Chargeback or pursue small claims court for amount less than $500 from Motorola?
Should I start a chargeback with the credit card? (I've heard this can take months?) Any negative consequences to me in terms of credit? The chargeback will put me into a positive balance because I pay my cards in full when due.
Small claims court? It seems like it could be an even longer process, after a quick look it seems like a huge time investment.
Motorola is no longer processing refunds within an acceptable timeframe (3 months +). Is there another personal financial tool I can use to get this money back?
Any help here is appreciated, I just want to get this over with.
Posted Mar 14, 2015, 1:11 AM UTC
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There's no negative impact to your credit for filing a chargeback. Once that has been initiated, it is on the merchant to prove their case as to why they are justified to keep your money. In my experience, 95% of the time these cases are decided in favor of the cardholder. I would recommend this process above small claims which would be much more hassle.
Thank you, I assumed as much but wanted to give Motorola the benefit of the doubt before I started any process. Unfortunately I have let them take advantage of the situation by waiting this long.
I guess I just don't understand the process. If the credit card company investigates, and Motorola says we intend to return the money within 3-4 weeks. Does the credit card company also wait 3-4 weeks? :(
I also don't know what to do with a positive balance, it's on a card I don't use very often, and its not an entirely small amount of money.
Here's how it works:
You file a chargeback against the charge (usually has to be within 6 months of the initial charge) and the issuer for your card contacts the processor who processes card payments for Motorola asking them to justify their lack of credit issued based on what reason you choose for the chargeback. Motorola then has a reasonably short amount of time to respond (I believe it's about 2 weeks) to the case. Motorola must issue a credit, if that's what they choose to do, to avoid a decision against them. If Motorola does not respond with enough detail, give you credit or just doesn't respond at all, they automatically lose and are debited for the credit. More often than not, the issuer of your card will have given you a provisional credit which will simply remain on your account if the case is settled in your favor and "official" credit is taken from Motorola.
As for the positive balance on your card, I guess you'd just spend it. I'm not sure if interest applies in this sort of situation. Perhaps the issuer could draft you a check.