The Basis for the Dispute

B.H. is a Croatian citizen residing in the United Kingdom who attempted to earn extra income by putting his money in an online investment platform. Unfortunately, the broker he was doing business with was unregulated, stealing B.H.’s deposits while merely pretending to execute trades.

By the time B.H. realised what was happening, he had sent the merchant over $110,000 by charging it to his Visa credit card, which they, of course, refused to return. Understandably uncertain how to proceed, he turned to MyChargeBack for help.

Strategies and Tactics

As in every payment dispute, the first step is to gather evidence. We guided B.H. in collecting from his computer and his papers all the critical information that would prove his case. This included credit card statements for all of his numerous transactions representing the sum total of his deposits with the broker.

No less important were screenshots of his trading platform showing his balance as well as his and their activity at certain critical periods. Other screenshots demonstrated the broker’s unethical assurances and refusals at different times. In addition, we gathered evidence to prove that the broker was unregulated and unlicensed to offer investment services in the United Kingdom (and possibly everywhere else, for that matter).

With all the information in hand, our next task was to compile it into a single clear, concise and persuasive document to be presented to the issuing bank. Finally, in order to comply with all possible interpretations of Visa rules, we drafted a letter for our client to send to the merchant formally ending their business relationship and demanding a full refund.

With all the preliminary tasks completed, it was time to schedule a call with our client’s bank requesting a chargeback. After the call, we had our client provide the bank with the documentation we had prepared. At this point, the time had come to sit back and wait for whatever responses from the merchant and/or bank that might come.

When the response came a few weeks later, it was unsurprising, given the amount of money being disputed, that the merchant had challenged the chargeback. The purported reasoning was utterly irrelevant for anyone paying attention. The merchant was betting that an overworked and under-trained bank dispute department would not pay attention. The argument? That the transactions were authorised, and that the trading account showed wins and losses. There was no proof provided (because there couldn’t be any) that any legitimate trading actually took place.

The MyChargeBack Difference

MyChargeBack has dealt with similar situations literally hundreds of times, so we were fully prepared for this scenario, just as soon as we settled our client’s nerves, assuring him that all was not lost.

We responded to the merchant’s response, pointing out all the flaws in their reasoning. Within several weeks we received the welcome news that many of the chargebacks had been approved, representing approximately a quarter of the disputed amount.

MyChargeBack was far from finished, however. We filed a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), the official bank complaint adjudicator in the UK. Within a couple months, they had approved a large additional refund. At this point, we had recovered nearly 90% of the missing funds.

But MyChargeBack was still not done. We then filed a recall demand with the merchant’s acquiring bank, alleging that they had an improper business relationship with a fraudulent entity. Several months later, they approved a refund which in total meant that our client had finally recovered every last bit of his lost money.