Originally Posted by
oliver2002
If you initiate a chargeback without even communicating with the merchant (LH) and its agent (Expedia) the chargeback can be contested by the merchant. The advice Citi gave was wrong. The chargeback always has to show that you tried your best to resolve the issue with the merchant and they did not perform their end of the contract.
You can debate how the airlines are justifying themselves, but essentially they are showing that the consumer didn't attempt a resolution and that is all the payment processor needs to decline the chargeback.
Actually. when initiating a transaction for this specific reason (
Goods or Services Not Provided), Mastercard does not require for the cardholder to contact the merchant first. Moreover, a quick look through other reasons revealed that Mastercard places the following condition - the cardholder contacted or
attempted to contact the merchant. I could not get in touch with Expedia for a prolonged period of time following the cancellation. Expedia simply was not taking calls from anyone who was not travelling within the next 3 days for a good month or so. You needed to provide an itinerary number in order to be connected, and as mine contained only canceled flights Expedia simply disconnected the call. Calling Lufthansa was not an option since refunds are processed by the agency.
But again, there is no requirement to contact the merchant when initiating a chargeback for a service that was not provided, which is why there was no mention in Lufthansa's response of me not trying to resolve the issue with them first. Lufthansa went straight into inventing an alternative reality to impose a travel voucher on me. I mean, not contacting the merchant would have been the easiest and quickest reason to reject the chargeback had it been possible but the airline did not use it.
Originally Posted by
SQFLYER91
I received the same rubbish from Lufthansa and my chargeback was denied.
Anyone with experiencing appealing the reasoning gave by Lufthansa? Any advice on how to proceed from here?
Depends what your bank told you. Mine has not closed the case but simply asked me to provide an answer to Lufthansa's response, which I did. I simply stated that there was no denying of boarding, that the UK never had any entry restrictions and provided a printscreen of the page showing that the flights were canceled.
Originally Posted by
oliver2002
I
BTW even in 'normal' times chargeback is rampant in the travel industry. Consumers have different perception of how the performance of the service was done and often initiate chargeback on hotel stays, airline tickets, cruises, tours etc. Travel providers have departments that do nothing else but respond to chargeback requests by credit card issuers.
This website gives a rough overview on how prevalent chargebacks have become:
Chargebacks Explained - The Chargeback Company
Thank you for pointing that out. I, personally, had no idea that fraudulent chargebacks were widespread. I mean, why would anyone have the nerve to initiate one to avoid paying what they are obligated to pay when there is a burden of proof? Now I understand why my bank quickly reversed the conditional credit after receiving LH's response - banks must be used to siding with travel providers for the reasons that you mentioned.