Prevention alerts are a vital tool for resolving disputes before they escalate to chargebacks. However, to issue a refund and stop the chargeback, you must first accurately match the alert to the corresponding transaction in your system. This guide outlines common reasons why a transaction match might fail and provides troubleshooting steps to help you locate the order.
In most cases, prevention alerts contain the following details that you can use to make a match:
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The first six and last four digits of the cardholder’s account number.
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The transaction date.
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The dispute amount.
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The customer name (included only with certain alerts).
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The acquirer reference number, or ARN (included only with certain alerts).
However, there might be situations where you receive an alert but are unable to locate a corresponding transaction in your CRM or payment gateway. This can be caused by several different factors. The following sections explain why you might be unable to locate the transaction and provide suggestions for troubleshooting.
Note
We highly recommend that you read through this entire article before you resolve the alert in the platform.
If you are attempting to match the prevention alert to a transaction based on the alert amount, you can run into issues if the currency is not consistent.
Troubleshooting: Confirm that the currency of the prevention alert matches the currency used to bill the customer. If it does not match, use a conversion calculator to convert the alert currency back to the original transaction currency.
If you have checked the currency but still cannot find the corresponding transaction, it might be because the alert is a ‘partial amount’ dispute. Occasionally, a cardholder disputes only a portion of the original transaction, meaning the alert amount is less than the original transaction amount.
Troubleshooting: Try using other information provided with the alert—such as the cardholder account number—to search for the transaction.
If you are trying to tie the prevention alert to a transaction based on the transaction date, you might have trouble finding an exact match. The transaction date stated on the prevention alert notice can differ by a few days from what is noted in your CRM or gateway. This discrepancy can occur because the issuer might have used:
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The date the transaction was authorized.
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The date the transaction appeared to settle on the customer’s account.
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The central processing date (CPD).
Troubleshooting: If you cannot find a transaction in your CRM that matches the exact date provided on the alert, broaden your search window. If you authorize and settle transactions on the same day, check one or two days before and after the date listed on the alert. If you pre-authorize transactions and delay settlement, you need to broaden your search even further. How far out you search depends on how much time passes between your authorization and settlement processes.
The cardholder’s account number is another characteristic you can use to match an alert to a transaction. However, this is not always the most efficient search method because cardholder account numbers are periodically updated (for example, when a card expires, or a new one is issued due to fraud). There are two ways an updated account number could cause difficulties:
If a cardholder’s account number was recently updated, the prevention alert might contain the new number, whereas your CRM or gateway will only have the old number on file. If you search using the number provided in the alert, you will not find a match.
Troubleshooting: Rather than searching exclusively for the last four digits of the account number, use all the information provided in the prevention alert. This typically includes:
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The issuer’s bank identification number (the BIN, which is the first six digits of the account number).
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The transaction date.
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The disputed amount.
Some prevention alerts also include the acquirer reference number (ARN). If your CRM or gateway supports it, try searching by the ARN, as this identifier does not fluctuate and is not impacted by a card reissuance. Other prevention alerts (typically those issued by Verifi®) include the cardholder’s name. Search for the name, then narrow down the results by transaction date and amount.
In other situations, the alert might include the old account number, but your CRM has already been updated with the new number via an account updater service.
Troubleshooting: If you cannot find a matching transaction in your CRM, check your gateway. Your gateway has the original account number used to process the transaction. Once you locate the transaction in your gateway, collect alternate information that can be used as an identifier, such as the customer’s name or email address. Then, search for that criteria in your CRM.
If you have completed all the troubleshooting steps outlined above and still cannot locate a corresponding transaction, it is possible that the alert was routed incorrectly.
Troubleshooting: Review Why Am I Getting Alerts That Don’t Belong to Me? if you believe the alert does not belong to your business.
Note
Alert resolutions cannot be reversed, so it is important to try these troubleshooting techniques before responding. Use the “transaction not found” response option strictly as a last resort, and only after you have tried these alternate searching tips.
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