Q: How to avoid or win credit card disputes from the customer? I have a small business.
We print custom t-shirt & embroider on shirts. We printed 200 piece t-shirts for this customer, customer verified and picked up. Customer disputed charges with her credit card company (reason: defective print). We ask customer to bring the shirts back by responding to her dispute case but she didn't bring it and won the case, also kept merchandise. I lost money and shirts.
On invoice says, no refund no exchange since it's custom decoration. The customer signed it but still, the credit card company didn't rule in favor. Credit card company asking us to contact a customer regarding this but the customer not responding to us.
How to prevent this?
The question is that if there are any legal writing I can put on a paper that I ask the customer to sign upon picking up the merchandise so just in case someone tried to do this in future, I can submit that signed paper to credit card company to rule in our (merchant) favor, no questions asked? Any suggestions would help.
Thank you!
A:
With this particular customer if the disputed amount is less than $5000 you can file a small claims case to recover your loss. You can use an attorney’s services in small claims but you are not required to have an attorney.
As far as contract language goes, you should have the customer sign the invoice that says they have inspected and approved the product at the time of pick up. Unfortunately, there is no way you can prevent a credit card dispute. Those are handled between the card holder and the company issuing the card and are most often resolved in the customer’s favor. But if you feel the dispute was done in bad faith you have remedies in a court proceeding. Your case will be strengthened by the customer’s signed approval of the product.
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