It's unfortunate but sometimes clients will dispute a charge on their credit card. We tend to see this happens for a variety of reasons:
The charge says Recess.tv (or some variation) instead of the studio/gym name
All charges should say the name of the studio or gym. Stripe passes the information along to the bank, but the banks do not always display it.
The client thought they canceled their membership but didn't and don't recognize the new charges.
Rare but due to being unsatisfied with the class/experience.
What is in this article
Recess Dispute Process
When a dispute happens, Stripe withdraws the funds from Recess until a decision is reached by the card network on who should win the dispute.
We place a negative payout for the dispute on your account. This will appear in two places:
Bottom of the client profile
Payments Report
Note: the negative amount includes the processing and service fees charged to the client. There are two fees associated with disputes, a $15 bank fee that Recess will cover and then the Recess processing and service fee. The Recess processing and service fee will be covered by the Partner account. If the dispute is won, we will refund this back to you.
We email the you and the client inquiring about the dispute. (see examples of the emails below)
We appeal or accept the dispute with Stripe
We accept if we do not hear back from you or if you/client agree it is an accurate dispute
We appeal based on the evidence you or the client submit. It can take the bank up to 8 weeks to resolve a dispute with Stripe.
Once we hear back from Stripe we will email you the outcome.
The bank agrees with our appeal, yay! They deposit the money back into our account and we in turn create a positive pending payout to your account (it will look similar to the images above)
The bank declines our appeal.
If the client agreed to the charge, you may run their card again for the charge
If the client disagreed with the charge, there is nothing further we can do since the bank declined the appeal. You may try to work it out with the customer.
Example emails from Recess notifying you/client of a Dispute
Initial Notification.
Recipients: The Gym/Studio and the Customer
Subject: We Received a Dispute from [Client Name]
Information in the Email: Client's Name, details about disputed charge
Action Required: Share proof a refund/cancelation was requested/processed or what is the reason for the dispute
Sample Email
Follow-up Notification. If we have not received a response to the Initial Notification, we will send a follow-up after 3 business days to the Gym/Studio and the Customer
2nd Follow-up. Sent 5 business days later, if no response has been received.
3rd Follow-up. Sent 7 business days later, if no response has been received
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I do to win a dispute?
If you believe the dispute reason is incorrect and want to challenge it, you can reply to any of the Dispute emails we sent you or reach out to [email protected]. and send us the following:
Proof that you already compensated the customer before they initiated the dispute (either within the dashboard or any sort of communication you had with the costumer)
A relevant document or contract showing the customer’s signature
Any communication with the customer that you feel is relevant to your case (for example, emails proving that they received the product or service, or demonstrating their use of or satisfaction with the product or service).
An email from the client's bank with confirmation that the dispute was removed.
Regardless of what happens between you and your customer, we will challenge all disputes after the email cadence is completed. The evidence can only be submitted once and we will use evidence shared from your end from you or from the dashboard of the studio.
I talked to the client and the charges were incorrectly processed, what should I do?
If you understand that the client should be refunded for the disputed charges, please answer any of the emails you received about the dispute and let us know. We will Accept the Dispute. This will solve the case and the client will be refunded according to their card issuer schedule.
What is the purpose of accepting a dispute?
Accepting a dispute signals that you do not intend to challenge it. On a technical level it is not very different from doing nothing and simply refraining from submitting evidence. Accepting a dispute might speed up the closure of the dispute from the cardholder perspective, but there is no guarantee of this, and no way to predict whether this will be the case with any given issuer.
Can I change my mind and submit evidence after I accept a dispute?
No. Acceptance is irreversible. The card network will no longer accept evidence for this dispute.
Can I appeal my lost dispute?
No. The Bank's decision is final and cannot be appealed or challenged.
Why does this dispute not have a resolution yet?
Following the creation of the dispute, there is a limited amount of time, usually 7-21 days (depending on the card network), to respond to the issuer. The sooner you respond (ie. accept or challenge the dispute), the sooner the dispute will be resolved.
Recess aims to resolve dispute cases within 7 business days following the cadence and communications with you and the client. If there is no answer from any part within this period, we will appeal with the info available.
Once challenged (ie. submit evidence), the issuer then has a limited amount of time to evaluate the evidence and decide the outcome, usually 60–75 days (depending on the card network).
The full lifecycle of a dispute, from initiation to the final decision from the issuer, can take as long as 2-3 months to complete. There are no actions you can take to reliably accelerate this timeline.
Best Practices
Reach out to your customer to better understand their complaint, and try to work through the problem with them. If you’re able to satisfy the customer, ask them to reach out to their card issuer and withdraw the dispute. The process for this varies by issuer, but in general the customer should use whatever normal support channels they use to get help from their issuer.
Clear and frequent contact with your customers can help prevent many of the reasons for disputes. You can use our Automations to keep track of payment issues and processing refunds or replacement orders quickly. Your customers are far less likely to take the time to dispute a payment.
Clearly communicate the clients about updates on their payments or changes on their memberships.
Reach out to [email protected] if you have any issue or need clarification about any payment. We will be more than happy to help.