Important Note: We will inform you (the account owner/practice principal) of a client payment dispute via the email you used during sign-up before taking any action (e.g. submitting evidence to the bank in your behalf).
For direct debit disputes (BECS), we will send you an email to notify you about the dispute however, the dispute cannot be contested (and is automatically resolved in favor of the client). You will need to reach out to the client to better understand why they have disputed the transaction and re-add the payment details to re-collect payment.
For credit card disputes, we will follow up via email if we don't receive a response from our first email in 2 business days. If we still don't hear back after our second email, we can no longer submit evidence to our payment partner which means you will need to settle the dispute directly with the client.
If you simply need to add a new payment method for failed payments, here are some detailed instructions on how to do so.
We highly recommend checking the practice principal's email inbox on a timely basis so you don't miss a dispute notification.
For Practices that are receiving disputes for the first time, one of our Customer Success Managers or Account Managers will reach out to you first. For future points of contact, we will communicate through emails to the principal's email address.
Dispute Overview
A ‘disputed transaction’ can arise for a variety of reasons. The most common types of disputed transactions include fraudulent transactions, unrecognised transactions, unauthorised transactions, duplicate processing, and recurring transactions.
Avoiding Payment Disputes by your Clients
Disputes are a very rare occurrence, but there are a few things you can do to decrease your chances of a client disputing a payment made by you:
Ensure your payment descriptor clearly identifies your business. You are limited to 16 characters, so consider this when selecting a payment descriptor if you have a long business name.
Ensure you always have an up-to-date and accurate engagement letter signed by your client. Avoid "accepting on behalf" unless you have confirmation in writing from your client of agreement to charges.
Avoid entering payment "on behalf of" your client unless you have written consent to charge their account/card.
Send payment receipts to clients emails following payment collection. Ignition can send these automatically for you.
Receiving a Payment Dispute Notification From Us
We will inform you (the practice principal) about the client payment dispute via email.
The BECS network allows 7 years for consumers to contest a debit on their account and these disputes cannot be contested. Disputes within this time period are automatically honoured and returned to the client. You should reach out to your client to resolve the reason for the dispute.
Credit card disputes however can be contested. Should you receive a dispute notification, please respond immediately. Failure to do so may result to a legitimate chargeback against your account.
You can respond to a credit card dispute notification in two ways:
Accept the dispute
Challenge the dispute by submitting evidence
Please reply back to our notification in either case as to which you would like to do.
Credit card authorization charges
A customer may see a $1 pending charge on their bank statement as part of the card authorization process from Ignition. This is a temporary authorization charge and it will disappear from their statement.
When storing customer details, Stripe may send a request to the issuing bank for either a $0 or a $1 authorization to verify that the card is valid and the bank will allow it to be authorized.
This can be easily misunderstood by your clients, so please advise them accordingly and communicate proactively!
Submitting Evidence
If you choose to challenge a dispute, we will ask you to:
Contact your client to try to resolve the dispute. It is possible that the client did not recognise the transaction and can contact their bank to withdraw the dispute
Submit evidence (as requested by our payment partner) as to the validity of the charge. We will send you a follow-up email in case of non-submission if you have
You will need to provide evidence for every dispute you wish to challenge, even if the client has advised you that they will be withdrawing the dispute.
While we always encourage you to contact your client to withdraw the dispute, some client might not be able to or might simply forget to withdraw a dispute. This is where evidence submission will be important to challenge the dispute.
Below are the different dispute types and the suggested documents you can submit as evidence as recommended by our payment partner.
The key to us being able to provide this information is having an up-to-date and accurate engagement letter signed by your client. Engagement letters signed internally by the practice cannot be submitted as evidence and other evidence will need to be provided by you (e.g., email correspondences to the client, proof of provision of services, etc).
Dispute Categories and Recommended Actions
Dispute outcomes
If you win a credit card dispute, we will inform you that the dispute was resolved in your favour, and process a re-disbursal to your account and inform you of this.
If you lose the dispute, then we will inform you as such and no further action can be taken by us - you must resolve the issue with your client.
For direct debit (BECS) disputes, these will automatically be resolved in favour of your client and you will need to reach out directly to your client to resolve the reason for the dispute.
A direct debit (BECS) dispute will also automatically cancel the current direct debit mandate on the payment method - if the client wishes to continue payment via direct debit, they will have to re-enter their payment details to generate a new direct debit mandate.
Please note: The full lifecycle of a dispute from initiation to the final decision from the issuer, can take as long as 2-3 months to complete.
When do we process the reversal of payments from your account?
We will process a reversal as soon as a dispute is raised by your client.
If you should subsequently win a credit card dispute due to submitted evidence, we will be informed by our payment partner. We will process a re-disbursal to your account and inform you of this.
Please note, it may take our payment partner 60-75 days to review evidence and decide a dispute in your favour.