topic Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute in General Credit Topics

Merchant Won CC Dispute

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 12:31:13 GMT

I disputed theme park season passes and my CC company said they ruled in the merchants favor UNLESS I respond to the letter the CC company sends me. The theme park company is very aggressive with collections looking at internet searches so I am thinking I will just accept defeat and pay the charge to avoid any hassle down the road. Because even if I win I think they will pursue collection through other means. Is that the right way of thinking?

Is there any way I negatively affected myself by opening a credit card dispute that I lost?

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 13:15:20 GMT

The credit card will have comments that there was a dispute, on your credit report. Not a big deal unless an application goes to manual review.

Curious why you disputed season passes, though.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

BmoreBull — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 13:59:34 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
The credit card will have comments that there was a dispute, on your credit report. Not a big deal unless an application goes to manual review.

Curious why you disputed season passes, though.

My guess is he bought them pre covid and hasn't been able to use any of the benefits of having them. A lot of the theme parks are still shut down.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:12:21 GMT

@BmoreBull wrote:
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
The credit card will have comments that there was a dispute, on your credit report. Not a big deal unless an application goes to manual review.

Curious why you disputed season passes, though.
My guess is he bought them pre covid and hasn't been able to use any of the benefits of having them. A lot of the theme parks are still shut down.

All of the big parks have paused or cancelled existing passes. For people that have prepaid, the dates have been extended. Smaller parks that are still charging should be extending the expiration. Not exactly grounds for dispute.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:36:54 GMT

They are offering 2021 season pass time to counter the closures in 2020.

I can't enjoy the park wearing a mask in 100F temps but that's not my argument here.

My biggest argument is that I didn't want a 2021 season pass. I bought as advertised a 2020 season pass that was advertised to open in March advertising unlimited visits. They only opened end of late June and visits must be scheduled. Which is not what I purchased.

I bought a product/service as advertised and something else was given instead. The theme park has a strict no refund policy under any circumstance and is not working with anyone. I will not be a patron of them in the future regardless of the outcome of the dispute.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

K-in-Boston — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 15:49:33 GMT

As long as there is not a large history of disputes found in the merchant's favor on the account, you should be fine as far as credit and your relationship with the issuer. Some issuers will note that the account is being disputed while a chargeback is being investigated, and if so that note will go away after the next statement reporting after the chargeback complaint has been closed.

As for the dispute itself, the park did deliver the product you purchased allowing you entrance on all days that they are open in the 2020 season, so there was basis for the dispute as far as your card issuer was concerned. The no refund policy is quite standard among parks, but most parks have extended the courtesy of granting additional time to use passes as seems to be the case with the one you purchased.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 15:54:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
They are offering 2021 season pass time to counter the closures in 2020.

I can't enjoy the park wearing a mask in 100F temps but that's not my argument here.

My biggest argument is that I didn't want a 2021 season pass. I bought as advertised a 2020 season pass that was advertised to open in March advertising unlimited visits. They only opened end of late June and visits must be scheduled. Which is not what I purchased.

I bought a product/service as advertised and something else was given instead. The theme park has a strict no refund policy under any circumstance and is not working with anyone. I will not be a patron of them in the future regardless of the outcome of the dispute.

I can understand getting annoyed with the scheduling part, the way I look at it is, as long as I can go on the days I want, as many times as needed to offset the cost, no harm, no foul. Now, if one or both of those become a problem, I'll put on my Karen wig.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 16:19:18 GMT

I had no plans to go to the park in 2021 so I don't want their substitute for the service I purchased. The calendar on their page said they opened in March. We have another local theme park (in the state) that gave customers options, including refunds.

That theme park will have my future business instead.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 04:39:43 GMT

I agree you did not get what you paid for and I agree you have a ground for a successful dispute. no I don’t see how they can go after you other than trying to sue you and I don’t see that happening.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 04:40:53 GMT

And by the way you must at least communicate with the merchant to show that you tried to resolve it and give them an opportunity to resolve it before the CCC steps in. That’s why you got to respond to the letter.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 10:05:50 GMT

Will one dispute, either lost or won, have a lasting impact with an CC issuer? Probably not. That said, as with everything in life, I find disputes to be a matter of picking your battles. In this instance, the park IS still providing service and I would bet that by way of purchasing the season pass(es) that you agreed to terms and conditions that protected the park in matters such as this. CC disputes will generally be ineffective for instances that are simply poor customer service or as a result of terms and conditions of the purchase that you simply disagree with.

Out of curiosity , how much was the charge you disputed? Which credit card company was it?

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 15:58:26 GMT

I disputed a $150+ charge with Citi. After researching the merchant I think had the dispute been in my favor I might have still been sent to collections by the company. It was a very gray area because of the terms and conditions combined with the what was advertised versus what I purchased.

Per my recent phone call with Citi they said they automatically ruled in favor of merchant because the merchant responded but that doesn't mean the dispute is over. I just have to respond to the merchants response. Like I said either drop the dispute or I win and the company pursues alternative collection means.

I called Citi and accepted responsibility for the charge although I disagreed with it I didn't want the hassle of it. As a courtesy they said the merchant still receives their full payment but for my trouble Citi will pay a portion of the charges which was roughly crediting me back about 75% of what I paid on Citi's dime.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 13:20:26 GMT

Wow, thats not a bad resolution in your favor thanks to Citi's intervention. I expected you to end up eating 100% of the expense when I started reading from the top of thread

@Anonymous wrote:
I disputed a $150+ charge with Citi. After researching the merchant I think had the dispute been in my favor I might have still been sent to collections by the company. It was a very gray area because of the terms and conditions combined with the what was advertised versus what I purchased.

Per my recent phone call with Citi they said they automatically ruled in favor of merchant because the merchant responded but that doesn't mean the dispute is over. I just have to respond to the merchants response. Like I said either drop the dispute or I win and the company pursues alternative collection means.

I called Citi and accepted responsibility for the charge although I disagreed with it I didn't want the hassle of it. As a courtesy they said the merchant still receives their full payment but for my trouble Citi will pay a portion of the charges which was roughly crediting me back about 75% of what I paid on Citi's dime.

Re: Merchant Won CC Dispute

coldfusion — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 19:31:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Wow, thats not a bad resolution in your favor thanks to Citi's intervention. I expected you to end up eating 100% of the expense when I started reading from the top of thread

@Anonymous wrote:
I disputed a $150+ charge with Citi. After researching the merchant I think had the dispute been in my favor I might have still been sent to collections by the company. It was a very gray area because of the terms and conditions combined with the what was advertised versus what I purchased.

Per my recent phone call with Citi they said they automatically ruled in favor of merchant because the merchant responded but that doesn't mean the dispute is over. I just have to respond to the merchants response. Like I said either drop the dispute or I win and the company pursues alternative collection means.

I called Citi and accepted responsibility for the charge although I disagreed with it I didn't want the hassle of it. As a courtesy they said the merchant still receives their full payment but for my trouble Citi will pay a portion of the charges which was roughly crediting me back about 75% of what I paid on Citi's dime.

That isn't always the case, if you have a demonstrated track record of being a good client issuers will sometimes just eat the cost themselves as a customer satisfaction gesture. It's just a well you don't want to make a habit of trying to draw from.

I've done similar with Chase before where they immediately credited me the entire disputed amount without first engaging the merchant.