Not upheld: chargeback and section 75 claim - alleged failure to provide services complaint against American Express Services Europe Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr C paid £1,180 for a book publishing package in January 2024 and raised a dispute with AmEx in October 2024, claiming the supplier failed to provide agreed services including publishing and editing. AmEx declined both a chargeback claim and a section 75 claim after the supplier provided evidence of service delivery and willingness to complete the work. The ombudsman upheld AmEx's decision, finding that the supplier's evidence demonstrated partial service delivery and that Mr C failed to provide independently verifiable evidence of breach of contract. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that under chargeback rules, Mr C failed to prove that P either completely or partially failed to deliver the service. P's evidence demonstrated it had engaged in service delivery and was willing to complete publishing once the manuscript was provided on their system. The claim was also potentially out of time under the 120-day chargeback rule. Under section 75, the burden was on Mr C to evidence breach of contract or misrepresentation. The evidence showed some services were provided and Mr C's dissatisfaction with quality did not constitute breach of contract without independently verifiable evidence. The miscommunication regarding manuscript upload and Mr C's unhappiness with service delivery did not meet the threshold for demonstrating breach of contract.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website