Originally Posted by
drewguy
That's generally correct, but when I've disputed relatively minor charges Cap One has basically told me they're giving me a courtesy credit rather than going to the expense of asking the merchant to justify the charge (e.g., double charge for a coffee or something). Presumably they've done the cost/benefit on it and for disputes below a certain amount (and probably if not a frequent issue) they don't bother because of the processing costs. I have no idea what the algorithm is they've used to determine break even, or whether it's different for Chase than Cap One.
Interesting — what I'm used to getting (chase, boa) is an immediate notice of "temporary" credit for the dispute, then after a couple of weeks a letter saying the dispute is resolved. I've had that happen even for small things like a $7 double charge, although maybe the thresholds vary by bank. I think the banks usually levy a fee on merchants for chargebacks to cover their administrative overhead, so it's not necessarily an outlay on their part. I'm not that well versed in the behind-the-scenes, though, so not sure what is common.