Refunds and chargebacks

Money can come back out of an order two ways. You send it back, which is a refund. Or the customer’s bank takes it back, which is a chargeback. They look similar on a statement and are very different in practice.

Refunds

A refund starts with a credit. You credit the lines, and the platform reverses the charge for the part that was paid through Installer.com. See Credit offer lines.

What follows:

A credit note is issued, if the order has already been invoiced.
The customer gets a Refund Statement email with the amount, the reference and the credit note attached.
The money goes back to the method they paid with. It appears on their account within a few business days, depending on their provider.

The refund is not instant, and the timing is the customer’s bank’s, not ours. Tell a customer asking “where is my money” to allow a few business days.

The transaction fee does not come back with it. The payment method took the fee when the customer paid, so it cannot be returned. The customer is refunded in full, and your balance covers the difference. See Transaction fees.

When a refund fails

A refund can fail at the provider, usually because the original payment method is no longer reachable.

The order’s payments page shows a Refund issue panel with the count of failed or uninitiated refunds and a Retry refund action.

Retry it once. If it fails again, contact support. Do not credit the lines a second time.

Chargebacks

A chargeback is the customer disputing the payment with their own bank. The bank pulls the money back first and asks questions afterwards.

Stage	What it means
Notification of chargeback	The bank has flagged the payment. Nothing has moved yet.
Chargeback	The money has been taken back.
Second chargeback	The dispute was re-raised after being defended.
Chargeback reversed	The money came back to you.

A chargeback reverses the payment the same way a refund does, including the credit notes.

It also reaches money that has already been paid out. The amount is clawed back from whoever received it, which can include an installer already paid for that order. The clawback is deducted from a later payout and itemised on its statement. Do not credit it yourself. Contact support if it needs correcting.

How long a chargeback can arrive

Installer.com sets no window of its own. A customer can dispute a payment for as long as their card scheme or payment method allows. The scheme sets that period, not us.

It is longer than most people expect, and it is measured in months rather than days. So a chargeback can land well after the order is done and the money is paid out. That is why the completion record on the order matters: it is the evidence months later, when nobody remembers the job.

The deadline that is short is the one for answering. Wallet → Disputes carries it per dispute.

Who carries a lost dispute

Chargebacks are uncommon, and a defended one usually turns on documentation the order already holds. It is worth answering them properly.

If one is lost, the customer keeps the refund. Like any payment provider, Installer.com does not underwrite the sale, so the amount becomes a claim against the customer, the same as an unpaid invoice. A share already paid to an installer on that order is deducted from their next payout, as above.

Treat it the way you would a customer who refuses to pay an invoice, because commercially that is what it is.

Handling a dispute

Open Wallet → Disputes. It lists every dispute against your payments, with the deadline to respond and the evidence you can supply.

Respond before the deadline. The documentation on the order is usually the evidence that decides it: the signed confirmation, photos and the completion record. It is already attached to the order.

Missing the deadline concedes the dispute.

Which one you want

Situation	Use
The work was not done, or was overcharged	Credit the lines. It is faster and cheaper than letting it become a dispute.
The customer says they do not recognise the charge	Point them at the order and the payment reference. Adyen appears on their statement as the processor.
The customer has already gone to their bank	It is a dispute now. Respond in Disputes.