Just a quick update and side note on this…
We just got back from a trip where we had booked an opera. The opera was unfortunately canceled due to a labor strike. We had bought the tickets through the opera’s official website, but it was handled through a third-party processor (which is common). Upon cancellation, the opera house directed us to contact the ticket vendor, which we did immediately, but their website was extremely obtuse and the refund form and contact info were both quite well-hidden. I had the impression they distinctly did not want either to be found. I filled out the form, got an automatic response, and didn’t hear back since. The canceled event was two weeks ago. Finally today they sent an automated notification asking people to fill out the form (which I had already done previously), but noted that refunds won’t be processed for another 1-2 months (on top of the existing delay). The email was sent from a no-reply address and directs you to the same form I already filled out.
Clearly they don’t actually want anyone to succeed with their refund requests…
By contrast, I filed a chargeback with Chase (you just select it from your list of transactions). I provided a one-sentence description saying the event was canceled, and the $300 refund was approved within 5-10 seconds. I got the credit in my account the next business day.
There is probably some algorithmic determination of these chargeback requests (how many you file, how much they’re worth relative to your overall credit card spend, how long you’ve had the account, etc.). And maybe in this case they already knew of the vendor (which has a terrible 1.2 star rating — wish I checked beforehand), but Chase literally gave me the money back in a few seconds, vs the many weeks I’ve already spent dealing with the vendor’s official process.
I can’t emphasize strongly enough how much easier it was to deal with Chase than the ticket vendor, especially in this case, since the vendor is a foreign company in a different time zone, speaking a different language, and with a different customer support culture (a rather nonexistent one, in their case). Having a credit card processor on your side acting as a middleman, even just to adjudicate disputes in a fair and timely fashion, makes travel much much less painful.
This is the 4th or 5th time I’ve had to do a chargeback with them (out of thousands of transactions), and every single time they’ve ultimately sided with me. Some of the other ones required more documentation (even though they were much lower in dollar value), but this one was as simple as could be.
This card (and many other travel ones) also act as trip insurance and primary car rental insurance, which can be significant.
I hate that this is the case — that your credit card processor will usually offer much stronger protections than the vendor themselves — but it’s a reality of modern travel 
Many smaller or shadier outfits, especially foreign ones, don’t really care all that much about your satisfaction as a random single customer, and in the case of disputes, your options are really limited (especially in foreign countries under foreign laws). Booking with a credit card that you have a good relationship with is the single strongest protection you can have. Having good trip insurance is second, but that only applies to certain explicit circumstances, whereas a chargeback can be used for just about anything and is usually adjudicated on a case-by-case basis.
But, of course, YMMV, as @Whack-a-Mole’s much more frustrating experience. I’m not sure why it’s so easy sometimes and not other times… 