How to prepare and submit evidence for a dispute

In this guide you will find guidance for preparing and submitting evidence for a dispute. 

As the receiving merchant of the payment, you always have the right to respond to the dispute and submit evidence to support your case. While Timely and Stripe do not decide the final outcome, we are here to help you on how to best prepare, handle, and respond to the dispute. 

Responding to Timely payments disputes

Keeping your evidence clear, concise, and factual is important, as banking institutions review thousands of disputes. Long explanations, and irrelevant details, such as; providing your policy for when the disputed payment is a fraudulent deposit - won’t add value in supporting your case.

Timely tip: Stripe has a maximum file size and page limit of 5MB and 19 pages. If you try to upload more than that, it will not save and submit your evidence.

Collect and organise your evidence

When you start collecting evidence for countering the dispute it’s best practice to remain organised from the start, this will make it easier for you when it’s time to group and compile it. For example:

• Arrange and label all evidence in chronological order to create a clear sequence of events. 
• Add brief summaries to help the reviewer understand the relevance of evidence included.
• Ensure all texts and images are clear and readable.

Group your evidence

Once you have your evidence ready, it needs to be grouped together - as you will need to upload your documents within specific categories in Stripe: 
 

• Customer communication: Include any relevant interactions you had with the client. This can also include any automated emails and SMS sent to the client before and after the booking. 
   
• Customer signature: Any documents such as a receipt or consult form showing the client's signature.
   
• Receipt: You can use the PDF invoice of the disputed payment from your Timely account. 
   
• Service documentation: Any record to show that and how the service/product was provided. This can range from before and after photos to completed consultation forms or CCTV footage. 
   
• Refund and cancellation policy: A screenshot of your refund and cancellation policy (including a link to your website with the terms if applicable) and proof that the client accepted the policy. 

Timely Tip: If the client booked an appointment online, this can be found by going to the appointment and heading to the bottom of the appointment history. This even includes the IP address from which the booking was made and policy accepted.

• Terms disclosure: A screenshot of how the policy is presented to the client. Here you can prove that you have been transparent about your terms. If the booking was made online, you can take a screenshot of your online booking flow that shows your booking link in the URL and that it is mandatory to accept the policy in order to place the booking. Also, automated email reminders can include your cancellation policy if set in Timely, so this can be submitted as well.
   

• Credit voucher: You may have already offered the client a credit or voucher as part of finding a resolution, which is now available to redeem in the future. Take screenshots showing the bank that the credit/voucher was offered and is available for the client to redeem.
   
• Duplicate charge documentation: Upload evidence showing why this payment is a unique charge and not a duplicate. 
   
• Other: If you have any other relevant evidence but it does not clearly suit the categories above, you can compile them into one document and submit this under Other. For fraudulent disputes, this can include a screenshot of the details you have from the client, such as their name and contact details, as the bank can match this with their records. 

Timely note: You can compile your evidence into documents for each relevant category and once you're done export it as PDF to upload. Most likely, you won’t need to cover every category every time. The flow in Stripe will tell you what evidence is recommended and considered compelling.

Dispute withdrawals

A client might agree to withdraw the dispute with their bank. In that case, you’ll still have to submit evidence to avoid automatically losing the dispute when the deadline ends. Customer communication and signature are best suited for this, so getting a written and signed statement from the client saying they withdrew the dispute and, if possible, with confirmation or acknowledgment from the bank.