The Homeowner Disputed the Charge: A Contractor's Evidence Playbook for Chargebacks on Completed Work

Quick answer: A chargeback on finished work comes in three shapes, and the evidence for each is different. 'Services not received' (Visa 13.1, Mastercard 4855) is beaten by proof the service 'was delivered, made available, or used as agreed': a signed completion, dated photos, a service log. 'Not as described or defective' (Visa 13.3, Mastercard 4853) is 'about expectations versus delivery' and is beaten by the written scope the customer approved, the completion record, and communications showing no issue was raised at acceptance. 'Fraud' (Visa 10.4, Mastercard 4837) is the one a signed contract does not win; it turns on authentication (3-D Secure, address and CVC match) and prior history with the cardholder, and Stripe's advice when the fraud is real is to accept. Cardholders have about 120 days from the payment, or from the service date for prepaid work, to file. You have 7 to 21 days to respond, the bank takes 60 to 75 days to decide, and the decision is final. On Stripe the dispute costs $15 to receive, non-refundable, and $15 to contest, returned if you win. Under Regulation Z a credit-card customer who wants the bank to take their side on a quality claim must first make 'a good faith attempt to resolve the dispute' with you, so your text thread is evidence.

The three disputes, in the networks' words

Visa's Dispute Management Guide for Merchants (October 2026 edition) defines the conditions. Mastercard's codes are mapped through Stripe's reason-code reference, since Mastercard's guide is not publicly fetchable.

Two more codes show up on service businesses: credit not processed (Visa 13.6), when the customer says you promised a refund and did not send it, beaten by proof of the refund or of why none was owed; and duplicate processing (Visa 12.6.1), beaten by the two distinct invoices.

Errata: what the ranking pages get wrong

Deadlines and money

Odds. Stripe publishes the expected win rate behind its five-dot prediction: 60 % at five dots, 40 % at four, 25 % at three, 15 % at two, 5 % at one, with the note that "Even in the most favorable cases, it's very difficult to overturn a disputed payment." Stripe also reports that "Fraudulent disputes account for over half of all disputes." The arithmetic is why prevention matters more than response: a $15 fee and a 25 % win rate on a $900 job is a bad trade compared with the signed completion that would have stopped the dispute from being filed.

The evidence packet, by claim

Visa's guide and Stripe's best-practices page agree on the shape: a short, chronological, factual response with one file per evidence type, relevant excerpts only, and a two-sentence summary that states the claim and why it is wrong. Stripe's example: "[Customer] purchased [service] from our company on [date] … so the claim that the product wasn't received isn't true."

For every dispute (background evidence). Customer name, billing address (with the AVS result), email, the receipt Stripe sent, the IP address of the checkout, and a description of the service as presented at purchase. Stripe pre-fills most of these from the charge.

13.1 / 4855, services not received. 1. The approved quote or signed contract with the service address and scope. 2. The completion record: date and time the work was finished, dated before-and-after photos, the customer's signature on completion (with time and location if captured). 3. Any message from the customer after completion that does not complain, or that thanks you. Visa: records showing "No issues were raised at the time of delivery, completion, or acceptance." 4. A one-paragraph timeline: quote sent, approved, scheduled, completed, signed, paid.

13.3 / 4853, not as described or defective. 1. The scope the customer approved, with exclusions and limitations, as shown before payment. Visa's prevention advice is the evidence list: "Clearly disclose limitations, exclusions, and conditions before checkout." 2. The completion photos matched to each line item. 3. The signed completion or any acknowledgment that the work was accepted. 4. Your warranty or callback policy as disclosed, and the record of what you offered when the customer raised the issue (or that they never did). Stripe: "Never refer cardholders to the manufacturer in lieu of attempting to resolve the issue directly." 5. If you already refunded part, the refund amount and date; the issuer "cancels the original dispute and then creates a separate one for the corrected amount."

10.4 / 4837, fraud. 1. Authentication results: 3-D Secure outcome, AVS and CVC matches, IP location. Stripe includes these automatically. 2. For an in-person card payment, Visa wants both "Identification presented by the cardholder" and a "Receipt, invoice, or contract that includes information linking it to the ID (e.g., name, signature, or reference number)." 3. Prior history: if the same customer paid you at least twice before, between 120 and 365 days earlier, on the same device or IP, that is Compelling Evidence 3.0 and Stripe flags the dispute as eligible. 4. If none of that exists and the card was stolen, accept the dispute. Contesting a real fraud costs the second $15 and loses.

What to leave out. Your full terms of service, the entire text thread, duplicate photos, anything in color highlighting, and anything that argues the customer's character. Stripe: "Keep your evidence factual, professional, and concise."

Prevention is the actual playbook

Everything in section 4 exists only if it was captured at the time. The five records that decide service disputes:

1. Written scope approved before payment, with exclusions. This is the entire 13.3 defense.
2. Authentication at checkout. 3-D Secure on every card payment shifts fraud liability to the issuer; a required billing address produces the AVS match. Krib has required both on every checkout charge since July 2026.
3. Dated completion photos, before and after, taken on the job.
4. A signature on completion, with the signer's name and time, and location if the device allows. This is the "signed acknowledgement showing that the cardholder received the service" Visa names.
5. A recognizable statement descriptor and a receipt. Stripe: "Make sure your statement descriptor is easily recognizable to your customers" and "Send receipts upon payment so your customers can remember what they paid for." Half of all disputes are fraud claims, and a share of those are a customer not recognizing the descriptor on a statement.

How Krib does it. When a dispute opens on a Krib payment, the platform assembles the job record into Stripe's evidence fields automatically: the completion photos with first and last timestamps, the customer's signature with signer name, time and GPS, the service address, the line items, and the activity timeline from quote to payment. It stages the packet and never submits it: Stripe's submission is one-shot and final, so the contractor reviews the evidence against the real job and presses submit. The $15 fees are Stripe's and apply either way.

Method and limits

We read Visa's merchant guide in full (112 pages, October 2026 edition) and quote its dispute-condition and evidence language; Mastercard's Chargeback Guide returned an HTML page instead of the document on the date of research, so Mastercard codes are quoted from Stripe's reason-code reference and marked accordingly. Stripe's documentation is used because it is the processor behind Krib payments and publishes its deadlines, fees and evidence limits; other processors differ in fees and interface, not in the network rules. American Express and Discover codes are not covered. Debit-card disputes fall under Regulation E, which has its own timelines and is outside this reference. Win-rate figures are Stripe's published estimates, not an independent measurement; Krib does not yet have enough dispute volume to publish its own.

Last verified 2026-10-26. Not legal advice.