Disputes and chargebacks
When a customer disputes a charge with their bank, this is how you defend yourself from Cord, before the deadline.
What a dispute is
A dispute (chargeback) happens when a cardholder asks their bank to reverse a charge: because they don’t recognize it, because they say they didn’t receive what they paid for, or for another reason. The bank holds the amount while it’s resolved, and you have a limited time to present evidence that the charge was legitimate.
It applies to card payments processed by Cord Payments. A bank transfer (SPEI or with a reference) or a manual transfer has no card chargeback, and a bank debit charge is claimed under its scheme’s rules. Mercado Pago chargebacks and mediations are answered from your Mercado Pago account, and Cord reflects them in your invoices and quotes (see If the payment was with Mercado Pago below).
Requirements
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Plan | All plans. |
| Permission | Collections or Payment settings. Without them, the dispute page shows “No access”. |
| Submission | Also confirming your identity with your password or your two-step verification code, before uploading files and when submitting. |
Where it appears
- Cord records the dispute as soon as the processor reports it, with amount, currency, reason, status, and deadline.
- In Revenue › Payments, the Open disputes widget shows the total at stake and, for each dispute, “respond before [date]”.
- Opening a dispute takes you to its evidence page, Build a clear response, with the amount, the status, and the due date at the top.
The account owner also gets an email, in your account’s language, with the subject Action required: dispute for [amount], and Cord adds to Tasks a high-priority task titled “Respond to the [amount] chargeback” (in your account’s language), unassigned, linked to the payment’s quote (or, if the charge paid invoices, to the last one it paid), and due on the day, in your business’s time zone, the evidence deadline falls on. Because it’s unassigned, the email reminder for that task goes to the account owner. Like any task, it emits A task is created (task.created).
If you use the API or Workflows, Cord emits A dispute is opened (dispute.created) and A dispute is closed (dispute.closed, with the outcome); if the charge paid invoices, both include in facturas the ones that are no longer settled. See Workflow triggers.
The deadline rules
If you don’t submit evidence before the deadline, you normally lose the dispute. The deadline is set by the card network, not by Cord: start working on it as soon as you see it.
Statuses
The status appears next to the amount with the processor’s name for it:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
needs response |
Evidence must be submitted before the deadline. |
under review |
You already submitted evidence and the customer’s bank is reviewing it. |
won |
You won: the held money returns to your balance. |
lost |
You lost: the amount leaves your balance. |
warning needs response, warning under review, warning closed |
An early inquiry from the bank that isn’t a chargeback yet. Respond anyway: it can become one. |
The evidence
The page arrives prefilled with what Cord already knows about the transaction. Review and correct each field:
| Field | What Cord proposes |
|---|---|
| Customer name and Customer email | Those on the quote’s customer record. |
| Service date | The quote’s approval date. Change it to the actual delivery date. |
| Approval IP | The IP address from the quote’s electronic signature, if there is one. |
| What the customer purchased | The quote’s items with their quantities. |
| Customer communication | Empty: paste the relevant messages here (acknowledgments, delivery confirmations). |
| Additional context | Empty: explain the case in your own words. |
| Receipt or supporting file | Optional: your own PDF, JPG, or PNG. If you don’t choose one, Cord prepares an automatic receipt. |
What Cord builds for you
On submission, Cord generates two PDFs:
- Transaction receipt: your business, the customer, the amount, the method, the transaction, the items and, when available, who signed the quote, on what date, and from which IP address. If you uploaded your own receipt, yours is used. If the charge paid invoices, it lists those invoices instead of the quote and, if it came from automatic payments or a one-click payment, the authorization your customer signed: the text, its fingerprint, the date, the IP address, and the browser.
- Customer communication: a PDF with the text you pasted in that field.
Save a draft and submit
- Click Save draft as many times as you like. The draft stores only text in Cord: it doesn’t upload files or send anything to the processor.
- When ready, click Review and submit evidence. You’ll see a preview with the exact list of what will be transferred.
- Click Confirm and transfer. If your last identity confirmation is more than a few minutes old, Cord asks for it before uploading any file.
- You’ll see Evidence submitted and return to Payments.
Submitting is irreversible
Once submitted, the evidence can’t be edited or completed. Also, when you click Confirm and transfer, the files (your receipt or the automatic receipt, and the communication PDF) are uploaded to the payment processor before the evidence is submitted: once uploaded they stay there, the processor keeps them under its own rules, and they can’t be withdrawn, even if the evidence is never submitted (for example, if an error prevents it or you leave the page). If you try again, Cord reuses the files already uploaded instead of uploading another copy. Review every field and every file before confirming.
Saving, preparing the PDFs, and submitting are recorded in your organization’s audit log.
What happens next
The processor delivers the evidence and the customer’s bank decides. It can take weeks and the outcome isn’t guaranteed: Cord helps you build the best possible case, but doesn’t decide. The status updates on its own on the dispute page.
| If… | Then |
|---|---|
| You win | The held amount returns to your balance. |
| You lose | The amount leaves your balance, along with a processor dispute fee. If your balance isn’t enough, it goes negative: see negative balance. |
| Either way | Cord’s fee on the original payment isn’t returned. See Fees. |
If the charge paid invoices (from the invoice, the portal, or automatic payments), while the money is held and if you lose, the disputed amount goes back to each invoice’s outstanding balance: it returns to receivables and reminders, and its history says so. Automatic payments no longer charge it on their own: your customer pays it from their portal or you resolve it. If you win, it’s paid again. In Mexico, if you lose on a stamped CFDI, Cord adds the task “Issue the credit note for the lost [amount] chargeback”: you issue the credit note, with your accountant.
If the payment was with Mercado Pago
In Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Peru, online payment is with Mercado Pago, and in Mexico it’s an alternative. There the case lives in your Mercado Pago account, and Cord reads it from Mercado Pago:
| If in Mercado Pago… | In Cord |
|---|---|
| Your client opens a mediation and the money is held | What that payment covered goes back to the invoice’s outstanding balance: it returns to receivables, collections and reminders, and its history says so. Cord adds “Respond to the [amount] mediation in Mercado Pago” to Tasks, with high priority. |
| The card’s bank starts a chargeback | The same, with the task “Respond to the [amount] chargeback in Mercado Pago”. When Mercado Pago reports the deadline to send your documentation, the task is due that day, in your business’s time zone. |
| It’s resolved in your favor: the mediation closes with the payment approved, or the chargeback is credited back to you | The invoice is paid again and its history says so. |
| It’s resolved in your client’s favor | The invoice stays in collections. In Mexico, if it was a stamped CFDI, Cord adds “Issue the credit note for the lost [amount] chargeback”. A mediation that ends with the money returned to your client is recorded as a refund. |
If the payment was for a quote, its history says so and the task is linked to it; if the quote was already invoiced, the invoice also goes back to collections. Automatic payments don’t charge an invoice disputed in Mercado Pago on their own.
The response is sent from Mercado Pago
Cord doesn’t send documentation for you or show these cases in Open disputes: open the case in your Mercado Pago account and send your documentation before the deadline. Mercado Pago accepts a single documentation submission per case.
How to prevent disputes
- Require an electronic signature on approval: the signature’s name, date, and IP are your best evidence. See Electronic signature.
- Use clear item descriptions and a recognizable business name.
- Answer your customers’ questions in the quote chat: that history is evidence too.
Limits
- Card payments processed by Cord Payments only.
- A single evidence submission per dispute.
- Mercado Pago cases don’t appear in Open disputes and have no evidence page in Cord: their documentation is sent from Mercado Pago.
Common problems
I can’t find the dispute. Check the dashboard’s date range and that you have the Collections or Payment settings permission.
The approval IP is empty. The quote had no electronic signature. Explain in the additional context how your customer confirmed the purchase.
Submitting asks for my password again. Identity confirmation lasts a few minutes; if more time passed, Cord asks again.