My first NAF…anyway…
Short Version: Should you dispute a Credit Card charge BEFORE or AFTER you contact the merchant about the charge?
Longer Version: I needed a rental car after being in an auto accident in December. My insurance company should have covered it completely and as far as I know they DID. Six months later I now find a $800 charge from Avis on my Credit Card. No contact from Avis saying I owed anything or something went wrong, not once. Just 6-months later, they charge me $800 with no explanation.
By the time I realized it it was too late to go into the local office so I will do so tomorrow. I’m just unsure if I should contact my Credit Card company about it first or talk to Avis first. Any other info would be appreciated.
I don’t know jack about this topic other than anecdotally, but I would contact your credit card company first, and see what their opinion is about how to deal with Avis. You have nothing to lose by going this route and letting them know you dispute the charge before you talk to Avis about WTF happened.
Actually I think that I would contact my insurance company first to verify that they did in fact cover the rental costs and will eventually get around to paying it. :rolleyes: The credit card company only knows that they haven’t been paid yet.
Insurance companies are horribly slow in disbursing funds, in my experience anyway.
It doesn’t really hurt you to contact Avis and could very well strengthen your case for the dispute if they totally botch handling this.
FWIW, I had a similar situation once but rather than my insurance paying it, my company had a zero deductible arrangement with the car rental company. This didn’t stop a massive credit card charge on my card for repairs. One email cleared it up and I got a heartfelt apology to boot.
Contact the merchant first, but don’t give thema bunch of time to resolve your issue. Tell them about your problem and tell them you are going tp put the charge in dispute while everythign is sorted out. You have a limited amount of time to dispute a charge, and often merchants are aware of that and will try to drag things out until it’s too late to gwet it reversed.
OK. Thank you guys. I think I’ll head down there right now to talk to the merchant. Then if that doesn’t resolve anything, come back and do some sleuthing to get to the bottom of this.
So far it sounds like my insurance company just didn’t make with the money so they charged me. Insurance seemed OK with cutting me a check if I faxed the right stuff.
Dispute the charge ASAP. Do it right after you read this. Make sure you do it in writing. Some banks have policies where you can call but you must do it in writing to preserve your legal rights.
Usually credit cards give you 60 - 90 days to dispute the charge after it appears on your bill, so you need to dispute it RIGHT AWAY. You can always talk about it and even if you’re wrong so what? You don’t hurt yourself any by disputing the charge straight off
Companies don’t like you to dispute it first because they get charged. For instance I handled chargebacks in my last job as an Asst Controller at a hotel. We got charged $15.00 for every chargeback (Bank of America was our credit card processor). So even if we were 100% right if Joe Schmoe disputes a charge we get charged 15.00 for each chargeback.
The idea behind this is for companies to make sure their bills are clear. So a company will cry “Don’t dispute it first,” 'cause they get charged for it. The amount a company gets charged varies depending on your merchant agreement. It can be more or less than $15.00
But you the consumer never get hurt by disputing it. Unless of course you do it constantly, then the credit card people and the issuing bank will make a face 
Avis bills you because your insurance company doesn’t pay quickly enough? I’d tell Avis to chase the insurance company and also to go fuck themselves.
He undoubtedly signed a contract when he rented the car that stated he’d accept full financial responsibility if the third party failed to pony up. And this case illustrates why they have you sign that paper. They rented the OPer a car; they don’t give a rat’s ass who was SUPPOSED to pay it. They want their money and they’re entitled to it. So telling Avis to go fuck themselves won’t help the OPer. In fact, he’d be putting his credit rating in jeopardy by going this route.
Personally, I’d dispute the charge immediately while I was well within the legal time limit to file a dispute. This will do two things: 1) Open an investigation, which will put the insurance company on notice that someone is demanding payment; and 2) The amount disputed will be suspended while the investigation is underway, and the OPer won’t incur interest or penalties on the overdue amount.
Even if the insurance company agrees to write him a personal check, there may be a lag time between the time the OPer receives payment and the credit card due date.