When you buy something, you pay for it.

If you feel like you were overcharged for your purchase and if you paid with a credit card, you might consider contacting the credit card company to file a chargeback for the incorrect purchase.

Now imagine being a business owner who receives this chargeback but knows without a shadow of a doubt that the customer is lying and was not in fact overcharged.

That’s the situation in today’s story.

Let’s see how the business owner takes matters into their own hands.

Firing a Customer [Tales from a Fireworks Tent]

BACKGROUND: I own and operate my own retail stores. They’re actually seasonal fireworks tents, but not like any fireworks tents you’ve seen before.

They’re 4000 square feet of fun, friends, and fireworks, with a touch of crazy thrown in to keep it exciting.

There are always a few chargeback requests.

STORY: Every year, I get a couple of credit card chargebacks after the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve. I research the chargebacks and accept or dispute as necessary.

Sometimes I find an obvious error on our part, like where a transaction was submitted twice in a row so the customer was double charged.

If it was our fault, I’ll accept the chargeback and move on.

Every now and then, I’ll come across one that I just can’t figure out.

Here’s an example of one chargeback request.

Last year after the 4th of July, I had a chargeback for more than $800 where “Robert” claimed fraud. He claimed that the purchase should have been just over $80, but that we had mischarged him.

Unfortunately for him, I switched to integrated POS systems years ago, and was able to pull up his receipt with all of the items in his purchase.

I responded to the credit card company with a copy of the detailed receipt.

This went back and forth, with the credit card holder eventually claiming that he had paid for the large purchase in cash, and had just gotten a few more items with his credit card.

Sadly, but not shockingly, the CC company found in his favor and the charge was reversed.

Then this business owner realized something even more annoying.

I was ticked off, but it’s not the first time it’s happened to me.

As I was filing the information and reviewing my dispute files, I noticed that I had a dispute from someone with the same name from the year before. Sure enough, it was the same card number used as well.

Now I was REALLY ticked off.

I understand that we occasionally make mistakes, but this guy was straight up scamming me for free fireworks.

I made a note of the name and credit card number and made copies of all of my documentation.

The customer came back.

When New Year’s Eve rolled around this year, I made sure that all of my cashiers were double checking ID’s and on the lookout for the jerk.

Sure enough, guess who tried to buy a cart full of fireworks on New Year’s Eve!

My cashier had caught it just after he had inserted his card for payment, so she quickly cancelled the transaction and acted like she was having an issue with the terminal.

I walked over with my best smile and apologized for the issue. I asked to see his credit card and his ID so that I could verify it was him.

They confronted the customer.

I then let him know that due to prior fraud with that card, we were firing him as a customer, and that he was no longer welcome at any of my locations.

He blew a gasket!

He immediately started yelling and cursing at me and my cashier.

They were ready!

Bad move dude.

I waved over the off-duty police officer I hire for security and explained the situation to him.

He happily removed the still yelling former customer as my cashiers and I took turns high-fiving just to rub it in.

That worked out well, but not for the customer!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person was expecting a different ending.

Here’s the perspective of another business owner.

This person suggests small claims court.

Perhaps cash is the way to go.

I’m surprised the credit card company sided with this customer too.

He was a liar and a thief.

Jerkface.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.