In this article, you will learn about some of the best practices for preventing client disputes.

What is a dispute?

A dispute is when a cardholder — typically your client — questions your Workiz Pay charge with their card issuer. A successful dispute can lead to a chargeback. A chargeback is when the cardholder is refunded the charged amount, with that amount being drawn from your Workiz Pay account. In the event of a chargeback, your business would also be charged a non-refundable fee ($25 US/$20 CA).

If your Workiz Pay balance cannot cover the chargeback amount, the remaining amount will be drawn from your business bank account.

While disputes can be resolved in your favor (reversing the chargeback), you can also take measures to prevent them altogether.

How to prevent disputes

• Make sure your clients can recognize your business on their statements
  Make sure your statement descriptor is easily recognizable to your clients and reflects the website they would associate with their purchase.
  
  A statement descriptor is the name that appears on a client’s bank statement for charges from your business. To learn more about changing your Workiz Pay statement descriptor, please see this article.
• Send receipts
  Send receipts upon payment so your customers can recall what they paid for, and make it easy for them to distinguish between multiple payments (if applicable).
  
  Receipts are sent automatically using Workiz Pay. To learn more about manually sending a dispute, please see this article.
• Be detail oriented and document everything
  Create notes in estimates and invoices that explain in detail what the agreed-upon service includes. To learn more about including notes on your estimates and invoices, please see this article.
• Use attachments
  Add attachments to estimates and invoices that illustrate in detail what the agreed-upon service includes. To learn more about adding attachments to your estimates and invoices, please see this article.
• Get your clients to sign whenever possible
  Require signatures for estimates and invoices. Signatures are automatically requested on Workiz estimates. To learn more about requesting a signature for an invoice, please see this article.
• Be upfront about your return/cancellation policies
  Have a clear return or cancellation policy on your estimates and invoices that’s easy to find or explicitly disclosed to the customer prior to purchase.
  Custom policies can be included on your documents (e.g., invoices, estimates, other custom documents). To learn more about editing your document templates in Workiz, please see this article.
• Honor your policies
  Honor your written policies promptly when a customer requests and is entitled to a full or partial refund. To learn how to issue a full or partial refund, please see this article.
• Resolve accidental charges ASAP
  If a customer’s card is accidentally charged more than once for a single payment, correct the duplicates immediately and get in touch with the customer to let them know you’ve handled the issue.
• Be informed
  Familiarize yourself with the best practices for preventing fraud.