hence it's a bit of a mess for the customer.

Speaking of amex, even amex chargeback process doesn't give priority to which card you have. You can have amex mrcc or amex black or centurian or whatever, the process is exactly the same for all. Even reason codes/paper all are same.

Feel free to ask me anything about chargeback. I have fought many chargeback's myself for 3rd party or for my own company or for friends. My win ratio (with visa/mc) is literally like 99% (where I have won as a company and customer has lost lol). In my whole career, I have literally lost just 2 chargebacks. That too just coz in paperwork I did typo, like there was a canada chargeback, company was of US, and I put wrong currency/amount in paperwork and 2nd I actually won but lost/gave up whrn customer initiate 2nd chargeback.

Also, let me clear one more thing, losing chargeback doesn't mean customer has no other option. You can go to the police and raise a civil/criminal proceedings. You can go after the company(hotel) or card brand(visa/mc) or bank. No one can stop you to do this.

I apologize for not writing in correct para's as I am in a bit of hurry and don't have time to beautify my post lol.

 

[nh124001]

Okay, let me clear alot of things people don't get.

I have worked in the past full time and sometimes still work with chargeback resolution. (mostly international).

"Chargeback" or a dispute, is not a HDFC feature, it is a VISA/MC feature. HDFC doesn't have the authority on this. HDFC is just a member of VISA/MC. Raising a chargeback is your right. You can go to VISA/MC to put a penalty that HDFC didn't honor this right of yours to put a chargeback. You don't even have to talk to HDFC about this. If Phone banking isn't doing it, go to the branch and just ask for dispute form for the credit card. You don't even need to tell why u need the form. Just ask for the form.

You should have done the same with phone banking, ask what's your dispute procedure on the phone or asked a copy of form on email and an official email of hdfc where you can send the form.

It is not for HDFC to decide if you can put a dispute or not. Once you get the form - fill it appropriately with a reason. Now comes the important part and my opinion - Even if you would have filed a chargeback you would have lost this. Chargeback is filed by you, and hdfc sends it to VISA/MC, and they send it to acquiring bank where the merchant has the merchant account (not current account unless he banks with the same bank). You would have gotten a temp credit of the full amount however it's a temp credit. Now as a responsible member of VISA/MC, HDFC has to investigate this issue in an unbiased manner and then report it back to the card brand (visa/mc).

Now, about the quality of service of "infinia", let me tell you chargeback process is absolutely the same with any card, regardless you have a 200 rs fee card or 2L annual fee card. CHARGEBACK IS THE SAME ON ANY/EVERY card. "Infinia" doesn't guarantee you to win a chargeback or priority chargeback as timeline is same for all card brands. Now, there are banks out there who actually do give like a specific amount (like 5-10L) guarantee of funds reversal regardless they get it back from the merchant(hotel) or not and take responsibility themselves but that usually applies to fraud cases. Yours however isn't.

Now, there are only limit number of options for you to file a chargeback, most popular ofc is fraud, but that's not in your case, so yours can be "product/services not as described" reason code. You could have fought this with evidences that you have but unfortunately you didn't have any evidence (call recordings aren't entertained by any card brand), an official transcript, or a receipt/invoice/email evidence do work however. Even if hdfc had initiated chargeback, hotel would have just given invoice and receipt and they would have won. The only way here for you to win is if hotel would have not responded to the chargeback within stipulated timeframe(usually 30 days in case of visa, earlier this was 90 days but not anymore). Hotels usually are big business and they hardly get chargebacks so ya, that could have been the case that hotel didn't respond to chargeback and you automatically won however if they would have replied, you would have lost.

You can file a 2nd chargeback (arbitration), however in this case, you have to put money here. It's basically a bet. Case is investigated by the card brand now, not HDFC in 2nd chargeback. For example hotel puts 50,000 rs as a bet, so you have to put 50,000 rs too and whole money goes to visa/mc. Whoever visa/mc decides , wins the whole jackpot of both sides betting amount. Unusually 2nd chargeback is very very rare in India, it does happen in the US/CA/AU/UK quite often by my personal experience. Banks probably don't even know how to initiate 2nd chargeback, but by going to the right people, it can be initiated.

Anyways, the whole fault unfortunately lies with you that you went into a rush and didn't ask for email/evidence from hotel in written. But again, you being wrong doesn't mean HDFC is right, HDFC has no authority over who can put a chargeback and who cannot. When HDFC denied you for chargeback, you could have asked this in writing on email with HDFC where HDFC gives u in writing that they won't initiate chargeback. You could send this evidence to both RBI and VISA/MC for monetary penalty.

Chargeback process is best with Amex (not bank branded amex, but amex directly). Why? coz Amex both sells cards directly + they control the whole amex network so they can do whatever they want. Amex many a times even if customer loses the dispute , amex compensates the customer from their own pocket, hence why customers love amex. But I like visa/mc too when it comes to dispute. It's just that in case of visa/mc , many third parties are involved, hence it's a bit of a mess for the customer.

Speaking of amex, even amex chargeback process doesn't give priority to which card you have. You can have amex mrcc or amex black or centurian or whatever, the process is exactly the same for all. Even reason codes/paper all are same.

Feel free to ask me anything about chargeback. I have fought many chargeback's myself for 3rd party or for my own company or for friends. My win ratio (with visa/mc) is literally like 99% (where I have won as a company and customer has lost lol). In my whole career, I have literally lost just 2 chargebacks. That too just coz in paperwork I did typo, like there was a canada chargeback, company was of US, and I put wrong currency/amount in paperwork and 2nd I actually won but lost/gave up whrn customer initiate 2nd chargeback.

Also, let me clear one more thing, losing chargeback doesn't mean customer has no other option. You can go to the police and raise a civil/criminal proceedings. You can go after the company(hotel) or card brand(visa/mc) or bank. No one can stop you to do this.

I apologize for not writing in correct para's as I am in a bit of hurry and don't have time to beautify my post lol.

good one, explained the whole process properly

 

[Anupama_Jha]

Okay, let me clear alot of things people don't get.

I have worked in the past full time and sometimes still work with chargeback resolution. (mostly international).

"Chargeback" or a dispute, is not a HDFC feature, it is a VISA/MC feature. HDFC doesn't have the authority on this. HDFC is just a member of VISA/MC. Raising a chargeback is your right. You can go to VISA/MC to put a penalty that HDFC didn't honor this right of yours to put a chargeback. You don't even have to talk to HDFC about this. If Phone banking isn't doing it, go to the branch and just ask for dispute form for the credit card. You don't even need to tell why u need the form. Just ask for the form.

You should have done the same with phone banking, ask what's your dispute procedure on the phone or asked a copy of form on email and an official email of hdfc where you can send the form.

It is not for HDFC to decide if you can put a dispute or not. Once you get the form - fill it appropriately with a reason. Now comes the important part and my opinion - Even if you would have filed a chargeback you would have lost this. Chargeback is filed by you, and hdfc sends it to VISA/MC, and they send it to acquiring bank where the merchant has the merchant account (not current account unless he banks with the same bank). You would have gotten a temp credit of the full amount however it's a temp credit. Now as a responsible member of VISA/MC, HDFC has to investigate this issue in an unbiased manner and then report it back to the card brand (visa/mc).

Now, about the quality of service of "infinia", let me tell you chargeback process is absolutely the same with any card, regardless you have a 200 rs fee card or 2L annual fee card. CHARGEBACK IS THE SAME ON ANY/EVERY card. "Infinia" doesn't guarantee you to win a chargeback or priority chargeback as timeline is same for all card brands. Now, there are banks out there who actually do give like a specific amount (like 5-10L) guarantee of funds reversal regardless they get it back from the merchant(hotel) or not and take responsibility themselves but that usually applies to fraud cases. Yours however isn't.

Now, there are only limit number of options for you to file a chargeback, most popular ofc is fraud, but that's not in your case, so yours can be "product/services not as described" reason code. You could have fought this with evidences that you have but unfortunately you didn't have any evidence (call recordings aren't entertained by any card brand), an official transcript, or a receipt/invoice/email evidence do work however. Even if hdfc had initiated chargeback, hotel would have just given invoice and receipt and they would have won. The only way here for you to win is if hotel would have not responded to the chargeback within stipulated timeframe(usually 30 days in case of visa, earlier this was 90 days but not anymore). Hotels usually are big business and they hardly get chargebacks so ya, that could have been the case that hotel didn't respond to chargeback and you automatically won however if they would have replied, you would have lost.

You can file a 2nd chargeback (arbitration), however in this case, you have to put money here. It's basically a bet. Case is investigated by the card brand now, not HDFC in 2nd chargeback. For example hotel puts 50,000 rs as a bet, so you have to put 50,000 rs too and whole money goes to visa/mc. Whoever visa/mc decides , wins the whole jackpot of both sides betting amount. Unusually 2nd chargeback is very very rare in India, it does happen in the US/CA/AU/UK quite often by my personal experience. Banks probably don't even know how to initiate 2nd chargeback, but by going to the right people, it can be initiated.

Anyways, the whole fault unfortunately lies with you that you went into a rush and didn't ask for email/evidence from hotel in written. But again, you being wrong doesn't mean HDFC is right, HDFC has no authority over who can put a chargeback and who cannot. When HDFC denied you for chargeback, you could have asked this in writing on email with HDFC where HDFC gives u in writing that they won't initiate chargeback. You could send this evidence to both RBI and VISA/MC for monetary penalty.

Chargeback process is best with Amex (not bank branded amex, but amex directly). Why? coz Amex both sells cards directly + they control the whole amex network so they can do whatever they want. Amex many a times even if customer loses the dispute , amex compensates the customer from their own pocket, hence why customers love amex. But I like visa/mc too when it comes to dispute. It's just that in case of visa/mc , many third parties are involved, hence it's a bit of a mess for the customer.

Speaking of amex, even amex chargeback process doesn't give priority to which card you have. You can have amex mrcc or amex black or centurian or whatever, the process is exactly the same for all. Even reason codes/paper all are same.

Feel free to ask me anything about chargeback. I have fought many chargeback's myself for 3rd party or for my own company or for friends. My win ratio (with visa/mc) is literally like 99% (where I have won as a company and customer has lost lol). In my whole career, I have literally lost just 2 chargebacks. That too just coz in paperwork I did typo, like there was a canada chargeback, company was of US, and I put wrong currency/amount in paperwork and 2nd I actually won but lost/gave up whrn customer initiate 2nd chargeback.

Also, let me clear one more thing, losing chargeback doesn't mean customer has no other option. You can go to the police and raise a civil/criminal proceedings. You can go after the company(hotel) or card brand(visa/mc) or bank. No one can stop you to do this.

I apologize for not writing in correct para's as I am in a bit of hurry and don't have time to beautify my post lol.

I have read this somewhere, somewhere for sure🤔

 

[Sobirvs]

I have read this somewhere, somewhere for sure🤔

Desidime? ;-)

Btw, let me add one thing which I guess I forgot. I told abt if you lose chargeback, you have other means.

Similarly merchant(Company/hotel etc) also have the same rights. If bank/brand doesn't side with them they have the right to drag you to police/court so never abuse chargeback process, you can be banned for life on visa/mc network(have seen it happening but rarely) , so if it happens, you can never use visa/mc debit or credit, but you can use amex or dcb or rupay etc cards till they ban you aswell. VISA and MC works quite closely.

Also, usually companies don't take u to court coz the amount they lose is quite minor, compared to legal process which takes alot of resources.

 

[drsel]

Okay, let me clear alot of things people don't get.

I have worked in the past full time and sometimes still work with chargeback resolution. (mostly international).

"Chargeback" or a dispute, is not a HDFC feature, it is a VISA/MC feature. HDFC doesn't have the authority on this. HDFC is just a member of VISA/MC. Raising a chargeback is your right. You can go to VISA/MC to put a penalty that HDFC didn't honor this right of yours to put a chargeback. You don't even have to talk to HDFC about this. If Phone banking isn't doing it, go to the branch and just ask for dispute form for the credit card. You don't even need to tell why u need the form. Just ask for the form.

You should have done the same with phone banking, ask what's your dispute procedure on the phone or asked a copy of form on email and an official email of hdfc where you can send the form.

It is not for HDFC to decide if you can put a dispute or not. Once you get the form - fill it appropriately with a reason. Now comes the important part and my opinion - Even if you would have filed a chargeback you would have lost this. Chargeback is filed by you, and hdfc sends it to VISA/MC, and they send it to acquiring bank where the merchant has the merchant account (not current account unless he banks with the same bank). You would have gotten a temp credit of the full amount however it's a temp credit. Now as a responsible member of VISA/MC, HDFC has to investigate this issue in an unbiased manner and then report it back to the card brand (visa/mc).

Now, about the quality of service of "infinia", let me tell you chargeback process is absolutely the same with any card, regardless you have a 200 rs fee card or 2L annual fee card. CHARGEBACK IS THE SAME ON ANY/EVERY card. "Infinia" doesn't guarantee you to win a chargeback or priority chargeback as timeline is same for all card brands. Now, there are banks out there who actually do give like a specific amount (like 5-10L) guarantee of funds reversal regardless they get it back from the merchant(hotel) or not and take responsibility themselves but that usually applies to fraud cases. Yours however isn't.

Now, there are only limit number of options for you to file a chargeback, most popular ofc is fraud, but that's not in your case, so yours can be "product/services not as described" reason code. You could have fought this with evidences that you have but unfortunately you didn't have any evidence (call recordings aren't entertained by any card brand), an official transcript, or a receipt/invoice/email evidence do work however. Even if hdfc had initiated chargeback, hotel would have just given invoice and receipt and they would have won. The only way here for you to win is if hotel would have not responded to the chargeback within stipulated timeframe(usually 30 days in case of visa, earlier this was 90 days but not anymore). Hotels usually are big business and they hardly get chargebacks so ya, that could have been the case that hotel didn't respond to chargeback and you automatically won however if they would have replied, you would have lost.

You can file a 2nd chargeback (arbitration), however in this case, you have to put money here. It's basically a bet. Case is investigated by the card brand now, not HDFC in 2nd chargeback. For example hotel puts 50,000 rs as a bet, so you have to put 50,000 rs too and whole money goes to visa/mc. Whoever visa/mc decides , wins the whole jackpot of both sides betting amount. Unusually 2nd chargeback is very very rare in India, it does happen in the US/CA/AU/UK quite often by my personal experience. Banks probably don't even know how to initiate 2nd chargeback, but by going to the right people, it can be initiated.

Anyways, the whole fault unfortunately lies with you that you went into a rush and didn't ask for email/evidence from hotel in written. But again, you being wrong doesn't mean HDFC is right, HDFC has no authority over who can put a chargeback and who cannot. When HDFC denied you for chargeback, you could have asked this in writing on email with HDFC where HDFC gives u in writing that they won't initiate chargeback. You could send this evidence to both RBI and VISA/MC for monetary penalty.

Chargeback process is best with Amex (not bank branded amex, but amex directly). Why? coz Amex both sells cards directly + they control the whole amex network so they can do whatever they want. Amex many a times even if customer loses the dispute , amex compensates the customer from their own pocket, hence why customers love amex. But I like visa/mc too when it comes to dispute. It's just that in case of visa/mc , many third parties are involved, hence it's a bit of a mess for the customer.

Speaking of amex, even amex chargeback process doesn't give priority to which card you have. You can have amex mrcc or amex black or centurian or whatever, the process is exactly the same for all. Even reason codes/paper all are same.

Feel free to ask me anything about chargeback. I have fought many chargeback's myself for 3rd party or for my own company or for friends. My win ratio (with visa/mc) is literally like 99% (where I have won as a company and customer has lost lol). In my whole career, I have literally lost just 2 chargebacks. That too just coz in paperwork I did typo, like there was a canada chargeback, company was of US, and I put wrong currency/amount in paperwork and 2nd I actually won but lost/gave up whrn customer initiate 2nd chargeback.

Also, let me clear one more thing, losing chargeback doesn't mean customer has no other option. You can go to the police and raise a civil/criminal proceedings. You can go after the company(hotel) or card brand(visa/mc) or bank. No one can stop you to do this.

I apologize for not writing in correct para's as I am in a bit of hurry and don't have time to beautify my post lol.

For a failed Intermiles purchase on 01 April, I immediately raised a dispute and asked for a charge back.
Intermiles accepted the chargeback request on 07 April, but Axis Bank still shows a temporary credit after 23 days.
Will the temporary credit become permanent by the bill generation date or how long does it take?

 

[Kushagra_]

My win ratio (with visa/mc) is literally like 99% (where I have won as a company and customer has lost

How many of those times the customer was actually in the right?

 

[Sobirvs]

How many of those times the customer was actually in the right?

Never. Those were friendly fraud chargeback's. Customer's do it because it's an online trxn and not POS one's and think they can get away with it. These kind of chargeback's are quite common to companies like for example Appstore(apple) or playstore(google), someone buy credits/points/xp's/gold/chips$ etc in game purchases and then put a chargeback request. Mostly done by kids.

The companies I worked with anyways provide 15 days refund policy, but still customers go to the bank. I myself have processed refunds tons of times as companies themselves hate chargeback's. As per Visa/MC norms, any merchant going above chargeback ratio of more than 0.85% in both count and amount will usually be banned to use the network + will be put in match list of visa/mc network if they have a direct merchant account.

There are ISO's who don't prefer merchant to have a direct merchant acc rather sub merchant account. For example razorpay or Intuit(quickbooks) or paypal or stripe. They usually don't provide direct merchant account hence even if you cross the 0.85% threshold(which changes from time to time), you still get to keep doing business. But one is is certain, crossing anytime 3% threshold and your merchant account is gone. Your deposits will be put on hold aswell. Also, if your chargeback count is more than 75, again, same danger.

OFC this isn't written in stone and VISA/MC do amend their rules for huge merchants (Amazon, apple etc).

For a failed Intermiles purchase on 01 April, I immediately raised a dispute and asked for a charge back.
Intermiles accepted the chargeback request on 07 April, but Axis Bank still shows a temporary credit after 23 days.
Will the temporary credit become permanent by the bill generation date or how long does it take?

Idk about "intermiles", as I have never done trxn with that, but is it some 3rd party? Anyways, it doesn't matter, as I can still answer you. Conv of temp credit to permanent credit has nothing to do with statement generation date or due date. It's an investigation. It takes time and it ends when it ends. Banks don't control it. VISA/MC does. Banks as a member have to dispose the dispute within the timeframe given by VISA/MC. There is no pressure on the banks. Also let me tell you the decision is taken by the customer's bank and not acquirer bank or visa/mc. Now, if your credit card acc is let's say with hdfc, then dispute paperwork is handed to them and they make the decision but never assume just because it is YOUR bank so they will side with you, no they don't. They have to follow the guidelines by visa/mc otherwise they themselves face monetary penalties. Chargeback many a times becomes lawsuit. Many a times lawsuits becomes class action. Those class action can be against merchant bank or visa/mc or the customer's bank so none of the parties prioritize customer or the merchant, they take decision purely based on the paperwork and evidences. Even if let's say merchant is wrong but paperwork support the merchant, then bank will side with the merchant. If the paperwork gives customer the strong case, then bank will side with the customer not with the merchant. It's as simple.

So, temp credit is temp credit. Expect your complaint to be solved within 30 days or max 45 days (again, guidelines can be diff for domestic and international banks and I work with international, so I am giving is normal reference point). Once your credit chargeback becomes permanent then you are good to go. If you lose the chargeback, you lose the temp credit and your bank bill you for the trxn. Meanwhile that charge you dispute, you don't have to pay any interest on it, neither you have to pay for the charge till the dispute isn't solved. So simple answer, it ends when it ends normally within 30-45 days. With new visa/mc norms that changed 2-3 yrs back, 30 days is the norm which is actually quite good. I remember fraud chargeback/disputes used to take 90 days around 2018/19, so visa/mc have improved their services.

 

[Sobirvs]

How many of those times the customer was actually in the right?

one more thing to add, merchant actually prefers to solve the issue without chargeback unless a merchant has huge volume, then they won't care if you put chargeback.

A company which has 15 days refund policy no questions asked, why chargeback that?

Also, when the same company tries to reach out to the customer before they file their side of paperwork and the customer doesn't even pick up the call, what does that tell you? The org I worked with, they even emailed the customer for resolving the dispute before merchant files his paperwork.

Let me give u an example with screenshot, so here's an email merchant sent to the customer. Last yr. Merchant reached out, the customer however wasn't bothered, Why? because banks promise them tones of shit, usually the customer service, that don't worry, we will get your money bank and what not, thing is same customer service doesn't handle dispute requests, banks fraud dep/dispute resolution team handles that and they don't care what cs rep promised the customer, they have to work in non biased way to make sure their banks follow visa/mc norms. So if your bank gives you full assurance that you will get money back, never believe that shit. Better is to work with the merchant politely unless merchant is being arrgant and not listening at all, then chargeback remains your only way out. Also when you fill in the form, attack some evidence frm your side, if you don't and merchant does, then you will certainly lose the chargeback.



The chargeback's I won, let me tell you we were ready to refund the full amount to the customer just because the merchant owner didn't want to lose card processing rights for his business with visa/mc, but customers have this sense of entitlement which they get from their own banks who promise them money back lol but banks doesn't have the authority for that but they still wrongly promise the customers.

Let me reveal something more. I am attaching a SS of evidence report of the same customer I attached before that merchant files with visa/mc their paperwork and it's content summary. It's usually 8-12 pages document. Sometimes it can be 1-2 pages, it all depends on the merchant how confident they are with the evidence and how many pages it requires.



Here you go. This paperwork is impregnable. Now do you see the content whr it is written "Customer service record"? Here the merchant put's screenshot of the email they sent to the customer, merchant waited like for 5-6 days before filing the final paperwork for the chargeback. What does this reveal? Merchant sent the email to the customer not because they just wanted to solve the issue with the customer, but also because the merchant will use that email as a weapon to show the bank that they did everything from their side to resolve but customer is unwilling to do anything or even get in touch with the merchant, so customer is at fault here. Everything happens for a reason. Is merchant being genuine here? Yes and no. Yes - coz they did send the email and no coz they want to use that email as a weapon against the customer.

Now if the customer indeed calls the merchant, will they get full refund? Well if you see the email, merchant nowhere wrong they will give full refund but merchant gives an impression that he might refund. That fully depends when the customer calls and then how the customer is sounding and how the merchant takes it and how they negotiate. If the customer is very angry, or not willing to listen but customer is on the call, merchant doesn't want any trouble so within 2-3 mins of convo, merchant agrees for full refund. If the customer is polite or willing to negotiate, then refund can be negotiated based on how much customer is okay with, it can be 10% refund of total amt, or 50% or 80% or 100%. Again, all depends on negotiations. Also, remember, once you have negotiated with the merchant, they won't give you refund till you cancel the dispute with your bank first. Why? because let's say merchant refuns you the full amount, and then you don't cancel the dispute with your bank, then you get double the money, one the refund merchant gave manually and one the chargeback amount, you get both. Hence why merchant will never ever give you refund even if they agreed to. You need to cancel the dispute first but if you are worried you'll cancel the dispute and what if merchant doesn't refund? Well in this case you can tell the merchant okay you are willing to cancel the dispute but first merchant should send an email in writing that he'll give the refund agreed upon both parties(again refund can be 10% to 100%, depends on the negotiations). Merchant will send you an email in writing stating we will refund you xyz% but with a condition in writing "IF YOU CANCEL THE DISPUTE". Now once you have an email, go ahead and call your bank and cancel the dispute, if the bank doesn't, then go to the branch, if they don't too then email the concerned department of the bank (not customer service) for example, for hdfc, that email who handles this all is cc.disputes@hdfcbank.com , anyways, once the dispute is cancel you will get a paperwork of the dispute cancellation which is basically a paper written on bank's letterhead that they have cancelled the dispute and make sure your last 4 digits of the card numbers are on that paperwork. Bank if they don't provide it on email, then they might post mail it to you, once you get that, give it to the merchant and then wait. Don't ask the merchant for refund for now as once your bank cancels, it takes 4-6 business days for it to reflect on the merchant side and merchant get full amount back. Once they do, then merchant will give you the refund which you both agreed and it takes 6-8 business days to process.

In any chargeback, make sure you never take the money back or give the money bank via any different means like diff cc or IMPS/NEFT/UPI. Keep it on the same card, any debit or credit as bank or card networks won't honor any money given by any other mode.

In case if you play hardball with the merchant, but you want to negotiate, do it, as hard but don't become arrogant because let me tell you, once the merchant files the paperwork then the case if out of the customer's hand and merchant's hand. No one can stop the investigation now. Then the whole authority is with the bank. They have to make the decision. So negotiate before the merchant files the chargeback paperwork, don't expect that you will tell the merchant, ya sure go ahead file the chargeback i am not afraid.... meanwhile thinking i wil negotiate after the paperwork is filed, nope, then the case is out of merchant's hand.

Lastly rememnber visa/mc guidelines are that customer can file the chargeback within 180days. or 6 months. Sometimes banks both domestic and international can override this for personal cards and say you have 90 days for chargeback. This is bullshit lol. No, you have 180 days. Again, if the bank denies after 90 days before the time of trxn is below 180 days, simply fill the form and submit it with evidence(not not). Banks have to process chargeback request lol. There is no negotiation here. Some banks limit business cards to 60 days chargeback timeframe or 30 days. Again this is banks bullshitting. This happens with both domestic and international banks. For example bank of america or wells fargo limits business customers for 60 days chargeback. Nope, it's all bullshit. Btw if time has been more than 6 months, then you are shit outta luck and it all depends on the merchant's willingness to provide refund. Merchant knows very well customer can't do anything as 180 days has passed so it's upto the merchant now for any refund they are willing to give. There is a reason merchant/banks gives good customer service to the customer. Not because they want to but merchant knows customer can file chargeback. And banks know customer can go against them and go to RBI/Regulatory authority hence the good service given to customers. But if you lose a chargeback and go to the RBI, Sorry this won't help. Sure, RBI can get you compensation but it won't come out of the pocket of the merchant but it will come out of the pocket of the bank. Chances of that happening is very rare.