Table of Contents
Overview
If you've been directed to this help article, chances are you've received a notification that a client has disputed a charge processed through Jobber Payment and now you need to decide how to proceed with the dispute. You will have the option to accept or counter the dispute.
Before moving forward with the dispute process, we recommend reaching out to your client to understand why they disputed the payment. If the charge was disputed in error, they may wish to withdraw their dispute.
If they wish to proceed with a chargeback, financial institutions have a formal dispute process in place to protect their cardholders from unauthorized charges or unsatisfactory products and services. As part of this process, the bank will withdraw the payment amount from your connected bank account alongside a dispute fee. Jobber is obligated to obey card network rules and has no control over this process. If you are countering the dispute, you will be required to provide evidence that the charge was valid which can be submitted to the cardholder's bank directly in your Jobber account.
Types of disputes
There are two types of disputes: inquiries and chargebacks.
Inquiry
An inquiry is when the cardholder’s bank requests for clarification on the transaction before creating a formal dispute and chargeback. When an inquiry happens, their bank is not yet requesting a return of any funds or fees from your bank account.
Should the inquiry be lost or not responded to, it could escalate into a formal chargeback in which funds equal to the disputed funds are returned to your client and a chargeback fee is assessed until there is a verdict.
When an inquiry happens, you are asked to provide information to prove the transaction was valid or to refund the transaction. Unless you intend to accept financial liability, as a first step always contact your client first and try to resolve the matter directly, then respond to the inquiry. You will receive a notification if an inquiry escalates into a chargeback.
Jobber is obligated to obey card network rules and has no control over this process.
Chargeback
A chargeback occurs when a cardholder questions the validity of a charge on their statement. Financial institutions have a chargeback process in place to protect their cardholders from unauthorized charges or unsatisfactory products and services.
When a chargeback is reported, the cardholder’s bank automatically returns the disputed funds to your client right away by withdrawing the funds from your bank account connected to Jobber Payments. If the chargeback is found in your favor, the disputed amount and fee is returned back to you.
Jobber is obligated to obey card network rules and has no control over this process.
Dispute reasons
There are multiple reasons that a client might dispute a charge:
- Credit not processed: The client claims they’re entitled to a full or partial refund because they returned the purchased product or didn’t fully use it, or the transaction was otherwise canceled or not fully fulfilled, but you haven’t yet provided a refund or credit.
- Duplicate: The client claims they were charged multiple times for the same product or service.
- Fraudulent: This is the most common reason for a dispute and happens when a cardholder claims that they didn’t authorize the payment. The cardholder might have made an error and failed to recognize a legitimate charge on their credit card statement, or they might have genuinely been a victim of someone using their card fraudulently. If you believe the payment was indeed fraud, the appropriate action is to either accept the dispute or decline to counter it.
- General: This is an uncategorized dispute, so contact the client for additional details to find out why they disputed the payment.
- Product not received: The client claims they did not receive the products or services purchased.
- Product unacceptable: The client received the product but claims it was defective or damaged in some way, or was not described or represented in an accurate manner prior to purchase.
- Subscription canceled: The client claims that you continued to charge them after a subscription was canceled.
- Unrecognized: The client doesn’t recognize the payment appearing on their card statement.
Disputes dashboard
The disputes dashboard in Jobber is where you can see an itemized overview of all your disputes including:
- Status (including the date a response is needed by)
- Date the transaction was disputed by the client
- Client name
- Invoice or quote associated with the disputed charge
- Amount ($)
- Reason for the dispute
- Type (chargeback or inquiry)
To navigate to the disputes dashboard, sign into Jobber.com then go to the Gear Icon > Settings > Jobber Payments. On this page there is an overview of your disputes on the right side of the page. Select View Disputes to open the disputes dashboard.
Selecting a dispute from the dashboard will open details about the dispute including as well as options to accept or counter the dispute.
In addition to the disputes dashboard, admin users are notified by an email from notification@getjobber.com if your business has received a dispute. The email includes:
- whether the dispute is an inquiry or a chargeback
- the name of the client who is disputing the charge
- invoice or quote associated with the disputed charge
- the disputed amount
- the deadline to respond
- a link to your disputes dashboard
In addition to the initial email notifying admin users about the new dispute, there will be reminder emails sent 72 and 24 hours before the response deadline. Once the deadline has passed, it is no longer possible to contest the chargeback.
Not submitting evidence means you are in agreement with the cardholder’s bank and the funds will not be returned to you.
Review the dispute and decide how to move forward
We recommend that you reach out to your client first before choosing to accept or counter the dispute. Oftentimes disputes occur because of a misunderstanding between the client and the company–it's possible that your client may not have recognized the charge on their credit card statement, or forgotten that they had service done. If this is the case, they may wish to withdraw the dispute.
If your client withdraws the dispute
A withdrawn dispute is a dispute that your client has reached out to their bank and asked to cancel. Withdrawn disputes aren't necessarily automatically won, as the dispute might still resolve as a loss if you haven’t submitted evidence. A withdrawn dispute is otherwise no different from any other dispute; it doesn’t resolve as a win or loss more quickly than other disputes.
If a client confirms that the dispute was made in error, it is still important for you to respond to that dispute with the correct evidence so that the bank knows you are not accepting the dispute. Clients can only withdraw chargebacks, not inquiries. If your client has withdrawn the dispute, ask them for written evidence from their card issuer and include this in your evidence submission. This may include:
- a withdrawal- confirmation email from their bank
- a screenshot of their mobile banking statement showing they were re-billed for the charge
If you want to win the dispute, you will need to counter the dispute so that you can submit evidence. Many card issuers treat failure to submit evidence as an acceptable of liability on your part. Even if the client has withdrawn the dispute with their card issuer, you may still lose the dispute if you don't counter it with evidence.
Accept or counter the dispute
If after reaching out to your client they are still going ahead with the dispute, there are two ways to move forward:
-
Accept the dispute – You can accept a dispute if you agree with your client that the dispute was for a valid reason and that the payment should be returned to them. The dispute will then be shown as lost, and the disputed amount and fees will not be returned to you.
If you do not intend to submit evidence for a dispute or respond to it, then it is best to accept the dispute. Accepting a dispute does not negatively affect your business.
- Counter the dispute – To counter a dispute you must provide evidence to show the bank or card issuer that the charge to your client is valid.
Depending on your choice, select the button to Accept Dispute or Counter Dispute.
How to submit evidence
If you are moving ahead with countering the dispute or if your client has withdrawn the dispute, the next step after selecting Counter Dispute is submitting evidence to prove that the charge was valid.
If you have received a dispute for the full amount of a charge that has been partially refunded, provide evidence of the partial refund in your dispute evidence submission. You must respond to the dispute even if you plan to accept the unrefunded portion of the dispute.
Once a dispute is reported there will be a due date for when all evidence needs to be submitted by. Typically this is 7-21 days from the date the dispute is reported.
In the Submit evidence section, select why you should win the dispute from the Reason dropdown then add details about the product or service including:
- the service date
- a description of the product or service
- additional information about why you should win this dispute
Next is the evidence upload section. The supporting evidence that is most relevant to the dispute may vary based on the reason the client has disputed the charge. Evidence can be:
- Documentation showing the client withdrew the dispute
- Any records of communication you had with your client, such as emails or text messages, that show that you provided the service or products
- Any documents the client signed pertaining to the service or product
- A screenshot of your terms of service and/or refund policy as would have been seen or agreed to by the client (ideally clients should sign these documents)
- Evidence from within your Jobber account. This may include:
- GPS waypoints report
- Signed documents (for example, quotes)
- Timesheet entries
- Job forms
- Notes and attachments (for example, before and after photos of a property)
- Emails and text messages from your client communication report
- Contracts or disclaimers
- Any evidence from software other than Jobber to show you provided the service. For example, GPS or timesheet entries from another software showing your employees performed the service at the time and/or place of the service address
- Receipt or message sent to the client notifying them of the charge
- Photos of the work complete
- Evidence that clients accepted the final work (for example, a document showing final sign-off and acceptance of project work)
- Proof that the cardholder agreed to the charges, such as a credit card authorization form
- If the dispute is for the full amount of a charge that was partially refunded, provide evidence of the refund including the amount and date of the refund. Include a screenshot of the refund information.
Types of evidence:
-
File types: Files must be PDF, JPEG, or PNG with a combined file size of less than 4.5MB. Audio and video files are not supported. Annotations or additional media are not supported.
- Only one file can be submitted per category. PDFs must be 49 pages or less. Only the files submitted with be reviewed, external links (such as to Dropbox or Google Drive) will not be reviewed if they are linked in a word document. Attachments should be uploaded directly in Jobber.
- Note: While PDF files are supported, PDF Portfolios are not. A PDF Portfolio contains multiple files assembled into an integrated PDF unit. Please combine the documents within the PDF Portfolio into a single PDF File. Learn more here.
- Tip: If you cannot remove your annotations or media, or if you combined several PDFs into one, try using your computer’s Print to PDF function to create a fresh document.
- Images: If you are sending in images for a dispute, make sure the image is a good enough size and quality to be printed and still be readable. Any text should be 12 pt font or larger. Crop images to the area of interest and use arrows or circle any key areas. Banks may format the image in black and white and often transmit evidence using fax, so it is best to avoid color highlight.
- Documents: If you have documents you are submitting, these are best formatted as PDF files.
- Details: Any explanation you provide along with your documentation should be relevant and brief. Banks deal with many disputes each day, so it is important that information is clear and concise. Carefully consider the chargeback reason code and provide evidence that pertain only to that reason code. Long "rambling" evidence often leads to the issuing bank ignoring details and marking chargebacks as lost.
- Screenshots from your Jobber account: You may need to supply evidence from within your Jobber account, such as a signed quote or an email sent through Jobber. Depending on the device you're using, there are different steps to take a screenshot. Learn how to take a screenshot.
After uploading the evidence, enter the details of the client who filed the dispute. This includes their:
- Name (first and last)
- Email address
- Billing address
When you've entered all the information and evidence and you're ready to submit, check the box for I understand I can only submit this evidence to the cardholder's card issuer once, then select Submit evidence.
NOTE
You can only submit evidence one time, so make sure that you have everything you need to prove the charge was valid before you submit.
Troubleshooting submitting evidence
If you have any issues submitting your evidence, make sure:
- You are submitting a supported file type. Learn more about supported file types.
- Your submission is under 49 pages
- You are submitting a PDF file and not a PDF portfolio
- There are no annotations on your PDF
It may be helpful to re-save your submission as a PDF. This can help remove annotations or combine several PDFs into one:
What happens after you submit evidence?
After evidence is submitted for a dispute, the bank will review the evidence and make a final decision about the charge. This process can take up to 3 months. As this is a formal procedure, executed by the client's bank, we are unable to speed up the process. When the dispute is closed you will be emailed with the outcome. The dispute's status can also be monitored from the disputes dashboard.
If the dispute is found in your favor, the disputed funds and fees will be returned to your bank account.
If the dispute is found in the client's favor, the disputed funds and fees will not be returned to your account.
All timelines are dictated by the financial institution that issued the credit card. Jobber cannot control or change the timeline of a dispute.
View your submitted evidence
Once submitted, you'll see a section for Submitted evidence where you can review what you've submitted including:
- Why you should win
- Product or service details
- Additional details
- Support evidence uploads
- Client information
Any files uploaded as evidence will be available for up to 9 months.
ACH disputes
A client disputing a bank payment (ACH) is rare, as these payments are made when the client intentionally authorizes their bank to make the payment. Bank payment disputes are processed through the ACH network, which is overseen by the National Automated Clearinghouse Association (NACHA).
Unfortunately, ACH disputes cannot be contested as NACHA does not offer a chargeback mechanism, unlike card networks. When the dispute is formalized by the bank it is marked as lost and, the funds from the disputed bank payment are returned back to your client automatically.
We highly recommend that you reach out to your client directly to resolve a dispute, should one arise.
How to avoid chargebacks
The best offense for dealing with chargebacks is a good defense: avoiding them altogether. Here are some strategies from our Jobber Academy article Chargebacks for Field and Home Services Merchants: Comprehensive Guide on steps you can take to protect yourself from disputes in the first place and where you can find this information in your Jobber account. If you need to submit evidence when countering a chargeback, these are some of the possible pieces of evidence that may be appropriate to submit.
- Collect as much information as possible from your clients
- Practice clear and frequent client communication
- Keep written documentation for outside communication with clients
- Include a clear description of your refund and cancellation policies in your terms of service, and make sure you have a refund and cancellation policy
- Make sure you’re using GPS tracking to track where your employees are
1. Collect as much information as possible from your clients
Having your customer’s name, email address, CVC number, full billing address, postal code, and shipping address can help defend a charge as legitimate based on client information accuracy and records.
In Jobber, you can find this information on the client's profile.
2. Practice clear and frequent client communication
Disputes sometimes happen because of miscommunication. However, if you’re clear about the status of your clients’ jobs, how much you will be charging, and when they will be charged, the chances of them disputing a charge based on misunderstanding will drop dramatically.
In Jobber, you can reference your communication history with the client from the client communication report where you'll see a history of your outgoing emails and text messages. If you are using two-way text messaging, you can find your message history with your client in the message center.
If you are selling a product, your product description should match what the client receives. Photos and detailed descriptions help communicate and make it clear what they're paying for which can help mitigate chargebacks for the "product unacceptable" reason.
In Jobber, images can be added when sending an email such as a quote or invoice. After selecting Send as Email, upload a file from your device or select from the attachments added throughout the client's workflow.
Another option is to use line item images on quotes, where clients can see an image for a service or product while approving the quote.
3. Keep written documentation for outside communication with clients
If you text your clients or hand-wrote them a quote, change order, or new invoice, then make sure you keep copies of all this information. We highly recommend that you keep copies of these documents as PDFs in your client notes in Jobber so you can easily search and locate this information in the event of a dispute.
4. Include a clear description of your refund and cancellation policies in your terms of service, and make sure you have a refund and cancellation policy
You should also require your customers to agree to your terms of service, and sign off on them. Collecting their signature and keeping it on file saves you loads of time and helps you stay organized. This will increase the likelihood that banks respect your policies in the event of a dispute.
Refunds and cancellation policies can double as safety nets for chargeback scenarios––especially for those that are founded on customer dissatisfaction. If you’re clear about what customers are entitled to if they are unhappy with your service and have them sign off on this clause, you are able to hold more power and control in a chargeback scenario.
To add a disclaimer to your quotes and invoices, navigate to the Gear Icon > Settings > Branding. On this page there is an option for "open PDF style”. This opens a pop-up that has tabs on the top for quotes and invoices. Add your refund or cancellation policy in the contract/disclaimer field. Going forward, this disclaimer will show on all new quotes and invoices.
Learn How To Create a Cancellation Policy (templates + examples)
5. Make sure you’re using GPS tracking to track where your employees are
GPS tracking can be used as proof that your employees were at their address when they said they were in case your client disputes this.
In Jobber, you can reference the GPS waypoints report or the map view of the schedule to understand where your employees have logged time.
Excessive chargebacks
There are rules dictated by each card network (Visa, Mastercard, etc) that chargebacks must be kept within their acceptable threshold for chargebacks. If you receive a high number of chargebacks, the card network may require Jobber to take action. If you have any questions, please contact support@getjobber.com.