Disputed charges FAQs

This guide answers common questions about disputed charges.

Note: To view our main guide on disputed charges, see Managing disputed charges.

In this guide, we'll cover:

• How can I avoid disputed charges?
• I'm seeing a disputed charge, but no funds have been withheld. What is this?
• Can partially refunded payments be disputed?
• What happens on a client's Billing page after a dispute is lost?
• How do disputes impact my business?

How can I avoid disputed charges?

While disputes are an unfortunate part of accepting online payments, the best way to manage them is to take steps to avoid them. Here are some important steps you can take to avoid disputes:

• Maintain clear and frequent contact with your clients
  • By responding to issues and processing refunds quickly, your clients are less likely to dispute a payment
  • Additionally, by making your contact information prominent and keeping clients updated throughout their payment process, you can work to avoid disputes together
• Include a clear description of both your refund and cancellation policies
  • To do this, see Managing consent forms and Managing intake forms
• Use a recognizable name for your statement descriptor
  • You can update this at Settings > Payment processing > Online payments
  • We recommend using your business name, as this helps avoid client confusion when they look at their bank statements

Note: Every cardholder ultimately has the right to dispute charges with their card issuer. While you can take steps to minimize the likelihood of disputes, they aren’t entirely preventable.

I'm seeing a disputed charge, but no funds have been withheld. What is this?

Sometimes a card issuer will start investigating a charge before turning it into a formal dispute. These are known as inquiries or retrievals, depending on which card network initiated the investigation.

Inquiries and retrievals will appear on your Card transactions tab as a disputed charge. The banner will include additional information stating that no funds are currently being withheld from your account.

Unlike other disputed charges, inquiries and retrievals can be refunded by clicking Refund Charge. You won’t incur a $15 dispute fee for refunding an inquiry or retrieval.

It’s important to submit evidence to prevent the inquiry from escalating into a formal dispute. However, if the evidence is found insufficient or the client refutes your evidence, the case could become a formal dispute. If this occurs, the charge can’t be refunded, and you’ll have to update your response and submit additional evidence.

Disputes on partially refunded payments

While uncommon, a payment can be disputed for the full amount even if a partial refund has already been made (for example, a smaller refund amount that has been agreed upon).

We understand this can be frustrating, as it may leave you responsible for the partial refund you’ve already processed and the full amount disputed. However, card issuers are willing to rectify this situation.

Even if you plan to accept the un-refunded portion of the dispute, it’s important that you provide evidence of the partial refund in your response. This should include the amount and date of the refund, and could include a screenshot of the refund information from your account.

In most cases, the card issuer cancels the original dispute and creates a separate one for the corrected amount. If the dispute is fully resolved in your favor, the entire amount is returned to you. If it’s not, only the partially refunded amount is returned.

What happens on a client's Billing page after a dispute is lost?

When a dispute is initiated by a client, the disputed amount plus a $15 dispute fee is automatically withdrawn from your online payments account. In the client’s profile, the disputed amount will show as an Adjustment.

For example, if your client disputed a $200 charge, it would show in the client’s file as a $200 Adjustment. The client balance would then increase by $200 to reflect that this amount is no longer paid.

However, if you navigate to Billing > Card transactions, you’ll see that this same adjustment totals $215 instead of $200. This difference ensures that only the portion owed by the client is added back to their balance, and not the $15 fee.

If the dispute is decided in the client’s favor, the adjustment and balance will remain on the client’s account. If you’d still like to obtain these funds from the client, we recommend contacting your client to discuss payment options. If you’d like to accept the result of the dispute and write off the fees, you can do so by making an appointment level billing change.

For more information on how to handle disputes, see Managing disputed charges.

How do disputes impact my business?

The primary impact that disputes can have on your business is financial. While the disputed amounts are held by the client’s bank during the dispute remediation process, you’re also charged a $15 dispute fee for each dispute initiated by a client.

Accepting a dispute is not an admission of fault, and doesn’t negatively affect your standing with SimplePractice, payment processors, or the client’s bank. However, excessive dispute activity is tracked by card networks, and can impact your ability to process payments with SimplePractice, as well as with other credit card processors.

To minimize this impact, we recommend taking steps to proactively prevent disputed charges.