Tips for preventing disputes
Last updated: August 30, 2022
There are ways to reduce the chance of receiving a dispute, and to be prepared if you happen to receive one in the future. The following is a list of preventative steps your business can take:
Before the Activity:
- Look at your bookings! Check for valid emails and phone numbers.*Refund any payments you suspect are fraudulent as soon as possible**. If you think someone is using credit card information fraudulently, refund the booking and make sure you only accept a credit card that matches the ID of someone present.
Send confirmation and reminder emails to customers. You can also update your notification settings so that you’ll be notified whenever an email to a customer fails. If an email can’t be delivered, reach out to the customer for a valid email address. Look out for use of potentially false information (for example, fake phone numbers and email addresses like [email protected]).
Include a detailed cancellation policy in your confirmation and reminder emails. in your confirmation and reminder emails. We recommend including a specific window of time by which the customer needs to cancel by, as well as a phone number and email address that the customer can contact to cancel.
During the Activity:
Ask the customer to sign a receipt or waiver when they arrive for their activity. You can print a receipt from the customer’s confirmation page by clicking the print receipt button.
Use the check-in feature on the manifest to keep track of which customers did or did not show up. Contact FareHarbor Support if you’d like to enable this feature.
If you have a scanned copy of a customer’s ID, keep it on file in a secure location.
Check IDs when guests arrive and compare the name to the credit card they used to pay for the booking. Make sure they can show you a physical card matching the one used for the booking. You can view credit card information on the customer’s booking by opening the payment summary and clicking “Details”:
If a customer doesn’t have the credit card they used and you suspect fraud, refund the charge and request a different form of payment.
Some of our clients have put in place a label custom field on their book form entitled “Important Check-In Information” with the verbiage:
For your security, at check-in you are required to present the credit card that was used to pay for your booking along with matching valid photo identification. The name listed on your credit card must be identical to the contact name listed on your booking.
This can deter customers from booking if they are using a stolen credit card.
After the Activity:
- Keep any documentation about damage or incidentals: accidents, broken parts, lost/broken rentals, etc.
- In the case of a dispute, reach out to the FareHarbor disputes team for advice on how to best fight and win.
- Process high-value bookings in person with a card reader.
- Enable deposit functionality for high-valued items, collecting the remainder of the transaction with a card reader when the customer arrives.
- Card readers prevent the ability to dispute as fraud (service-related chargebacks are still possible).
Learn more about credit card disputes.
Additional best practices:
- Be clear and transparent with your customers. Clear and frequent contact with your customers can help prevent many of the reasons for disputes. By responding to issues and processing refunds quickly, your customers are far less likely to take the time to dispute a payment. Make your customer service contact information easy to find and keep customers updated throughout their order process.
- Consider proactively refunding suspicious payments. You should immediately refund any payment you’re sure is fraud. However, sometimes you might suspect a payment is fraud, but your suspicions fall short of absolute certainty. In such cases, you can still refund the charge and have the customer use a different form of payment upon arrival.