News from the Wire

Consumers Claim 67% of Chargebacks Could Have Been Avoided

Thursday, October 17, 2019 — 12:40:42 (EDT)

AMERICAN FORK, UTAH — Data from the latest Midigator® report, “The Consumer Confessional,” shatters several long-believed assumptions about chargebacks. Thousands of U.S. consumers gave honest feedback about why they dispute purchases and what businesses can do to prevent chargebacks from happening.

Midigator, a company that uses technology to remove the complexity of payment disputes, discovered that 66.67% of consumers always contact the business before requesting a chargeback — and an additional 12.05% said they sometimes do.

This insight gives a fresh perspective on previously-formed assumptions that are nearly a decade old. Contrary to what was commonly believed, consumers do reach out to businesses when they have concerns. However, businesses are failing to solve their customers’ problems.

“They said the money had been refunded and it would take five to 10 business days to receive it. I never got refunded.”

“They said I had to remove my card information from the XBox to get a refund. I don’t own an XBox.”

“They said we hadn’t returned the merchandise yet, but we had proof they signed for the package.”

“They said it was ok with them to ask the bank to reverse the charges, so that’s what we did.”

Moreover, several consumers who went directly to the bank for a chargeback shouldn’t be faulted for their actions. Over 48% said they didn’t recognize the business name on their statement, so they didn’t know who to call. Another 18.32% said they couldn’t find the business’s contact information.

While most merchants work very hard to provide quality products or services in a satisfying way, consumer feedback indicates there is still room for improvement. Ideally, merchants would be just as intent on discovering their own shortcomings as they are detecting criminals and friendly fraudsters.

“The item was backordered for two months, but they charged me up front.”

“I cancelled the order within 24 hours and never received the product, but they didn’t refund the purchase.”

“I was double charged for an item and it was easier to just call the bank than deal with the merchant. It was an obvious error on the merchant’s part and the bank took care of it for me.”

These consumer comments might not be the most encouraging thing for merchants to hear, but ultimately, the insight is incredibly valuable.

“We have always encouraged data-driven decisions — and this is why,” said Corey Baggett, CEO of Midigator. “Without data analysis, an entire chargeback management strategy would be based on assumptions that may or may not be accurate.”

Now, merchants have solid evidence that can help drive better chargeback management outcomes.

The complete “Consumer Confessional” report can be viewed here. midigator.com/the-consumer-confessional-2019

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Source: Company press release.