Call (844) NO-DISPUTESResponse Template for "Free Trial / Negative Option Billing"
Chargeback Response
Dear Recipient,
We are responding to the chargeback for transaction ID Transaction ID dated Transaction Date in the amount of Transaction Amount for cardholder Cardholder Name.
We respectfully dispute this chargeback as the transaction was legitimate and authorized. The customer enrolled in a Trial Type on Trial Start Date for our Product/Service Name service.
Trial Terms Disclosure:
- The customer actively signed up for the trial on Signup Date
- Billing terms were clearly displayed Disclosure Location
- The customer was required to Consent Method
- The trial period was clearly stated as Trial Duration days
- The recurring charge amount of Recurring Amount was prominently displayed
- The billing frequency was clearly stated as Billing Frequency
Customer Engagement:
The customer actively used our service during the trial period:
- Account accessed Number of Logins times
- Last login date: Last Login Date
- Primary Usage Metric Usage Amount Usage Type
Communications:
- Welcome email sent on Welcome Email Date outlining trial terms
- Trial ending reminder sent on Reminder Date
- Billing confirmation sent on Billing Confirmation Date
- All emails were successfully delivered to Customer Email
Cancellation Policy:
Our cancellation policy allows customers to cancel anytime before the trial ends. The customer had Trial Duration days to evaluate the service and could have cancelled through Cancellation Methods. No cancellation request was received before the billing date.
Additional Evidence (Optional)
Previous Successful Charges (Optional)
Based on the evidence provided, we request that this chargeback be reversed. The customer knowingly enrolled in the trial with clear disclosure of the recurring billing terms and actively used the service. The transaction was legitimate and in accordance with the agreed-upon terms.
Please contact us at Contact Email if you require any additional information.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Title
Company Name
Documentation separates winners from losers in these disputes. Submit a poorly organized response and you hand the bank a reason to decide against you even if you did everything right. Free-trial disputes reach about 65% win rates with strong evidence presentation. Win rates drop below 20% when merchants throw together a messy response though. And the damage doesn’t stop at losing that one dispute – these repeated losses chip away at your merchant reputation score and you pay higher processing fees and face reserve laws. Some payment processors might shut down your account if you rack up a lot of negative-option chargebacks.
A strong template for free-trial disputes helps you give the banks just what they want to see – strong proof that the customer agreed to the trial terms from the start and obvious evidence that you disclosed the billing information and data that shows the customer had used your service. Templates also keep your entire team on the same page and cut your response time from a few hours to just a few minutes and make your replies far more accurate. Templates might give you the biggest benefit by helping you meet the exact laws set by different card networks for negative-option billing disputes and I see merchants miss this all the time because those laws are nothing like a standard chargeback case.
Everything you need for a free-trial dispute is covered in the template from the customer’s first signup right through to any conversations you had after the trial ended – it includes fields for usage metrics that show the customer continued to use your service and something that most merchants forget to add and one that usually wins the case. Dropdown options also help you to speak the same language as the dispute-resolution teams at different card networks so you can choose your outcome.
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