Credit Card Purchase Dispute - What Happens?

bgm1911

Member
I'm trying to find an answer:

I recently made a purchase of a product that was large enough to require a lift gate truck, and cost several thousand dollars. Due to shipping damage and the merchants failure to respond, I disputed the charge with my CC company. I immediately rcvd the full credit.

The CC company told me the merchant had 45 days to respond to my dispute. 48 days later, they never responded. The CC company says the matter is closed.

Now the question is: what do I do with the merchandise? The CC company says "you can keep it, I think". Wow, talk about a definitive answer.

Did the merchants failure to respond also "legally" dismiss their right to the recover the product? I'm in a bind as this thing weighs 700 lbs, and can't just get "rid of it".
 
I dunno. Given the dollar amount involved, I'd want to ask a lawyer in your state. A mistake could get messy and expensive.
 
I recently made a purchase of a product that was large enough to require a lift gate truck, and cost several thousand dollars.

McIntosh amplifier? <G>

Can't believe the credit card company doesn't have a boilerplate letter they can send to the seller. I'd shake their tree first and see if they can help there.

If not, I imagine it would work similar to any other "abandoned" property. Send the company a note that they'd missed the opportunity to dispute your claim and give them 30 days to respond. Tell them you plan to dispose of the item at that time, and give them an opportunity to make a reasonable offer (including return charges) within that 30 day period.

Most important ... document, document, document.
 
McIntosh amplifier? <G>

Can't believe the credit card company doesn't have a boilerplate letter they can send to the seller. I'd shake their tree first and see if they can help there.

If not, I imagine it would work similar to any other "abandoned" property. Send the company a note that they'd missed the opportunity to dispute your claim and give them 30 days to respond. Tell them you plan to dispose of the item at that time, and give them an opportunity to make a reasonable offer (including return charges) within that 30 day period.

Most important ... document, document, document.

I agree, keep track of everything, documents, ph. calls, etc.
 
...Send the company a note that they'd missed the opportunity to dispute your claim and give them 30 days to respond. Tell them you plan to dispose of the item at that time, and give them an opportunity to make a reasonable offer (including return charges) within that 30 day period.

Most important ... document, document, document.

This ^^

Send it Certified Mail.

Tell them to clarify whether or not the item is now yours, or if they want it back, or if they would consider selling it to you at a reduced price commensurate with its current condition (if you still want it). If they want it back, it must be picked up within 30 days, or you will consider it abandoned.

Send it Certified Mail.
 
Bear in mind that laws regarding abandoned property, or whatever it's legally considered, may vary by state so not sure you can just say XX days.

If it were me I'd research the laws of your state and decide from there.

Myself, I wouldn't present a whole list of options. In a nutshell I'd state the facts and ask them to recover the item if you don't want it, stating that after XX days (whatever is the legal time) it will be considered abandoned. If you do want to keep the item then just leave out the "come get it" part.
 
The item in question is a woodworking combo jointer/planer, $4000 and 700lbs.
I didn't want to post on my woodworking forum as didn't want to publicly trash the company.

A friend owns a $12 million/yr dietary supplement business. He is attempting to move the majority of his sales overseas as he is finding that 45% of US sales are disputed: the number 1 reason the consumer cites is the product not received. His company always uses tracking information, so this is an dishonest attempt by the consumer to acquire a free product.

In my case, the dispute was over the quality of the "product"; shipping damage that was never resolved and failure to supply corrective action of incorrect factory setup. Keep in mind, this is a tool that can dismember you in a heartbeat.

In 2 months, the only information I found where the bank sides with the consumer:

"If any products were delivered, the merchant will have to accept the loss of that good or service as well." Don't know if that can be upheld in court.

The tool is still in my garage, but I sure don't feel like a have a "free" tool.

It really begs the question: why didn't the tool company respond in 60 days to my CC company?

I have no choice but to talk to a lawyer.
 
I have no choice but to talk to a lawyer.

Probably your best choice. Even if you are in the right, if the merchant decided to go after you in court, things would get expensive for you. A lawyer will know how to provide you with the max protection.

By the way, that's a pretty hefty jointer / planer.
 
Since I work for a large credit card company, I can give you the scoop as far as the CC company is concerned. They gave you full credit and issued a charge back to the merchant. The CC co is now out of the picture. Under the credit card contract with the merchant, the merchant is not allowed to rebill the charge to your account and must deal with you directly. If the merchant wants to pursue you directly, they have the right to do so by any means they deem necessary including filing a civil claim in court. As this is a large ticket item, I would consult an attorney before getting rid of the item.
 
I am actually surprised that the cc company refunded you so readily. The above post is correct in that they would chargeback the merchant so they would have divested themselves of interest in it.

However, and I could be wrong, I thought that since you admit to having deliberately purchased the goods and did receive them their chargeback process should not apply. The condition of the item delivered is not their "problem" per se unless it was not in fact what was ordered.

I work in a call centre for a company that does 300,000,000 + per year and handle a lot of credit cards and deal with the banks a lot. I train many of our staff and handle a lot of the higher level stuff. I've also instigated a chargeback or 2 myself.

According to Wikipedia:

With each chargeback the issuer selects and submits a numeric reason code.[3] This feedback may help the merchant and acquirer diagnose errors and improve customer satisfaction. Reason codes vary by bank network, but fall in four general categories:

Technical: Expired authorization, non-sufficient funds, or bank processing error.
Clerical: Duplicate billing, incorrect amount billed, or refund never issued.
Quality: Consumer claims to have never received the goods as promised at the time of purchase.
Fraud: Consumer claims they did not authorize the purchase or identity theft.

As I see it, none of the above conditions apply. I'm not saying that you did anything wrong but I'm just a bit surprised that it was so easy to get the transaction reversed. The buyer is always given higher consideration from the cc issuer I know, with seller having virtually no protection but based on the $$ amount I thought the hoops for you would have been a bit harder to jump through.

Good luck with the rest of it.
 
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I'm still watching this thread, and I find it very interesting.

Like the OP, I'm flabbergasted that the company has failed to engage in essentially any communication on a $4,000 item, and now a $4,000 loss.

Have you ever tried to talk to a live person at the company? I would certainly do that.

Otherwise, as you said, you would be safest to have an attorney send them a letter with a "drop dead" date in it. Unfortunately, an attorney is probably going to charge you $500 to send that letter, but it might be best for your peace of mind.

$4,000 - $500 is still a pretty good deal. :yes:
 
If there's shipping damage, then the shipping co's customer will be involved in settling the matter. You'll have to look at your original bill of lading and invoice to see if the mfg. is the shipper's customer, or if you are. This is often not a simple thing. The CC card co.'s actions don't really enter into that discussion.

Personal contact or registered letter/return receipt should be a safe way to let them know that, although you do not consider the machine "yours", they are incurring storage costs of XX per day, and as of X date, it will be yours.

Chip
 
According to Wikipedia:

As I see it, none of the above conditions apply. I'm not saying that you did anything wrong

My CC C opened the dispute under: "Dissatisfied with the quality of merchandise/service received"

I'm still watching this thread, and I find it very interesting.

Have you ever tried to talk to a live person at the company? I would certainly do that.

Only lots of emails as I believe this is the only good record.

Try to follow this:

The first day of having the machine, I had 2 issues. I sent an email. I then had to send another email to ask if my first email was received, and re-listed the original 2 problems. After their response, I had to send another email to ask about the 2nd issue that was never addressed. Then another issue arose, which I did get a response. Another issue arose, so I sent another email, and also asked about the original problem that was never resolved.

I was finally able to talk to a service tech about one of the original problems. He said he would send an email to the factory, and I asked to be CC on it. Never received an email. I believe I asked about the one issue 6 times.

It got to the point in their failing to respond to my issues, that I asked: "It's been about 2 weeks since there has been any correspondence. Am I not handling this correctly to get these issues resolved?"

I got no response.

I have had the tool since January, and have never received a part that was damaged, even though I have repeatedly mentioned this to more than one employee via email.

This tool has a 220v, 30A 5 hp motor that uses 2 pulleys to a 12" wide, three knife cutter head. Just turning the machine on, there is a smell of burnt rubber, and belt dust can be seen on the machine. I took a side cover and found the motor pulley too hot to touch. I sent an email. The response: "I believe the pulley can get hot".

I found the pulley to be mis-aligned by an 1/8", and once adjusted, the belts and pulleys are fine.

My point: this is a tool that can seriously injure you. I was scared to use it because of some of these issues. I was forced to solve issues where I felt the company should have at least provided some acknowledgment, and then assistance if required.

Honestly, there is a point where I feel my responsibility stops. The company failed to support the product, and at my wits end with a $4000 machine, I contacted the CC company, and they supported me 100%.

I will contact a lawyer when I have time, and ask what my responsibility is for this tool, and to the tool company, and for how long.

Sorry for the rant...
 
Honestly, there is a point where I feel my responsibility stops. The company failed to support the product, and at my wits end with a $4000 machine, I contacted the CC company, and they supported me 100%.

I will contact a lawyer when I have time, and ask what my responsibility is for this tool, and to the tool company, and for how long.

I think you have additional obligations, not addressed by the credit card company. Your contract was sealed by the retailer when you ordered and is subject to that definition. I think you should act on this quickly, the longer it waits the worse it gets. The shipper is likely the one at fault here and you need to make sure they don't get you screwed by extension.

Take a look at this for some of the logic:

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161990

.dew.
 
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