Payment processor disputes have five important characteristics, namely, (i) inequality of the parties, (ii) unwillingness of the payment processor to focus on the resolution of the disputes, (iii) delayed responses from the payment processor, (iv) difficulties in contacting a proper decision-maker at the payment processor, and (v) expensive litigation alternatives. Below, we will examine each of those characteristics in more detail.
Inequality of the parties
Payment processors are usually large and wealthy companies having tens of thousands of employees and an army of lawyers. Most individuals and companies that use the services of payment processors have less financial resources. Therefore, the battle between them and the payment processors can be compared to the biblical battle between David and Goliath, i.e., an underdog situation where a smaller opponent faces a much bigger and stronger enemy. To illustrate, if the value of your dispute is USD 2000, in many jurisdictions you will need to pay more than that to get a legal opinion about whether it is worthy litigating. Needless to say, many disputants will prefer not to engage in litigation because they will need to pay for lawyers and courts much more than they can win. Payment processors, in turn, have millions or even billions of turnover and may not see entering into litigation proceedings as a financial disaster.
Unwillingness of the payment processor to focus on the resolution of the disputes
Payment processors receive a large number of complaints per day and are often unwilling to spend too much time on examining each of them in detail. Instead, they usually send template responses to the complainants. Those responses are not helpful at all as they do not address the nature of the complaints. Instead, they usually refer to the terms of use statement of the relevant payment processor and claim that the action or the inaction of the payment processor is justified based on that statement. Therefore, many complainants cannot find a way to get a non-template response to their complaint.
Delayed responses from the payment processor
The large number of messages which payment processors receive make them slow responders. It is not unusual to wait for a few weeks or even a few months before getting a response. That is why it is of utmost importance to push payment processors regularly.
Difficulties in contacting a proper decision-maker at the payment processor
Even if you succeed to establish a contact with the payment processor, you may notice that the contact person is a support clerk who does not have any decision-making power and can just copy/paste a template response. After spending a few days communicating with such a person, it will become clear that your dispute cannot be resolved through communication with him or her and you will need to find a proper decision-maker.
Expensive litigation alternatives
When you negotiate with another party and you feel that you are right, you negotiate in the shadow of the law. This means that you reserve the option to initiate court proceedings in case you do not reach a settlement that suits you. However, when fighting for relatively small amounts of money with payment processors, litigation proceedings are often not an option as they can be so expensive that, even if the claimant wins, he or she may not be able to recover the investment he or she made in attorney’s and court fees.
