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So I sent an epic pile of documentation to my bank asking them to allow me to dispute my July 25th $115 overcharge from Another Universe, despite the fact that their 120 day dispute period had elapsed, on the basis of the fraudulent behavior of AU. I haven't received any status information from them yet, but I did notice today that I had a $115 credit to my account that appears to be some weird transaction, probably an interim "pending resolution" refund of the disputed charge.

So that's good news. I'll keep y'all posted of my progress, but I do want to encourage everybody to call their bank ASAP to keep the pressure on AU. If the person on the phone won't let you dispute, talk to the supervisor. That's what I had to do, and the supervisor was much more receptive to what I had to say. And gather up all the info that you can. I saved most of the critical e-mails announcing the set, and then the credit card issues, and can pass those along if anybody needs them. I can also pass along the letter I wrote to my bank, if that's helpful.

But DO dispute your charges-I'd bet if AU's credit service sees enough disputes coming across their desk, they'll eventually start wondering what's going on.

JRjr

Happy to hear about the progress vapspwi. I hope it follows through and you get your money back.

-g

I faxed 28 pages of documents to my credit card company on November 12th. As of December 3rd, I've finally gotten a chargeback of the full $99.98 I was charged by AU. Fortunately I was not double or triple charged.

Anyway I now have the DVD's which I got from Deep Discount and
I have the chargeback so I feel for the first time since October that
I can rest easy.

The moral of the story is to be persistant. Your credit card company
may tell you there's a 60 day limit from the statement the original
charge posted. But if you flood them with enough documentation,
you can get a chargeback against AU.

but I did notice today that I had a $115 credit to my account that appears to be some weird transaction, probably an interim "pending resolution" refund of the disputed charge.

I called Visa about 2 weeks ago about being double charged, and after describing the situation on the phone, they said I would have to speak to a Visa manager to have the credit authorized, so I explained the whole thing to him as well. Then he said that he would take care of it, and I would notice a credit on my account very soon (his words). So that was over 2 weeks ago now, and I have been checking my balance over the phone and nothing's changed. So was the weird transaction actually a credit taken off your balance, or was it just on your statement but not officially refunded to your account yet? I'm just wondering how it works. I guess I should just phone again or get down to my bank and check myself, I just kind of figured I would give them some time to take care of it. But I think 2 weeks should have been enough time.

If you dispute a charge on your Visa account, there's a long and involved process that has to be followed before you get your money back. Your bank has to contact the merchant's bank with the appropriate documentation. The merchant's bank then talks to the merchant. If the merchant agrees that the charge was an error, then it's settled right there. If not, the merchant's bank can come back to your bank and ask for more information. The Visa organization has a set of rules which determine how this whole process works, what information has to be provided, how long each bank has to respond, and so on. Things can go back and forth several times, and it can drag on for months. If the two banks are unable to resolve the dispute, Visa will eventually step in and arbitrate a solution.

In the meantime, your bank may issue a credit for the disputed amount as soon as you call them, but that's not necessarily the end of it. If, in the end, the merchant can prove that the charge was legitimate after all, then your bank will debit your account again for the original amount, and probably add in an adjustment for the interest that has accumulated in the meantime. In some cases, they may not issue the credit until they get confirmation that the charge was in error. So just because you don't see a credit right away - don't give up. It might just be a delay due to the time it takes for someone to review all this information that's going back and forth between banks.

Jim

Okay, thanks Jim!

I was wondering because it seemed too easy when I called. Everyone here said they had such a hassle and then had to send pages and pages of documentation, but they didn't ask me for anything on paper yet. My 2 charges were made within days of each other in August (although I was part of the preorders in Feb.) and I know my 120 days are not up yet. So I guess they could still ask me for documentation later.

The only reason for documentation is due to being over 120 days, otherwise it is a simple dispute matter. Older back charges go to a different department.

I was told that it could take a while to settle my claim, but that if the merchant didn't reply within the alloted time frame I would be credited by default. I still haven't seen a temporary credit issued yet.

countess_of_wit wrote: I called Visa about 2 weeks ago about being double charged, and after describing the situation on the phone, they said I would have to speak to a Visa manager to have the credit authorized, so I explained the whole thing to him as well. Then he said that he would take care of it, and I would notice a credit on my account very soon (his words). So that was over 2 weeks ago now, and I have been checking my balance over the phone and nothing's changed. So was the weird transaction actually a credit taken off your balance, or was it just on your statement but not officially refunded to your account yet? I'm just wondering how it works. I guess I should just phone again or get down to my bank and check myself, I just kind of figured I would give them some time to take care of it. But I think 2 weeks should have been enough time.

My card was actually a Visa debit card, so I was dealing with my bank's debit card center. The $115 actually showed up as a deposit into my checking account. I got a letter from the bank yesterday saying that they had refunded my money, sorry for the inconvenience, end of story. So apparently things are resolved on my end-I'm going to get in touch with them again and thank them for their help, and ask what they do from here (will they go after AU, or did they just give me the money and write it off?). But it appears, from all I can tell, that I've successfully and completely been refunded by my bank, about a week after I sent them my documentation.

JRjr

Thanks vapspwi.

I finally made it down to my bank last night to get an statement update on my visa and it doesn't look like they've done anything yet about the double charge. So, I think I am going to call them again today just to see what's going on.

I just wanted to chime in and announce that I received my money back ($199.96 for a set for me and a friend of mine each, no overcharges) from Visa. I sent about 14 pages (two pages describing the whole story plus all the emails I could find, my IFCC complaint, and Jason's survey results from a while back) to my bank a little over a week ago and the money is already back on my card.

I'm mightily relieved that I'm out of this mess and my box set from amazon.com should arrive any day now, but what I really want to say: Write to your banks/credit card companies, people. AU aren't going to give you your money back. And I assume $100 hurt Visa far less than it does you.

Oliver.

My temporary credits showed up on my CC account yesterday, after sending in 12 pages of history (mainly the emails about the set) and an overview of the transaction. It took a couple of weeks to process. If there is no dispute by AU or they fail to respond, then the credit becomes permanent.