Cardholder paid on installment during March - May 2024 for a trip to be taken 8/17/24. Cardholder received notice from travel company trip was canceled. Merchant asked the travelers to me patient as they worked to refund the payments. Merchant went after insurance to recoup the funds and the claims were denied by the insurance company according to the Merchant. The member filed a claim in late November and stated that she can dispute this and that her clock does not start until the day the travel was to occur as Service not rendered. I have never heard of special stipulations on travel payments. Can someone speak to this?

Since the charge was authorized, this is not a Reg E claim so you don't have to abide by provisional credit or investigation timeframes.

That being said, Visa/Mastercard chargebacks rights relating to services not rendered have a 120-day timeframe. However, that 120-day clock does not start ticking until either 120 days from the transaction date, or 120 days after the promised delivery date of the service, whichever is later. Using the latter timeframe, the chargeback cannot be initiated more than 540 days from the transaction date.

In your case, the chargeback would have needed to have been filed within 120 days of 8/17/24 so a chargeback should have been filed in late November. Now it is too late.

Thanks for your expertise!