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What is a chargeback?
Team Tab avatar
Written by Team Tab
Updated over a year ago

A chargeback is when a customer disputes their payment directly with their bank.

Chargebacks are possible with all card payments, whether through Tab or another payment provider, and they are a consumer right. However, they're not very common and most businesses will never receive one.

Customers can issue a chargeback for many reasons, but the most common are:

  • the customer thinks their card was used without their permission, or

  • the customer thinks they didn't receive the services that they paid for

Unfortunately, the customer's bank usually doesn't tell us the reason for the chargeback.

At Tab we can help you submit evidence for chargebacks against payments at your business, but we don't provide insurance or cover for chargebacks.

If you've received a chargeback, read the below to find out how the process works.

What happens if I get a chargeback?

When a customer issues a chargeback with their bank, their bank notifies us. We then have a set amount of time (depending on the bank and card type) to respond and submit evidence to the bank. Sometimes this is only a few days, so we may need your evidence quite quickly.

We refund the payment from your Tab account when we receive a chargeback. When a chargeback happens, the money is returned to the cardholder’s bank first. Usually, the bank waits until the full chargeback and appeal process is complete before they refund the amount to the cardholder. If you win the chargeback, we return the payment to your account.

Most payment providers will simply accept the chargeback on your behalf and pass the fees on to you, but here at Tab we help businesses with the chargeback submission process to make sure you have the best possible chance of recovering the payment.

1. We contact you

We will email both you and the customer to try and understand what happened so that we can advise on the best type of evidence. We will always send the customer their Tab receipt and, if they paid using Tab Instant, the selfie they took. Often the customer realises what the payment was for and cancels the chargeback at this point.

When we email you, we'll include the bank deadline. This is extremely important - we need all evidence by this date, otherwise the chargeback will be automatically accepted.

2. We collate evidence

If the customer doesn't respond or if they issued the chargeback for a different reason then we will continue the dispute process for you. You should provide as much information and evidence as possible about the customer and the payment.

A good thing to remember is that the evidence needs to prove three things to the customer's bank that they are the cardholder, that they agreed to the charge, and that the service was provided. You can submit a description of what happened, but you also need to provide evidence - ideally at least one thing from each of these categories:

Examples that they are the cardholder

  • copies of their personal ID that show they were with you

  • a document signed by the customer

  • we always recommend that you visually check the customer's card when they arrive to check the cardholder is correct

Examples that they agreed to the charge:

  • a copy of their invoice showing exactly what they paid for

  • a copy of the terms and conditions of the booking

  • a copy of their receipt (Tab will provide this)

Examples that the service was provided:

  • Correspondence with the customer (e.g. email/text/WhatsApp) from before they arrived, during their stay or after they left. This should show the email address or phone number of the customer

  • a copy of the terms and conditions of the booking (especially if the customer cancelled or was a no-show)

  • any evidence that that customer was with you - e.g. photos, any bills or documents signed by the customer etc.

Remember that the customer has to submit their own version of events and their own evidence in order to issue a chargeback, so it's helpful to be as clear as possible about what happened.

If you know why the dispute happened, it's also helpful to write an explanation and send that to us too, though this should be brief and factual - we can't submit more than a few sentences.

3. We submit the evidence

We will collate the evidence that you have provided and submit it to the bank on your behalf. The bank has deadlines for this, which we'll include when we email you. This is important - we need all evidence by this date, otherwise the chargeback will be automatically accepted.

4. Wait for the bank's response

After we've submitted the evidence, we have to wait for the bank's decision. This can take quite some time - usually 2-3 months, though sometimes longer.

Aside from helping you with the evidence, Tab has no influence over the outcome of the chargeback. Because the issuing bank makes the final decision, there is no way to guarantee the outcome, even if you provide strong evidence.

Around 50% of chargebacks that we submit with evidence are decided in favour of the business.

If you've received a chargeback and you have more questions, you can just reply to the email we sent you.

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