LL - HB Chargeback or dispute Threats protocol

Chargeback training video with slide show (1 hr): https://www.loom.com/share/f1be5442246141a794a08c1cb994271b

What Is a Chargeback (CB)?

A chargeback is a charge that is returned to a payment card after a customer disputes a charge on their account statement or transaction report.

How does it affect our business? When OUR customers contact their credit card issuer to dispute a charge from our business, and the issuer deems their claim valid. We then run the risk of losing our way of accepting payments called a gateway. If we cannot accept payments, then it is hard to be in business. That’s not good for anyone.

Identifying a chargeback threat:

It's important we learn to properly identify transactions that are at risk of filing a chargeback.

There are 2 separate categories of transactions at risk for Chargeback -

1. Valid Chargeback Threats - these are people who tell us they are going to contact their bank. They might say, "I"m going to call my bank" or "I'll dispute this charge", "File a chargeback", "File a dispute", or "I'll be disputing this", "stolen card, hacked my account, did NOT place any orders"

2. Other Escalated Situations - these are still at risk of filing a chargeback but do not mention their bank - These may use words like: scam, fraud, fraudulent, bbb, attorney, lawyer, file a complaint, , cancel/refund'contact me immediately, I'm extremely xxxxxx, or I'd like to speak to your manager/supervisor.

Even when none of the words above are used, an escalated customer may be IRATE, (yelling or threatening). Or they may email us in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS (this usually indicates they are yelling). They may also use a lot of !!!!!!!!!'s - or send multiple emails, voicemails, or calls etc. Any escalated customer is potentially at risk of filing a dispute.

Threat - an expression of intention to carry out an action that may be hurtful to the other party either physically, emotionally, financially, etc.

Identifying chargeback risks and preventing them from turning into an active chargeback as well as de-escalating other types of situations are a #1 priority for everyone on our team!

When you identify a valid chargeback threat (or other type of escalated situation), it's important to act QUICKLY. This is a time-sensitive issue. If we address the customer in a timely manner we have a good chance of not only winning the client back but preventing them from contacting their bank (which is costly for our company).

Often people who threaten to file a dispute or perceive some loss of service are agitated. We will need to do our best to de-escalate the customer and do everything we can to win them back. That may mean giving a large discount, sending a return label, or even offering a complimentary bottle to try - sometimes it will also mean issuing a full refund.

De-escalation is a behavior that is intended to prevent further escalation of conflicts. It may also refer to approaches in conflict resolution.

It is important to take the time to understand the differences between 1. Valid Chargeback Threats and 2. Other Escalated Situations and using the proper protocol for each scenario.

Read and understand the customer request completely. Update the client profile when possible, merge all previous conversations having to do with the issue at hand, and spend the extra time to read through the client's complete ticket history. These easy steps will help us to understand the client and the interactions Customer Happiness (CH) has had with them to date.

Now that we understand a little bit more about Chargeback/threats and other types of escalations the following steps will help you handle them efficiently while maintaining the happiest customer service!

Valid Chargeback threats:

Once you identify a valid chargeback threat:

Via email - Run the "valid chargeback threat workflow". No note needed (unless you've spoken to this customer on the phone).

What does the workflow do?

Email from the manager
Assigns to the CB Threats Team for immediate follow up

Via phone -

Apologize, Assure, Ask!
Ask the Chargeback questions posted in the LL.
Cancel in pending orders to prevent them from leaving the warehouse.
Let the customer know you'll be escalating their issue to your manager so they can make sure it gets fully resolved.
Note the ticket with full details about your call and the answers to the questions.
Run the Valid Chargeback Threat workflow.

Identify the ticket as a "chargeback threat" and select the chargeback dropdown (Y) in the workflow area of the ticket.

2. This will generate an email to the customer asking them to hold off on filing a dispute to give us time to investigate and then provide them a satisfactory resolution.

The email says:

Hi {%customer.firstName,fallback=%},

Thank you so much for contacting us about this. My name is Eve and I'm the manager of the Sun Coast Sciences Customer Happiness team. I want to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you’ve experienced in regards to your order!

Please know we fully stand behind both the quality of our products and our 365 day guarantee and I will do my very best to get this resolved for you in a timely manner.

Currently, I’ve escalated your account our billing management team so we can investigate why this happened. A member of our team will reach out to you soon, usually by the next business day, with a satisfactory resolution.

In the meantime, I kindly ask you to hold off on filing a dispute until we have the opportunity to fully review your account.

Again {%customer.firstName,fallback=%}, I sincerely appreciate you giving us an opportunity to make things right and provide you with the excellent service you deserve. We will be back in contact with you soon.

Should you have any questions, please let me know, I'm happy to help.

3. The ticket will be reassigned to the Chargeback Team and will be visible in the HB Chargeback Threats folder in HS.

4. The manager or other dedicated team member will check the payment gateway in a timely manner to verify if there actually has been a chargeback assigned to the account.

5. If we check the gateway and confirm a chargeback has already occurred, we will then notate the ticket and assign the ticket to Gigi as well as ping him in CHO Chargeback slack channel. Gigi will then assume the ticket until completion.

6. If we check the gateway and find that NO chargeback has been filed, a manager will assign the ticket to a team member(s) who's approved to work escalations to contact the customer via PHONE and email at try to resolve the issue.

7. It's important that once the auto-email goes out to the customer we remove the "Y" in the "Chargeback Threat" workflow otherwise if the customer replies back and that same tag is still on the ticket - the auto-email will be generated again.

Understanding how the Chargeback workflow is set up:

Other types of Escalations -

- as mentioned above are still at risk of filing a chargeback but do not mention their bank, therefore we use a slightly different workflow with emails.

- These may use words like: scam, fraud, fraudulent, bbb, attorney, lawyer, file a complaint, stolen card, hacked my account, did NOT order this, cancel/refund'contact me immediately, or I'm extremely xxxxxx.

In these cases we will have similar actions to the chargeback threat workflow.

If you receive an escalated email - simply run the "escalation" workflow. No note needed (unless you've spoken to this customer on the phone).

Escalations by phone -

Apologize, Assure, Ask!
Cancel in pending orders to prevent them from leaving the warehouse.
Let the customer know you'll be escalating their issue to your manager so they can make sure it gets fully resolved.
Note the ticket with full details about your call and the answers to the questions.
Run the Escalation workflow.

Identify the ticket as a "Escalation" and select the escalation dropdown (Y) in the workflow area of the ticket.

2. This will generate an email to the customer from the manager letting them know we'll investigate and then provide them a satisfactory resolution.

___

The email says: Hi {%customer.firstName,fallback=%},

Thank you so much for reaching out about this. My name is Rae and I'm the manager of the Del Mar Laboratories Customer Happiness team. I want to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you've experienced.

I’ve assigned your request to our management team so we can investigate your account. Please know we fully stand behind both the quality of our products and our 365 day guarantee and I will do my very best to get this resolved for you in a timely manner.

Please be assured that myself or a member of my team will reach out to you soon, usually by the next business day with additional information.

Again {%customer.firstName,fallback=%}, I sincerely appreciate you sharing your experience. I'd love the opportunity to make things right and to provide you with the excellent service you deserve.

We will be back in contact with you soon.

Should you have any questions, please let me know, I'm happy to help.
___

3. The ticket will be reassigned to the Escalations Team and will be visible in the Escalations Contact folder in HS.

4. The manager or other dedicated team member will check, review and provide a proper resolution to prevent the customer from escalating further.

Understanding how the Escalations workflow is set up:

Chargeback Threats or Escalations received by phone - What actions should you take?

Apologize, Assure, Ask!

De-Escalate the customer and try to save the order - WIN the customer back.
Apologize for the loss of service,
Assure the customer this doesn't happen often and we are here to support them and will do our very best to resolve the issue.
Ask them what actions they'd like you to take to resolve the issue for them.
- While it's easy to issue a full refund and walk away, that doesn't help the customer meet their health goal - Our focus is to save the customer, save the order and retain their business.
- They might be happy with a free bottle of a product or a partial refund. Let them tell you!
- Ask, how can I make this right for you? Can I offer you 50% off today and a coupon for 20% off a future order?
- Can I send you a free bottle of one of our products to try out?

**If you are unable to de-escalate the customer and provide a satisfactory resolution you can ask for a manager to review the case by using the Chargeback or Escalation workflows within helpscout (these are described above). **

Refund requests received after a chargeback has been filed -- what do you say?

Once a dispute is filed, your bank will open an investigation and automatically takes hold of the amount in question. Somes they will refund you immediately and they may have already done that, but they lock the funds do not allow us to process any refund until they complete their investigation. The investigation can take up to 75 days - IF they decide in your favor, they will credit you that amount. If they do not decide in your favor, they will then release the funds and leave it up to us to issue you a refund or not. Once you file a dispute it’s really beyond our control , the decision rests solely with your bank. The process is a bit confusing and if you have additional questions, i’d recommend you contact your bank directly. They will be able to explain it to you and let you know the next steps.

CB Threat and Escalation Team Role

Working Chargeback threats and escalations

A manager or approved member of the team will check the payment gateway to see if a CB has been filed, if there is no previous notation of an active CB in Shopify, SI or via a note in help scout / CRM.
If there is no Chargeback in the payment gateway - the manager will assign the ticket to the approved agent and also ping the agent in slack.
The escalation agent will make direct contact with the customer via phone to resolve any issue the client is having. The agent has full authority to do what is necessary to keep this from becoming a Chargeback. This is your chance to be a hero, take it!
In instances where the customer is threatening a chargeback and is demanding a full refund, we will need to issue a return label in an attempt to collect back any amount of unopened bottles.
The escalation agent will also send an email to the customer with the same apology and summarize the actions taken during their phone call. This is to ensure the client has regained faith in our product, and or company. It also provides us with evidence that we have tried to rectify the issue in case the client moves forward with a Chargeback.
The escalation agent will download any phone conversations with the client and attach it to the notes of the ticket. Again, this provides us with evidence that we have tried to rectify the issue in case the client moves forward with a Chargeback.
We are building a case! We know we are not fraudulent, and we want to try and do everything we can to make sure the client knows that too. However, some clients will not want to work with us. At that point we are representing our company and every piece of evidence counts!
If a client has started the dispute process with their financial institution, then we no longer can assist them. It is up to the bank at that point, and unfortunately for them can take up to 75 days to come to a decision.
Once a Chargeback has been filed, we make no attempt to contact the client any further. However, if the client reaches out to us, we will answer all correspondence with awesome customer happiness. They are still valued clients and should be treated as such. We have probably all been in their position at one time or another. Also always remember there is a saved reply (SR) for pretty much everything.

Red Flag words or phrases that indicates a Valid Chargeback Threat:

Call my bank or credit card company
Dispute this charge
File a dispute or chargeback
File a complaint with my bank or credit card
Make a complaint or claim with my bank or credit card
Mentions contacting their bank or credit card

Red Flag words or phrases that indicate an Escalation -

INSISTENT that they did NOT place any orders with our company
Stolen card or fraudulent charge on their card
Their card or account has been hacked
I'm going to file a report with or call the BBB, attorney, lawyer, police, FBI, FTC etc
Better Business Bureau
Write a bad review (YELP, GOOGLE etc)
Customer is IRATE (Yelling or threatening)
Doesn't mention contacting their bank or credit card

De-escalation phrases...

I’m so sorry this happened
Let me see how I can fix this.
We really do appreciate this feedback.
I completely understand how you feel.
I'm going to do my very best to help you.
I do understand the inconvenience you've faced.
I see your point..
Thank you so much for your patience/understanding..
I'll do my best to get this fixed

Four-point plan

Make notes – First listen to the customer very carefully and patiently. Make a note of every detail, as you can make your customer increasingly irate if you make them repeat and convey that you don’t care.
Don’t interrupt – Never, never interrupt the customer while they are explaining the issue. Let them pour out their aggression and get them ready to listen and understand what you are saying. Always take a pause before you start. It’ll help you avoid interruption.
Watch your tone – What you say is important; however, how you say it is even more important. So please make sure you pay attention to it. Saying anything or everything in a flat tone will make the situation even worse.
Smile – Last but not the least, keep smiling. It’ll help you not to lose your patience and keep calm, but it will also help you resolve the issue more effectively.

SOP Training:

Please view video above.

Agent finds a CB threat and selects the custom field Y beside Valid Chargeback Threat
An auto-reply email is generated from a mgr.
The will be copied into a folder - HB Chargeback Threats, which is visible in each HB mailbox
The email will be assigned to the chargeback team (multiple people on the team)
A member of that that team will check the gateway to see if a CB has been filed
1. If no CB has shown up in the gateway - we will call the customer with a “We’re so sorry, here’s an update on your order and we wanna resolve this with you, you don’t need to file a chargeback or take further actions ” call -speak to them LIVE if not leave a VM with this message if not customer isn’t available.
2. We will also send an email to the customer with the same apology and actions on our part to resolve. The email will be sent even IF you are able to reach them on the phone.
3. A PHONE CALL and EMAIL combo are required on all escalated cases. We want to make sure the customer knows we take these complaints seriously and want to fix any service issues.
4. The phone call and email will also help with a bank investigation in the event a CB was filed but hasn’t shown up on our end yet.
5. We will also download the call recording and attach it to the notes of the ticket just in case Gigi needs it for his investigation.
6. After the case has been resolved by the Chargeback team, a manager will audit the ticket for a final look to make sure everything is resolved. In some cases, the manager should call the customer has a final layer of security for the customer. Again, we want to make sure the customer knows we take these complaints seriously and want to fix any service issues.
IF a CB HAS been filed, the team member will note the ticket, select the Chargeback Confirmed workflow and assign it to Gigi, then ping him details in the Chargeback slack channel. This is to ensure that the chargeback is handled appropriately once it shows up in our system. We should also not refund them at this point either.
1. All communication will happen via a note on the ticket.

7. If you aren't sure if a CB has been filed - for example there is no one available to check the gateway for you - then assume they haven't filed one and call the customer to apologize and find out how we might be able to help. Let them know you are escalating to a manager. (USE WORKFLOW)

8. The Chargeback and Escalation boxes are the first priority of the Chargeback and Esc team and managers - and should be scanned multiple times throughout the shift looking for CB threats and work to resolve them.

Scanning the email box for chargeback threats or escalations:

Search: scam, fraud, fraudulent, charges, bank, dispute, disputing, bbb, attorney, lawyer, complaint, claim, stolen, hacked, immediately, extremely,

(workflows have been set to help identify these words and assign the tickets to either the Chargeback or Escalations teams)

Gigi works with the operations to assist with Health Brand chargebacks (after they've been filed) - he will post a note in HelpScout that a CB has been filed:

The customer filed a chargeback for DML Order ID 2323999 on date/time

Francis will view Gigi's tracker and view tickets that have contacted us before the CB was filed to help in retraining and coaching the agents. Francis will track which agents have had Chargeback coachings on their KPI QA section.

Francis will also view the call disposition list and view transactions tagged as CB for a comparison - and coach the agent on the

Additional reading:

https://www.callcentrehelper.com/the-right-words-and-phrases-to-use-with-an-angry-customer-30110.htm

https://paymentdepot.com/blog/fight-prevent-credit-card-chargebacks-small-business/