Need shopify support to contact me regarding chargeback incorrectly granted to customer

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
1

I need someone from shopify support to contact me regarding a chargeback that was decided in the customer’s favor incorrectly causing a double refund. There is no option to appeal the decision that I was given which is my right to do so I need to have this done. We provided ample evidence of the refund being provided as well as illustrating that the customer was given the entire refund they were eligible for. It is somewhat disappointing that there is no readily accessible email for these kinds of support issues which do not need to be in the public eye… I have searched multiple times and could find no direct support email or phone number. It always took me back to the forums or FAQ section.

Thank you,

Jason Johnson

Sunburst Fitness Supply

2

Hi @Sunburst ,

Hyde here from Shopify.

I completely empathize with your frustration at losing out a chargeback despite providing ample evidence that it was an unfounded claim from the customer. It is always disappointing to be the victim of such a fraudulent claim.

Shopify is not involved in the decision making of chargeback outcomes. That power rests entirely with the customer’s bank, and Shopify’s role is as a mere transactional third-party. As a consequence, we cannot provide you with a means of appealing the decision and it is considered final by the bank unless you can somehow come to an alternative agreement with the customer directly.

I appreciate this is not what you want to hear, and of course, I’d love to be able to do more for you if I could, but it is out of my (and Shopify’s) hands. What I can do is provide you with more information on chargebacks for you to go over, and outline how best to prevent them from happening again in the future.

No one single option is a catch-all solution, so the best fraud prevention is a combination of:

  1. Shopify’s own fraud analysis algorithm, which cross-references billing and shipping addresses with card details and names to try to ascertain the credibility of the buyer (more information here).

  2. Your own investigative efforts by using our Fraud Prevention Tips.

  3. Using the Fraud Filter app.

Another thing you could try doing is ensuring you are manually authorizing your orders, instead of doing it automatically. This will give you the opportunity to have a look at the order to see if anything seems off to you. You could cross-reference with the fraud prevention tips I listed above. You’d change this setting by going to Settings > Payments:

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You could then once again place details from the suspicious orders into your Fraud Filter app.

I hope this all helps and once again I completely empathize with your situation.

All the best, Hyde.

3

Hi @Andrew_8 ,

This is not entirely true. As the payment processor, Shopify deals with a
bank on the merchant side of the chargeback. As such, a resolved
chargeback can be appealed in cases, such as this, where the resolution was
wrong. It is part of the process and one which Shopify does not provide to
merchants.

This was not a case of plain fraud. We already have fraud prevention in
place and this is not a scenario they cover.

This was a case of the customer filing a chargeback after already being
refunded. We provided evidence of the refund. The bank decided against
us still. There is a means to appeal this decision as it should be but
Shopify does not provide it. As a matter of fact, we aren’t even provided
the chargeback claim ID.

I have already read all the information you linked as well as a whole lot
more across the internet. The chargeback resolution process is incomplete
on Shopify and does not give merchants the appeal option they are entitled
to in cases of wrong decisions. Based on this response, I am sure this
case will not be fixed but Shopify really needs to get something in place
to better protect their merchants from these scenarios. Our case is one
that normally can (and should) be appealed but you do not provide the means
to do so. It blatantly gave a customer back more money than they paid us
originally with the extra full refund given on top of the partial refund
they already received.

Thank you,
Jason Johnson
Sunburst Fitness Supply

1 Like
4

Hi Jason,

Have you gotten any further answers regarding the wrongfully awarded chargeback? I just had the same situation. A customer bought a product for $569.00, never returned it, I proved it and they sided with the customer. Now I want to appeal it but I have no idea how.

5

No, I never received any useful answer on this. Just the response above
saying they can’t do anything about it basically.

1 Like
6

We had the same problem and the fraud app has nothing to do with this. For someone who has its own platform built , they will be able to discuss with the credit card company. In this case, it is shopify and they will not get involved. We had a ridiculous chargeback that should not have happened and it is scary to read that no-one can get involved to help with the credit card company. Always liked Shopify but recently, it is lacking customer service. Wonder if they were sold to a company or grown too much. But I contacted for help and they were sorry for me but got no help or even tried t help and it was case closed. Personally,I was in a situation where I returned something defective to a company owning their own website and trust me, there were a lot of back and forth between Visa, them and I before they accepted to refund me. Now, people simply ask chargeback and they will get it even IF you are in your rights.

Pretty scary

1 Like
7

Correct. We have fraud services as well through clear sale. That only
covers chargeback cases directly related to fraudulent transactions.

Regardless, I am not sure if Shopify sends the correct information when
responding or performs the correct actions. I did talk to someone at the
customers bank after months of waiting and they agreed that the customer
should not have won this one of the proof I listed was actually submitted.

8

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9

I just had this same thing happen to me today. The bank double dipped and took twice the amount of the order total and Shopify said they have no control of this but yet they allow it to happen on their platform. This is actually robbery and a class action lawsuit should be filed.

10

I would contact the customer and tell them I will report them to the credit card company if they do not return cash or items and I WOULD contact the credit card company

Because the problem is that Shopify from what I understand does not provide our answers or proofs we give when a chargeback occurs. Example: an order of 200$, and then the perso says can I exchange, sure, please return. Then, no returns, no more answers and a chargeback. We provide e-mails to prove we accepted the exchange but never heard from them afterwards, but I understand that our answer does not reahc the credit card company . So, a defect in shopify’s system ?

Then we get these long explanations that are meaningless. I even told shopify that a lady finally admitted keeping the gowns and asking a chargeback (because we refused to take her second order). She was ready to pay us back. But shopify did not care. I said, see, I even have the proof that your system does not work but I guess they were sending sms to their friends while talking to me or doing their nails because they could not care less.

At the end, have rules: No shipping anywhere but the billing adress EVEN if they ordered before. Have an app that checks the billing adress and read the report to the bottom of the fraud filter because it is at the bottom where we get a read flag. Even if they think ok to ship, no, does not match, void the order. If all seems ok, research online if these adresses are legits, not a pobox. Some are sneaky, they write apt number when it is a pobox. Check everything you can and then accept and wait to ship. Stolen credit cards, people do wake up after few days and you should get a warning from the credit card companies before you ship. We also decided to not ship large orders. We tell them we are out of stock for 2 months and void 2 out of 3 items and ship one only just to see what they are about.

Maybe crazy but we have peace of mind and honeestly, we sell as much as usual but do void more orders than usual. Before 3 per year, now 2 per week until we install rules.

All over the website it is mentionned: we cancel if adress does not match billing adress of the card (and because they were rude and insisting) we added. IF we void, do call your credit card company and ask why can’t I buy using a fake billing adress ?? Why ?. They will explain (maybe have you arrested). If not, we glady will report your purchase to them.

So, it stopped..

Infuriating having to deal with crooks

11

Shopify no longers answers through e-mail

If they do, when did it start again ??

Because you have to go online , and pick a choice that will bring to pages and pages to read that are of no interest to you. They hope you will give up by doing this

But if you try them all, takes a while I admit, there will be one that at the bottom of the page will offer CONTACT shopify support ! Yeah, BUT no, another page with choices. isn’t this great ???

Then pick any and click and again ANOTHER PAGE OF CHOICE !! Where is the contact ???

BUT as I try few of them I found that Click on support

then Account, then Plans and billing, and then, YES, CHAT AND SUPPORT at the bottom of the page

Very difficult to find, but of you go where they can sell you stuff, they will answer.

If not time to change platform