Credit card charge reversed - collection available February 20, 2025
KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Credit card charge reversed - collection available
February 20, 2025
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Credit card charge reversed - collection available
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Ken
My credit card company reversed a charge for $5000 even though I had that verbiage for single and recurring charges. My particular processing company says that every charge must be pre-authorized for a specific dollar amount; we lost $5000 on that deal.
Could we have went after them? Sure but we just canceled the account. Best practices are to get a signed authorization form for every single charge. Yes that is a logistical pain in the rear but when you get a charge back or an ACH reversal, it’s literally the only leg that you have to stand on. It must have the date the exact dollar amount And a signature from an authorized person and you have no way of knowing if it’s an authorized person or not consider it the cost of doing business.
A taste of real world experience. Don’t forget you can contract for anything doesn’t mean it will be enforceable. The best asset we have is Ken and his contracts I definitely would not modify anything in his contract. Ken tells me that I can make adjustments and I send the contract to him to manually edit. I’m not touching the contract without Ken and I would advise you to do the same. None of us are lawyers, and we need not pretend to be so.
Anthony V
Kentucky
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Response
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Best practice definitely includes joining the Concierge Program and running change changes by me. First half hour is included in the modest program cost [$145 month] and besides an immediate savings of hundreds of dollars in legal fees for a review, it might save you an account or expensive problem down the line.
I feel like it doesn’t matter what the law is, you need to check with your credit card processing company for its policy on charging, single or recurring and on dispute resolution. While the industry may be regulated by big government it is also likely permitted to impose its own operating rules.
You didn’t need to right off the $5000 unless your credit card processing arrangement provides that the fee dispute is final - sort of like a binding arbitration - but that is not likely. You can probably still start proceedings. In your case, because you use the K&K Standard Form Agreements you have an arbitration provision which makes the collection process easy, efficient, inexpensive and quick. It’s an important feature of the Standard Form Agreements, and having K&K available to represent you in the collection process through arbitration will also prove to be beneficial.
Warning. That doesn’t mean you win all the time. You also have to be on the right side of the dispute. Even alarm companies mess up from time to time, though luckily not as often as their customers would like to claim.
To get your collections going contract K&K paralegal Kathleen Lampert at 516 747 6700 x 319 or [email protected]. Tell her I sent you.
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STANDARD FORMS Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements
click here: www.alarmcontracts.com
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CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY - You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304.
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