How to Fight a Chargeback for Services Rendered

The short answer: you fight a chargeback for services by showing, from your own records, that the client agreed to the work, that you delivered it, and that they saw your cancellation and refund terms before they paid. There is no tracking number to point to, so the written agreement, the record of delivery and your messages with the client do that job.

Key points

• Read the reason on the dispute first. It decides what you need to show.
• For a service, Stripe asks for the date the service was provided and documentation of it, which "could include a copy of a signed contract, work order, or other form of written agreement".
• You get one submission. On Stripe the window is "usually 7 to 21 days, depending on the card network".
• Keep talking to the client, and respond anyway.
• Some disputes are not worth fighting. If the client is owed the money, accept it.

What counts as a chargeback for "services rendered"?

It is a card dispute over work you did, not goods you shipped. Visa's public rules have four conditions that cover it, and they name services in the titles: 13.1 Merchandise/Services Not Received, 13.3 Not as Described or Defective Merchandise/Services, 13.6 Credit Not Processed and 13.7 Cancelled Merchandise/Services.

Your processor will show you a plainer label. Stripe sorts every network's codes into categories. The ones a freelancer or agency usually meets are:

• Product not received: "The customer claims they did not receive the products or services purchased."
• Product unacceptable: the customer says the work was defective, or not as it was described before purchase.
• Credit not processed: the customer says they cancelled or were promised a refund and did not get it.

What does the bank want to see when there is no tracking number?

It wants the service equivalent of a delivery record. Stripe's list of evidence for a service that was "not received" starts with "documentation showing that the service was provided to the cardholder, including the date that the cardholder received or began receiving the purchased service". Visa's rule for 13.1 puts it this way: evidence that "the Cardholder or an authorized person received services at the agreed location or by the agreed date/time".

What you need changes with the reason:

On every one of these, Stripe also asks whether the customer tried to resolve the problem with you first, and says: "If they didn't reach out to you before the dispute, state that clearly."

One caution from Stripe about refund policies: "Depending on network and context, the issuer might or might not take this into consideration". A policy helps most when you can show the client saw it before they paid.

What does that look like on a real project?

This is a fictional example. A designer agrees to build a brand identity for a client for $2,400, half up front. Three months after the final files go out, the client disputes the second payment as "product not received". Here is what the designer's own records establish at each step:

None of these is a tracking number. Together they answer the one question a "not received" dispute asks: was the service provided, and when?

Now check your own project the same way. If a step left no record, that is the gap to close for the next client.

How long do I have, and how many chances do I get?

Not long, and one. Stripe says "you have a limited window to respond (usually 7 to 21 days, depending on the card network). If you don't respond before the deadline, you automatically lose the dispute". It also says: "You've only one opportunity to submit your response."

Stripe sets limits on what you send: a combined maximum of 4.5 MB, and 19 pages for a Mastercard dispute. Banks "won't review any external content", so links, audio and video do not count. Put the record itself in the file.

Other processors set their own windows. The date on your dispute notice is the one that applies to you.

Should I contact the client?

Yes. Stripe's advice is to "contact your customer to try to work through the problem with them" and, if you reach a resolution, to ask them to contact their card issuer and withdraw the dispute.

Then respond anyway. Stripe is direct about it: "Always provide evidence for every dispute you hope to have resolved in your favor, even if your customer told you they're withdrawing the dispute." Keep every message; the conversation is evidence too.

When is it not worth fighting?

When the client is right. If you did not deliver, if there was no agreement on what you would deliver, or if your own terms say they are owed a refund, accept the dispute. Fighting also has a cost: on Stripe there is a fee for receiving a dispute and a second fee for countering it, and Stripe returns only the second one, and only if you win. Stripe's pricing page has the amounts for your country.

How do I make the next one easier?

Leave a record at each step before you need it:

• Get the scope, the price and the cancellation terms accepted in writing before the client pays.
• Show the cancellation and refund terms where the client pays, not only on a page they may never open.
• Hand work over in writing, with a date.

This is general information, not legal advice. Have an attorney review your terms.

If you take deposits on Stripe, ChargePilot Checkout does the first two for you: the client reads your agreement, signs it and pays from one link, and the signed record is kept.

Where does ChargePilot fit?

Connect your processor, or forward the dispute notice. ChargePilot builds the response from your own records. For a service business that means the agreement, the record of the job and the cancellation date, not a tracking number. A person on our team reviews it, and we submit it wherever the processor allows.

There is no monthly fee to fight disputes: you pay 15% of what we recover, and only when we win. Every price is on one page. No one can promise an outcome, because the card issuer decides. More answers are on the questions page.

Questions and answers