Consumer complaint received 2021-02-24
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: DC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
On XXXX I placed an online order with a Merchant for 3 pairs of trousers for a total of {$930.00}. 

In late XX/XX/2020, after the merchant failed multiple times to meet the promised delivery date, not delivering any of the items in the order, and failing to provide a refund, I asked my credit card company ( Discover ) to initiate a dispute for merchandise not delivered. 

On XXXX I provided the supporting documentation for my dispute, including multiple conversations with the merchant and a summary of the claim in which I stated that as of XX/XX/2020 neither the order, nor a refund check had been delivered to me. Multiple times in these conversations the merchant accepted that the order had not been delivered. 

On XXXX Discover responded by stating that they would close the dispute because the transaction was found to be " valid ''. However, the response from Discover did not provide any explanation of how it determined that the goods in the order were actually delivered, as required by the Fair Credit Billing Act. In fact, Discover never provided even a statement from the merchant claiming that the order had even been shipped. 

Furthermore, Discover 's response included several glaring errors, such as the following : 1 ) Discover incorrectly initiated a dispute and investigation for a Fraudulent Transaction. Discover initiated an investigation for Charge Back Reason Code XXXX. Discover Reason Code XXXX is seen by merchants receiving a chargeback based on the potential for a fraudulent transaction. This is for transactions for which the cardholder provided no authorization for the charge to be processed by the merchant. However, I notified Discover from the beginning that I approved this transaction, my dispute was for the fact that *the merchandise was never received*. This was communicated to Discover by phone, and in writing during the last week of XX/XX/2020. ( See Chronology submitted to Discover on XXXX attached ). 

The proper Discover chargeback reason code for my type of dispute is reason code XXXX, used for disputes related to merchandise never received from the merchant. 

2 ) Since the merchant received a dispute with the incorrect chargeback code from Discover, the company in charge of processing payments for the merchant provided information relevant for a *fraudulent transaction* dispute including : merchant details, payment details, however the merchant did not dispute at any point that the merchandise was not delivered by providing information such as : a ) Shipment Conformation b ) Delivery Confirmation c ) Or even any statement indicating that they shipped a package with the contents of of the order On XXXX I uploaded a letter to the Discover website explaining the errors in the ways my dispute was processed, asking them to conduct the proper dispute or provide a statement indicating how it was determined that the goods were delivered. ( See Attached XXXX letter sent to Discover ) On XXXX Discover sent a generic response to my letter stating that the information I provided was not sufficient to keep the dispute open and that it would be closed. However, Discover did not provide any of the information I requested, which is required by the Fair Credit Billing Act before they close a dispute. Furthermore, Discover failed to provide an explanation of what would constitute " sufficient '' information on my end when my claim was about goods not delivered, in which case the merchant is supposed to carry the burden of proof. 

After being able to establish contact with the merchant, the merchant ( who agrees that the merchandise was never delivered ) agreed to send me a letter stating that they accept the chargeback, I forwarded this letter to Discover on XXXX ( see attached letter ). 

As of today ( XXXX ) I still have not received any response from Discover to any of the issues raised on my XXXX letter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief