Unfortunately credit card companies automatically chargeback internet purchases unless you have a signed authorization whether the charge back is valid or not. Which is why we stopped using Authorize.net as they would not fight these charge backs but accepted all of them as submitted.
Fortunately charge backs do not occur very often. We capture the IP address on the order and require the code on the back of the credit card but that still does not prevent the client from denying the charge, resulting in a chargeback. We have been told to prosecute if we could prove the card user was lying about the charge. And unfortunately, the biggest lie is that the service was not provided which is why we do not accept one year hosting agreements without a faxed signed authorization. We started doing this after one clown used our service for 11 months, then charged it back saying the service wasn't provided. We provided a copy of his web pages plus his logs for 11 months but the credit card company still processed the chargeback for their customer. We filed criminal fraud with our local DA but with an out of state client not much will come from this. This occured two years ago and nothing has been done to date. We also filed against the clown's credit report which will probably have more impact than the fraud charge we filed. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Warren" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Bryan Waters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "'Michael Brody'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 11:26 PM Subject: Re: What to do if credit card fails - domain already registered... > > Chargebacks have nothing to do with the live interface and no, there > really > > is no way to get it back. However, if you sell someone a domain name, the > > only valid reason for a chargeback is if the card was stolen and used > > without the cardholder's knowledge to buy the domain. > > This is not strictly true. If I prepay a year for hosting, and the company > does not provide the service, I chargeback. That's a very legimiate use of > a chargeback. > > > -- > The nice thing about standards, there is enough for everyone to have their own. > >
