Payments: How to Manage Customer Disputes

Overview

Payers have the option to dispute a payment directly to their bank or card merchant. Continue reading to learn more about the process of disputes and where/how they can be managed within your site.

Process

The Disputes page is located under Settings > Financial > Disputes.

Please note, this page is only visible to System Admins and Admins with Financial permissions enabled. Click here to learn more about these permissions.

*Please note that all emails displayed in images and GIFs are for training purposes only and should not be used for any communication purposes.*

Within the Disputes page you'll see the following:

• Dispute ID: Each dispute is given a unique ID. 
  
  
• Order ID: The Order ID refers to the specific disputed transaction on the Payment History page. It's a clickable link that will navigate you to the Payment History page, where the data of the disputed payment will be displayed. 
  
  
• Transaction Reference: Each transaction has a unique ID. This number will be the transaction ID of the original payment.
  
  
• Customer Name: Name of the customer who initiated the dispute. The names are hyperlinked and clicking a name will navigate you to the Billing tab of the Payer's record.
  
  
• Customer Email: Email of the customer who initiated the dispute. This will be the email they used to create their portal account.
  
  
• Status: The status that the dispute is currently in. Statuses include:  
  • Won: The dispute has been won by the school. In this case, the money is returned. 
    
    
  • Lost: The dispute has been awarded to the payer who initiated it. The amount of the lost dispute will be withheld from your payout on the first of the next month unless the dispute clears within the last two weeks of the month, in which case, the chargeback will occur on the first of the following month.
    
    • For example: If the dispute is lost on October 5th, the chargeback would occur on November 1st. However, if it is lost on October 20th, the chargeback would occur on December 1st.
      
      
  • Needs Response: The dispute is awaiting either your submission of evidence to counter the dispute or for you to accept the dispute (read more on this below).
    
    
  • Under Review: The evidence has been submitted and is being reviewed.
    
    
• Reason: The reason the payer selected when initiating the dispute. Please note, the 'reasons' list differs slightly across credit card companies. The full list of reasons can be found here. The most common reasons you may see are Duplicate, Fraudulent, Product Not Acceptable, and General, but any of the reasons listed can be valid.
  
  
• Amount: The amount of the disputed transaction.
  
  
• Evidence Due By:  The date the evidence must be submitted.

Dispute Management Options

On the far right side of the page, you will see the following Dispute options:

--

Show

Selecting 'Show' will open the 'Dispute Information' dialogue box. This box will display the same breakdown of information provided in the columns.

--

Counter Dispute

Selecting 'Counter Dispute' will open a new window with an evidence form so you can provide details to counter the dispute. 

 The form will display the payer's Name, Email, and Dispute Reason followed by:

• An Additional Information text box. Here you can enter any text you deem pertinent to prove why the transaction was legitimate. The box can be expanded by dragging out the bottom right corner.
• Three file upload buttons:
  • Signed Document: /strong>Any signed documents agreeing to payment (such as a contract or application)./label>
  • Customer Communication: /strong>Any communication-based evidence (such as emails).
  • Additional Evidence: /strong>Anything additional you deem useful to prove the validity of the charge.

At the bottom of the form, you will have the option to:

• Close: This will not save any submitted evidence.
• Save for Later: This will keep your progress saved while you gather more evidence.
• Submit Dispute: This is final. It will submit all evidence and can not be undone or added to later.

--

Accept Dispute

By selecting 'Accept Dispute', the dispute will be automatically closed in the payer's favor. The status of the dispute will change to 'Lost' and (at a later date) a chargeback will occur on your account to account for the lost dispute. Please note: Once a dispute is accepted, it is immediately lost and can no longer be contested.

--

Managing Lost Disputes

Disputed amounts do not automatically charge back to a payer’s ledger and, in some cases, you may need to apply a charge to account for an amount owed. 

To learn how to manage this, article: Billing: Add Payment

Communication Notifications

Dispute notifications are automatically sent by email to whoever is set up as a 'System Admin'. You can read more about Admin roles here. 

2 types of emails are sent regarding disputes: 

• New Dispute Created: Whenever a new dispute is created, you will receive an email to alert you. The subject of the email will contain the text "New Dispute Created" and the body of the email will contain a link to your Disputes page.
• Dispute Updated: You will also receive an email whenever dispute status changes occur. This includes whether the dispute is 'Won', 'Lost', 'Needs Response', or 'Under Review'. The subject line of this email will contain the text "Dispute Updated" and the body of the email will contain a link to your Disputes page.

Both of these emails will be trackable within Finalsite Enrollment under Settings > Communication > Sent Emails.

Additional Resources

• Office Hours & Past Session Recordings
• Parent Billing Workflow
• Admin Billing Workflow
• Stripe documentation on responding to disputes
• Stripe documentation on dispute categories