Customer says a promised refund never arrived

Visa 13.6 is the missing-refund reason. The customer says they were owed a refund and never got it. If they were owed one, refund them and accept the chargeback. The disputes worth fighting are the ones where no refund was due, such as a return outside the policy window, a problem with the condition of the goods, or a disagreement over a partial refund, and you can document why.

How it arrives

A 13.6 usually comes two to six weeks after the customer expected the refund. The notice, which names the dispute reason (the code on your notice), names the original sale, the amount they say they are owed, and their account of the return or cancellation. Respond before the date on that notice. Your payment company sets it, and it comes before the card network's own limit.

Two situations cause most of them: online returns where the refund took longer than the buyer would wait, and subscription cancellations where you declined a refund the buyer thought they were owed.

What the issuer is looking for

The customer's bank asks whether a refund was owed and, if so, whether it was issued.

If you issued it, the refund record (date, amount, method) resolves the case. If you did not, you need to show why none was due.

• Policy. A no-refunds-after-30-days policy the buyer accepted at checkout is defensible. One the buyer never saw is not.
• Condition of returned goods. If your policy required unused items and the returns were used, you have grounds. If the policy says nothing about condition, you do not.
• Partial refunds. A message trail showing the buyer accepted a deduction, such as a restocking fee or shipping cost, closes the case. A partial refund you decided alone is harder to defend.

Common scenarios

• Return received, refund not issued. Your grounds are limited. Refund the buyer and fix the gap in your process.
• Store credit instead of a refund. Your policy at the time of sale must name store credit as the remedy. Without it, the customer generally wins.
• Partial refund the buyer wanted in full. If you explained the calculation and the buyer did not object before the chargeback, you are protected.
• Refund sent to a closed card. Visa requires the bank to apply credits to the customer's available account. Keep the record showing you attempted the refund.

Related codes

If the customer says the goods never arrived, see Visa 13.1 (customer says the order never arrived). If they say the charge was not theirs, see Visa 10.4. For subscription cancellations, Visa 13.2 is the narrower code.

How we help

Where a refund was owed and not issued, we recommend refunding. Where no refund was due under a policy the customer accepted, we draft the response from that policy, the message trail, and the condition records. If you have received one, your first response is free. Try free.