You may be able to recover the full cost of a purchase even if you paid only a small part of it by credit card. That is the useful surprise at the heart of Section 75, a legal protection that can make a card provider share responsibility with a seller when a purchase goes badly wrong.
Chargeback can help too, and it covers debit cards as well as credit and prepaid cards. But it is not the same protection, and it is not a separate legal right. Choosing the right route, gathering the right evidence and acting before the relevant deadline can make a real difference.
Start with the seller, not the bank
Before contacting your card provider, ask the seller for a refund. Explain what went wrong, say what you want them to do, and keep the message polite and specific. A written request gives you a clear record of the dispute and may resolve the matter without a formal claim.
Describe the problem plainly. Perhaps the goods never arrived. Perhaps a service was cancelled, a holiday was not provided, or an item was materially different from its description. If the product is faulty, explain the fault and when you discovered it. Attach photographs or other useful evidence, but keep copies of everything you send.
Give the seller a reasonable opportunity to respond. Do not let repeated promises drag on indefinitely, though. If the company ignores you, refuses a refund without a convincing reason or has disappeared, move on to your card provider while your evidence is fresh and any deadline is still open.
Your paperwork does not need to look like a solicitor prepared it. A card statement, order confirmation, invoice, delivery record, photographs, emails and screenshots of the original description may be enough to show what happened. Think of the evidence as a simple timeline: what you bought, what you paid, what the seller promised, what went wrong and how the seller responded.
Section 75: the stronger route for qualifying credit-card purchases
Section 75 applies to purchases made with a credit card where the cash price is more than £100 and no more than £30,000. The credit provider can be jointly responsible with the seller if the goods or service were not supplied, were defective or did not match their description.
You do not have to put the entire purchase on the credit card. Paying only part of the price by credit card can still be enough to bring the transaction within Section 75, and you may be able to claim the full purchase price rather than just the amount charged to the card. For example, if a £2,000 purchase was partly paid by credit card and the seller failed to provide it, the claim is not necessarily limited to the credit-card portion.
That does not mean every problem qualifies automatically. The purchase must fall within the relevant price range and there must be a connection between the credit-card provider, the seller and the transaction. Section 75 is aimed at a breach of contract or a misrepresentation, not simple buyer’s remorse because you changed your mind.
To make a claim, contact the company that issued your credit card. Ask to make a Section 75 claim and set out the facts in writing. Include the purchase date, price, seller’s details, the amount paid by credit card, what went wrong and the remedy you are seeking. Add copies of your supporting documents rather than sending irreplaceable originals.
There is no fixed statutory deadline for a Section 75 claim. That is not a good reason to wait. Memories fade, sellers close down and records become harder to retrieve. A prompt written claim also makes it easier to show that you tried to sort the matter out sensibly.
Your card provider may ask questions or request more documents. Answer them carefully and keep a record of names, dates and what was discussed. If the provider rejects the claim, ask for the decision and its reasons in writing. That gives you something concrete to challenge if the reasoning appears incomplete or the evidence was misunderstood.
Chargeback works across more types of cards
Chargeback is available for payments made with debit, credit and prepaid cards. It operates through the rules of the card networks, including Visa, Mastercard and American Express, rather than through a standalone legal right. That distinction matters: the bank may investigate and reverse a payment, but chargeback does not give you the same statutory protection as Section 75.
Chargeback can be relevant where a seller has not delivered goods, supplied something materially different, taken payment after cancelling a service or failed to process an agreed refund. It may also apply to certain unauthorised or incorrectly processed transactions. The precise rules depend on the card network and the circumstances, so describe the facts rather than trying to force the dispute into a label.
The usual deadline is 120 days from the payment. For a future service or event, the period generally runs from the date when the service was expected to be provided or the event was due to take place. That deadline can arrive surprisingly quickly. A concert scheduled months ahead, for instance, may leave you with less time after its cancellation than you might expect.
Contact your card issuer and ask how to start a chargeback claim. Some banks provide an online form, while others handle the request by phone or secure message. Make clear that you are asking for a chargeback, explain that you have tried the seller first and provide the evidence requested.
A chargeback is not guaranteed. The seller can dispute it, and the card provider may decide that the scheme rules do not cover the transaction. Even so, it can be a practical route when Section 75 is unavailable, such as with a debit card or a purchase outside the Section 75 price range.
Do not choose between the two routes too quickly
Section 75 and chargeback can overlap, but they are not interchangeable. A qualifying credit-card purchase may give you the stronger legal route under Section 75. Chargeback may be the relevant option for a debit or prepaid card, or where the transaction does not meet the Section 75 conditions.
Tell the card provider exactly how you paid and what the transaction was worth. If you used a credit card for only part of the price, mention that clearly rather than assuming the provider will spot it on its own. The difference between a £95 item and a £101 item can matter under the Section 75 rules, as can the difference between a credit card and a debit card.
Do not describe a commercial dispute as fraud unless you genuinely did not authorise the payment. Calling a transaction fraudulent simply because the seller failed to perform can send the case down the wrong path and make the investigation more confusing. Explain the actual problem in ordinary language.
It is also sensible to avoid accepting a partial settlement without understanding what it means. A seller might offer store credit, a replacement or a contribution towards repairs. That may be useful, but it could affect what you can later claim. Read any proposed agreement before accepting it, especially if it says the matter is fully resolved.
What happens if the bank says no?
Ask the provider to explain its decision and check whether it has considered all the documents you supplied. You can respond with a concise chronology and point out any factual errors. Do not bury the central issue under a long emotional account; a clear sequence of events is usually more persuasive.
If a complaint about the card provider is not resolved, the provider generally has up to eight weeks to deal with it. After that, you may be able to take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent review. The ombudsman will look at the circumstances and the evidence, so keeping your correspondence organised remains important.
Save the original advert or product description if you can, particularly where the complaint concerns a misleading description. Sellers sometimes alter webpages after a dispute begins. A screenshot showing the wording at the time of purchase can be far more useful than a vague recollection of what you thought you saw.
The small details often decide whether a claim is easy to assess or turns into a prolonged argument: the exact payment date, the promised delivery date, the seller’s refund policy, the date you complained and the response you received. Put those details in order before you contact the card provider, and the conversation becomes much less of a scramble.