What has worked in successfully obtaining CC Chargebacks?

[Jason R]

If you were unable to obtain a refund from AU.com, and your credit card company disputed the charges for you and subsequently removed the charges, please post that information here.

So far, the most common answers I've received via email are:

1) Product did not ship on promised date.
2) Charge was made under The Comic Store, and purchase was made from AnotherUniverse.com, a separate entity.

I hope that we can turn some of the information here into a mini-FAQ to help those who are seeking refunds for cancellations or double bills.

Unlike other threads, I will reserve the right to edit or delete a post if it is off topic. I want to keep it factual.

Thanks,
Jason Rosenfeld

[andrewgd]

I'm not really sure what part of what I told my bank got them to dispute the charges. The person on the phone said it was fairly unlikely that they would do it, because of the date, but she said she would enter it, and see what happened. She then told me to fax them a letter describing in my own words, what had happened. I immediately sent off the fax, and less than a week later the bank credited me the money. Granted, the bank also stated that if they could not get the money from AU themselves, they would take back the credit, so I'm not sure I'll hang on to it.

This is the letter I sent them:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact History:
-On 3/4/2002 I visited Anotheruniverse.com and placed a deposit of $20 for the My So-Called Life DVD Box Set (Note: all charges/refunds from AnotherUniverse.com show up as Comicstore.com on my account reports).

-The total price of the set was $89.98, and they said they would charge the remaining $69.98 at a later date. The set was said to be shipping 6/18/02. It was said to be a very exclusive set, and only a certain number of sets would be made, so a deposit had to be given to receive the set.

-On 3/25/2002 they wrote an email saying they needed to charge the remainder of the total to the account, and sent emails asking permission to do so ($69.98). I ok’d this, but months later, it still had not taken place.

-Various emails were exchanged between 3/25/2002 and 7/11/2002 because they were having trouble charging my account. Apparently they had messed up my CC number. I even got an “Ok” that they charged my account and my order was in good standing, but in actuality they hadn’t.

-I waited until 7/11 and called them again, trying to clear this up. They finally successfully charged my account for $69.98 on 7/12/02 and received a confirmation email. At this point they did not give a shipping date estimate, only that it would be “soon”.

-On 8/13 I noticed they had mistakenly charged my account for another $69.98 on 8/12/02. I wrote an email, and called them up, and left a message that day, and had not yet heard a response by 8/14 when I called them again. They were very dismissive to me, and sounded upset that I would bother them with this, but finally said they would credit my account back $69.98 that I was double charged that day. They did do this, and credited my account for $69.98 on 8/14/02.

-At this point, their webpage (http://www.anotheruniverse.com) stated that the disks would be shipped 9/17/02. I had not been contacted about this announced date; I had to find it on my own.

-I have emailed the company to cancel my order and have my $89.98 refunded, but they had not responded, and no refunds have been given as of 10/11/02.

-On 10/11/02 I filed a claim with the bank to recoup my $89.98 total paid for the DVD box set that was never shipped. It is 4 months past their originally stated shipment date, and slightly over 1 month since their revised shipping date and nothing has been sent.

-On 10/14/02 I received an email stating that the order had been canceled, and the refund was given.

-On 10/15/02 I called them, just to make sure, and their system stated that no cancellation had taken place, and in fact no refund been given. I then told the operator to cancel my order. I do not know if this actually happened.

**Note: There has been much discussion about Another Universe’s mistreatment of customers on the web bulletin board located here:
http://www.mscl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=10
It has been said that over 400 people were double billed in August, and less than a quarter of those have received refunds. There are also reports that people have been told by people at Another Universe that, “You must contest this charge with your credit card company because we can’t and won’t refund your money.” You may want to email Jason Rosenfeld at jasonr@mscl.com as he has been the unofficial liaison between customers and AnotherUniverse.com, and is willing to verify any facts concerning Another Universe that I have stated in this report.**

Recap:
3/4/02- Deposit $20
7/12/02- Remaining $69.98
8/12/02- Overcharge $69.98
8/14/02- Refund for overcharge $69.98
Total money given to AnotherUniverse.com: $89.98
I have never received the Box Set, and no new specific date is given for shipment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


I hope that helps people.

[SanDeE*]

Jason,
I ordered in early May, and got charged a first time ($115) in July. At that time, I thought, Okay, they're charging me before they ship. That's weird, but...as long as I get them soon.

Then I got charged another $115 in mid-August, right before I moved back to college for this semester. I was upset, but not really angry, because I thought it was just a simple mistake (I hadn't been reading mscl.com at that point) and I didn't realize it was becoming a BIG problem for lots of people, not just me. So, after seeing the double charge, I filled out the drygrass form and emailed AU, expecting the second $115 back within a week. (Didn't want to cancel, so just the second $115, not both charges. Also, at that time I thought the set would be shipping in late August.)

After getting settled into my new apartment a couple of weeks later (end of August), I checked my on-line account statement and - lo and behold - no $115 back. This is when I freaked. I called my father (who works at my credit union) and he said he'd talk to someone who could take care of it. He called me back about ten minutes later saying that they were granting me "provisional credit" for both of the charges (total $230) on my card from TheComicStore.com. He said they wanted to charge back both because both charges were still within 60 days. He also said that since there was no product in my hands when we thought there would be by then, it was another reason for the provisional credit. I didn't have to send my credit union any emails I've gotten from AU concerning the set, althought I have kept them all just in case they are needed sometime. That could just be because my father works there, but I don't know.

I called AU a few days later to confirm that my order was not cancelled (because I thought they were the only ones selling the set). I talked to Wade and he said it was fine, and I told him I disputed the charges with my credit union. So after this, I expected to get a third charge to my account, and thankfully that hasn't happened. I cancelled my order through both the drygrass site (10/14, I think?) and calling AU (10/22) this month. So now, I got my $230 back from the UW Credit Union, the UWCU got their $230 back from Visa, and Visa is going after AU.

If they send me a set by mistake, I'm mailing it back to them, with a tracking number and everything.

[rainydayjanes]

I put my charges into dispute with my (new best) friends at Visa today, since AU totally failed to provide me with any kind of actual cancellation confirmation and has, surprise, not refunded my money. My issuer is First USA. Like any big company, you get slightly different answers from everyone you talk to when you call in, but what they've told me is that, since I can provide proof that it was supposed to ship on 9/17 and hasn't shipped, that I can still dispute the charges. It really does involve going through the long explanation that it was a pre-order, and that no, you're not a complete moron who's waited seven months for delivery of a product you should've had in March. But other than the time to make the explanation, the process seems pretty easy: I explain to them, they mail me forms, I fill them out and attach copies of key e-mails with dates in them, I mail them back, AU sits on my money until my credit card's time limit runs out, and my credit card automatically credits me back the money. This is pretty much what happened with my overcharge as well, except without the paperwork, 'cause I disputed that one in a timely fashion. I don't know if anyone'll find this helpful, but there it is.

[Little_Sister]

i have a question about Credit card disputes.. i've never ordered anything online before so my sister order the set for me with her card. She was double charged. Problem is she lives in England, and i mostly contact her though weekly emails.

so the question is should i call them to check if they've actually canceled the order and refunded her double charges or should i let her do it?


I hope this isn't a dumb question i just have no idea what i'm doing and wanted to get some advice from you well informed people.

thanks for any help you can offer.

[SanDeE*]

Little_Sister:

My advice: Yes definately offer to call AU for her (since you're here and she's overseas = no international calling). Make sure you have her AU order number and you know exactly what she wants you to say to them (i.e. cancel or not)! Also make sure, before you call AU, whether or not your sister has already disputed the charge with her bank/CCco.

Hope you and your sis get your situation figured out...good luck!

[Little_Sister]

thank you Kristin!

she knows about the double charging she just found out about two weeks ago. I couldn't get in touch with her until then to find out if she was overcharged. I just wrote Ross asking if their was any way he could find out if she was refunded. but i doubt he replys to the email. It took forever for them to send me the cancelation email that everyone got from mike.

I'll try calling AU tomorrow. Hopefully i'll get some good news. or you know the usual news.

[DrLemonBurn]

I'm a little absent-minded right now, so I apologise if this has nothing to do with what you're talking about, but as for finding out whether your (or whoever's) credit card has received a refund, often times you'll be able to check the account activity on the Internet and usually things will show up there pretty quickly. (And if you're disputing the charges, make sure to note whether AU refunded your charge, or your credit card company gave you a credit.)

That's all.

[Little_Sister]

Can i check someone elses card though?

see i don't have a credit card so i don't know what all you can do to check it. As of yesterday i know that she hasn't recieved a refund for the double charges cause i talked to her on the phone. my dad says that i should wait until monday to call though cause then it will have been two weeks.

I should've never gotten her mixed up in this, last time i get birthday presents from companies she hasn't bought items from previously.

thanks though.

[quagmire]

I am in Australia and have a VISA debit (not credit) card. Today I received a refund on the balance charge of $69.98 (charged in August). I haven't received a refund on the initial $20 pre-order amount from February, as that was charged to my father's card and he'll have to dispute it himself. Thankfully, I was not double or triple charged.

I submitted a cancellation of my order to AU via their customer service form on 7 Oct and since I didn't get a confirmation, followed up on 11 Oct with an e-mail to Ross (for which I got a confirmation that my order would be cancelled and credited). Later I added my cancellation to the drygrass site for their records. By 18 Oct I hadn't received the refund. Normally I would wait a bit longer for the store to settle the matter (especially when they're overseas), but this was a special case and things had dragged on long enough. So on 18 Oct I called my bank's customer service line, explained the situation, and was told quite bluntly that I couldn't dispute the charges because I had authorised the transaction (they claimed that I could only dispute charges for transactions that I didn't know about).

I'm not one to argue over the phone, so I sent a letter to the bank explaining the situation and requesting a chargeback, and included copies of my receipts, e-mails, and a printout of this forum's index. This worked, as I received a courtesy call from my bank and appearing today on my online statement is a satisfying credit labelled "Visa Chargeback". This has almost brought closure to the issue, with only the remaining $20 to be pursued.

[MarkSWalker]

Well-

Since I got notified by one of my two credit card companies
(I had two separate orders), that the $214.98 that AU had charged
me for the original order and the "double-charge" in July, is going
to be credited back to my account, including any interest charges,
I am assuming they got the money out of AU.

(Keep in mind, I had done NOTHING until about 10/12 with my AU
orders.)

Well, when they sent me their dispute form, rather than mailing
it in, I filled it out with all the things identified that were wrong
with my transaction(s) with AU and FAXed it all to them:
1) Original order date along with order #
2) Dates of all three charges, $20, $79.99, and $115.00
3) Date of officially anounced street date for set
4) Set no longer "exclusive" to AU
5) No product ever delivered to me
6) Date I cancelled my order(s) with AU via e-mail
7) Date I cancelled my order(s) with AU via drygrass.com
8 ) Print outs of E-mail(s) from AU, Ross Rojek, and Drygrass
(Ross had told me he would "take care" of my order "next week." via e-mail.)
9) E-mails to AU asking where my refund is
10) AU's phone number
11) Phone number for Authorize.net with AU's customer ID "Fandom"
12) this forum's URL
13) A two page letter outlining all of my concerns regarding AU.
14) Jason's e-mail address

Something in there made my CC company take action.
(I think I made it pretty clear I thought we were dealing with
a shady company and that I might be filing a fraud claim if
things didn't get resolved to my satisfaction.)



Now I have contacted my other credit card company, and told
them my other credit card got my money back and that they
had better not weenie out on me.


Hope this helps,

Mark

[MarkSWalker]

Oh, I suppose I should mention I sent an e-mail to Ross about a week
ago, stating that if a refund wasn't issued on my credit cards for the
cancelled orders, I was going to file a report with the IFCC.

I also CC'd that e-mail to mike@anotheruniverse.com
and using some deductive reasoning, I figured that Leslie,
whom Jason had mentioned IS the accounting department,
would have an e-mail address like Ross@anotheruniverse.com,
justin@anotheruniverse.com, and mike@anotheruniverse.com,
so I cc'd that e-mail to leslie@anotheruniverse.com


None of my e-mails "bounced back," so I can only deduce that
Leslie got my e-mail. (Poor, dear.)



Mark

[Denie]

On 10/18 I phoned AU and cancelled my order. On 10/25 I called them again to make sure my cancellation request was in "the system" and to find out when to expect my refund. After Wade said he could not guarantee a refund within the following 3 weeks, I contacted my credit card company.

Via a form submitted online I explained in detail the situation, putting emphasis on the fact that I never received the product I had already paid for in full. I told them about my phone calls to AU attempting to get my money back without disputing the charges and offered to send any receipts, e-mails, etc. that they might need.

On 10/30 I checked my account online and it showed each individual charge from AU as being "in dispute". Today I checked my account again and I have been credited the full $99.98
I'm not 100% sure if it was the credit card company or AU that actually credited my account. I'm assuming it was my c/c company because each amount was refunded individually as opposed to one sum of $99.98.
Surprisingly, never once did they ask to see receipts or correspondence from AU.

I'm just glad this ordeal is over for me. If anyone else is having problems disputing the charges and needs copies of e-mails from AU or Jason, let me know. I have e-mails dating back to Feb & March.

[K-man]

SHORT VERSION:
I paid the original $20 then the remaining $80 way back in Feb. or something. VISA stmt in Aug. shows another $115 charge from COMICSTORE.com (or whatever ) and after I calm down I call the 800# to Citibank and tell them I aint payin'. They say they will hash it out with AU. Since then ( crossing fingers ) I haven't heard another thing about it. Although I did get an e-mail last week saying my MSCL order had been cancelled and did I want to UNCANCEL? I called Wade at AU ( who was very nice and helpful by the way ) and explained the double charge and he said it was fixed, that I had paid and will be getting my DVD's. So as far as I know I only paid once and will be getting the discs. ( still crossing fingers ) Thanks Jason for all you've done!

[Lietuva]

contact your credit card company....more than likely they will help you!my visa card ppl told me to encourage ppl to report it to their card.

I received my $99.98 back PLUS interest!!!!!

Here is my credit card refund story.........

I contacted Visa 2 weeks ago and explained to the fraud unit the situation.The customer service man told me to send in a letter with dates charged and for how much.He then told me to list exactly what I ordered and the ship date I was promised,an explanation of my communication with AU (stating what I have done to get my refund).Then he told me to put in my letter that"another universe is unwilling to assist me".

I checked my online visa statement everyday now looking for my refund and I received a refund on 11/5/02.

I called visa today and asked them if they were the ones who refunded me or was it another universe.she told me visa reversed the charges from Au's bank account.so visa actually got the money back ,but AU has 45 days to dispute the reversed charges.But the only ground they have is to prove that I did receive merchandise (a signature upon delivery).the visa rep told me to refuse the package if au ends up sending the sets anyways.

the visa customer service rep also told me that visa and mastercard fine the seller if they have to reverse charges to punish them.so she thought it would ease my mind a bit by telling me,knowing that they will be punished in some way for their fraud even if its a little fine.

so,i received my $99.98 bach PLUS interest!!