Paid by Card and It Went Wrong? How to Use Chargeback to Get Your Money Back (UK)

You paid by card, and the purchase has gone wrong — the goods never turned up, they arrived faulty, the trader is ignoring you, or the company has gone bust before delivering. Most people assume their only fight is with the retailer. But there is a quieter route that goes through your own bank: chargeback. It lets your card provider try to pull the payment back from the seller's bank — and crucially it works on debit cards and for any amount, which is exactly where Section 75 leaves a gap. Here is how chargeback actually works, the deadline that catches people out, and how to put your bank on notice in writing.

What Is Chargeback?

Chargeback is a way of disputing a card payment through your own bank. You ask your card provider to reverse the transaction; they raise the dispute with the merchant's bank (the acquirer) under the relevant card scheme's rules, and if it holds up the money is taken back from the retailer and returned to you. It is an industry agreement that Visa, Mastercard and American Express operate — not a statutory protection — so the scheme rules, rather than an Act of Parliament, decide the outcome.

The Big Advantage: Debit Cards and Any Amount

The single most useful thing about chargeback is its reach. It applies to debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards — any card — and there is no minimum or maximum transaction value. That is precisely where it fills the gap left by Section 75, which only covers credit purchases with a cash price over £100 and up to £30,000. If you paid by debit card, or the purchase was under £100, Section 75 cannot help you — but chargeback can.

When Can You Use Chargeback?

Chargeback is for a purchase that has genuinely gone wrong, not a simple change of mind. Common valid reasons include:

• Goods or services never arrived — you paid but nothing was delivered.
• Not as described or misrepresented — what you received is materially different from what you were sold.
• Faulty or defective goods the seller will not put right.
• The retailer went bust before delivering the goods or service.
• A duplicate or incorrect charge — you were billed twice, or for the wrong amount.
• A subscription you cancelled but were still charged for.
• A transaction you did not authorise (though outright fraud is usually handled under separate unauthorised-payment protections — tell your bank straight away if a payment was not made by you).

How to Make a Chargeback Claim

1. Try the retailer first if you realistically can. It is often quicker, and it strengthens your position to show you gave the seller a chance to put things right — unless the retailer has gone bust or is plainly not responding.
2. Contact your own card provider — not the retailer. Ask specifically for a "chargeback" or to dispute the transaction. Frontline staff do not always recognise the term, so be prepared to ask for someone who handles disputed transactions. Do this well within the time limit.
3. Give them the evidence. Order confirmation, the card statement showing the payment, proof of what went wrong, and any correspondence with the seller.
4. Know that the merchant can push back. The seller's bank can defend and re-present the transaction with its own evidence (a "second presentment"), so a chargeback is not always the end of the story — keep your paperwork.

Chargeback vs Section 75: Know the Difference

These two routes are constantly confused. They are not the same thing, and it is worth knowing which one you have:

• Section 75 is a legal right under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. It makes your card provider jointly liable with the retailer — but only on credit cards, only for a single item priced over £100 and up to £30,000, and with no short deadline (a claim is generally treated as running for up to six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; five in Scotland).
• Chargeback is not a legal right — it is a scheme process. But it covers debit, credit and prepaid cards, any amount, and is the fallback whenever Section 75 does not apply. The trade-off is that it is time-limited (around 120 days) and the outcome is at the scheme's discretion.

If a purchase qualifies for both — a credit-card payment over £100 — Section 75 is usually the stronger route because it is backed by law and has no tight deadline. For everything else, chargeback is the tool.

If Your Bank Refuses: The Financial Ombudsman

Because chargeback is discretionary, your bank can decline to raise it or discontinue it. But the bank still has to treat you fairly in how it handles the request. If it refuses without a good reason, fails to explain the process, does not ask you for the right information, or gets the time limits wrong, you can complain — and if that does not resolve it, escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free and independent. The Ombudsman will look at whether it was fair not to raise or pursue the chargeback, how well the bank explained things, and whether the deadlines were applied correctly. That is a real backstop, and knowing it exists is exactly why a firm written request to your bank carries weight.

What Your Letter Should Say

A clear, dated request to your card provider does most of the work — it puts the claim on the record and starts the clock on a proper response. Your letter should:

• Identify the transaction — what you bought, from whom, the date, the amount, and the card you used.
• State what went wrong — goods not received, not as described, faulty, duplicated, or the retailer going bust — in specific terms.
• Ask expressly for a chargeback under the relevant card scheme rules, and note that you are within the applicable time limit.
• Attach your evidence and confirm you have (or could not reasonably) approach the retailer first.
• Set a clear deadline for a response, and say that if the claim is not handled fairly you will refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.