How does this work........??

[Gino]

We're probably gonna do some signs for a guy who wants to pay full up front with a credit card. The order is easy enough and we're gonna make some decent money, but I have some kinda gut feeling about this guy..... just the way he talks and double talks.

My question is this.... I'm not too familiar with the actions of credit cards and their practice good and/or bad.

If this guy orders today, pays in advance.... how long is it that he can/could break the deal and pull his sale from us ??

In other words, I don't want to start his order, have it finished by Friday and Monday he makes a claim that he's dissatisfied and I don't get the money in my account... or it's credited back to him ??

I hear this stuff on the forum here... and can make comments based on what's happened, but I don't know what can be done to prevent a scumbag from doing it and causing all kinds of hassles.

I could just turn it down, but I could be imagining the whole thing, but it's just this gut feeling.
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[Fatboy]

Maybe tell him you can start once the money clears.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Taking a cue from the national frame shop I worked for I added a signature line to our work orders a few years ago that said "FINAL SIGN WORK RECEIVED, INSPECTED, AND APPROVED". I have the customer sign the work order when the pick up their work.

I've only needed it once. I faxed the signed work order and signed credit card slip into the processing company and had the money back the next day.

 

[showcase 66]

Like Pat said. Make sure they sign that they inspected and approved. I had this happen about a year ago with the stupid lady with florescent pink vinyl. (you may remember) Sent everything to Discover and had the money back in about a week once the CC company finished their investigation into the matter.

 

[anotherdog]

If the card has been copied, stolen or otherwise messed around with, the credit card company can take back the money months later. They just take the money back out of your clearing account.

If the customer is just unhappy he can try a chargeback, but he has to plead his case to the credit card company, usually they go with the business unless you have really been bad.

Get him to sign a work order before, get him to sign off on proof approval and sign when he picks it up. Keep all the emails too.

 

[Mosh]

Is is for 100 banners that say Jesus Saves??? and he is going to
take care of the shipping????

 

[CanuckSigns]

as long as you keep good records you should be fine. If you do what he wants and he files a chargeback, it is considered fraud, the CC companies don't look kindly to people who do this.

the one and only time I have had to file a chargeback, it was a pain in the butt, Visa is not there to solve petty complaints, I had to prove that i tried to give the seller every opportunity to fix the problem before they would step in and reverse the charges, in total it was 2-3 weeks of back and forth with Visa.

 

[signguy 55]

I had a customer that did this once about paying with a credit card. I insisted on cash, he went to the ATM and got the cash, I knocked off a few dollars for his trouble and the ATM fees.

You could always mention there are all kinds of scams around, especially placing unusual orders with no worrying about the price at all. All he has to do is do a Google search. An honest customer won't be offended.

 

[Typestries]

If the card has been copied, stolen or otherwise messed around with, the credit card company can take back the money months later. They just take the money back out of your clearing account.

If the customer is just unhappy he can try a chargeback, but he has to plead his case to the credit card company, usually they go with the business unless you have really been bad.

Get him to sign a work order before, get him to sign off on proof approval and sign when he picks it up. Keep all the emails too.

This. Even if you have a signature, they can still take the money back at any time if its a fraudulent transaction. The responsibility is on the merchant (you) to verify it's not fraud eg stolen card.

Protect yourself. Call your merchant processor. Yes, gasp, you will wait on hold. They can give you the card issuers fraud department phone number. Then call that number. A few simple verifications with those folks and you will at least clear yourself of the responsibility to verify the transaction is not fraud. And oh yeah, your technically supposed to do this due diligence with each and every transaction (read your merchant agreement carefully).