For those of you who have a credit or debit card through First Niagara--be careful who give your MasterCard number too. If you give your card number to a merchant who does not deliver their goods or services as promised, and you try to initiate a chargeback, First Niagara will put you through hell. For example, I had a charge from a merchant for $3, 337 for a web design project. It’s a long story, but to make it as simple as possible for all of you to understand…the merchant (who is just a lady out of California) had stated to me in an e-mail that I MUST sign the proposal in order for her company to move forward with our company’s web design project. I did not sign the proposal, but the merchant charged my credit card what should have been 1/3 of the proposed amount which was over $10K. The amount I was charge was $3, 337, but it was not a 1/3 payment, so I have no idea how the merchant came up with that figure. You’re probably wondering how she had my card number in the first place. Well, she had requested all my personal details as well as financial information when I came into contact her. She claimed all of my personal and financial details would be for a “company profile” that she would build, but that there would be no charges until a signed the proposal. It took over a month to discuss the proposal, the merchant and I spent a lot of time discussing the project, but she grew impatient and decided to charge me and start work.

I contacted First Niagara to initiate a chargeback several weeks after trying to reconcile the problem with the merchant. First Niagara came back to me a week later and asked me to supply more information after I had already written a very detailed statement. They wanted to know what the charge represented. I told them “how the hell am I supposed to know what the charge represents”, and then they wanted me to supply a copy of an invoice from the merchant… I said “what invoice, I never was provided an invoice by the merchant”…the entire time from start to finish I kept telling them that this charge was not authorized. Although the merchant had the credit card on file that did not grant the merchant permission to charge me as there was a proposal that needed to be sign. Then for a week, First Niagara sat in the back office trying to figure out how the merchant came up with $3, 337. They called me and said “the proposal states that the merchant will charge you 1/3 of the total amount, but $3, 337 is not 1/3 of the proposed amount” DUH. What do they think I have been trying to tell them? Finally, after enough back and forth, they finally processed the chargeback, issued me a provisional credit of $3, 337 (which I did not touch, as I knew that I would lose the chargeback). I’m very good with chargebacks and I understand how they work from a customer and merchant perspective.

This is going to get to involved but to make a long story short, First Niagara is a card issuer for MasterCard. First Niagara is bounded by the rules and regulations set by MasterCard. First Niagara Chargeback representative should know this. They should also know that MasterCard has a list of “Chargeback Reason Codes” that classifies a reason for dispute for a given transaction. Since I was claiming unauthorized transaction, they needed to select the code for that. Instead, they selected the code for “goods or services not received”, which in that case, that implies the cardholder (me) bought something from the merchant but haven’t received it. That implies I authorized the charge, but I’m disputing because I haven’t received something. When the merchant receives a “chargeback notification” from her merchant processor, she would only be required to provide a written rebuttal addressing all of the cardholder’s concerns…which she did…and therefore, the merchant processor (which is also bounded by the rules of MasterCard) has the power to rule in favor of their merchant and send First Niagara a copy of the rebuttal that the merchant had written. That’s how a chargeback works for a merchant. Whenever the merchant processor feels that the merchant has proved their case by providing supporting documentation, the processor will forward the merchant’s rebuttal to the bank (First Niagara) and First Niagara will forward that information to me. If the merchant processor felt the merchant’s response was not good enough, they would have sent the merchant a letter saying her information was insufficient, and therefore the processor would not send anything to the bank, and the bank will be able to recover the funds from the merchant’s processor. The reason code for “goods or services not received” is a fairly easy for a merchant to win considering we are talking about “services”.

I explained to First Niagara that “the non-receipt goods or services” is irrelevant to my dispute…I told them I’m not disputing the non-receipt of goods or services, as I never asked for them. I just want my money back for a charge I did not authorize.

So, as a MasterCard cardholder, when you lose, you are entitled to appeal the decision. The first dispute you do is referred to as “First Chargeback”. The appeal one, is called a “Second Chargeback”…and then there is a third one called arbitration. That’s where MasterCard gets involved and they decide in either the merchant’s or cardholder’s favor.

So, I started a “Second Chargeback” but First Niagara told me that the merchant has provided enough proof and that the original decision stands and they are not going to process anymore chargeback for the transaction.
First of all, as a cardholder, it is my right to exercise a chargeback, and I am entitled to a second chargeback within 45 days of the decision of the first chargeback. First Niagara is so retarded. Instead of just submitting the second chargeback, they sit on their asses in the back office saying the decision stands.

All they have to do is submit a second chargeback…the merchant will get another chargeback notification, she will have to provide a rebuttal and then the merchant processor will decide if the merchant’s information is sufficient enough and if so, she wins the second chargeback, if not sufficient, I win.

You can kiss your chargeback rights good bye if you deal with First Niagara.

This bank is a fruity intuition. STUPID or INCOMPETENT isn’t even the word to describe them.

This is just one problem.

Other problems include but are not limited to:

They will bury a $35 non sufficient funds fee in your bank statement where you most likely won’t see in a bunch of transactions. In 7 years, they did this twice; I was able to get them reversed.

I called First Niagara to close one of my debit cards because a merchant had my card number and couldn’t trust them enough to ensure they cancelled my monthly services. The bank told me “we can stop a merchant from doing business with you if they have your card number”. WHAT ! It’s my money; I say who charges me and who doesn’t.

Then they told me even if you close a debit card, a merchant can still charge you……..this is not true……if you close your credit or debit card out, it cannot be used again. STUPID.

I went there to get my debit card pin#s setup. I went to use it a store, they wouldn’t work. They screwed up and told me I need to come back and get the cards repined. I think they need their heads repined.

For the poor people, they charge them NSF fees in the multiples. First Niagara engages into a systematic process that they take out the largest sums of checks first. For example, if you have $1000 in your account, and you write a check for $950 and four checks for $75/each, First Niagara will ALWAYS take out the largest sums first, and then take out the $75 checks so that you incur $35 NSF on each $75 check vs. one $35 NSF fee on just the $950. Bank of America had been sued for this.

First Niagara overall is a terrible bank.

OH, I’M GOING TO WORK HARD THIS YEAR AND POST STUFF IN THE NEWSPAPER AND THE RADIO ABOUT THEM.
AS MANY PEOPLE AS I CAN GET TO SWITCH FROM FIRST NIAGARA TO ANOTHER BANK WILL MAKE ME HAPPY.
I WANT THEM TO LOSE BUSINESS BIG TIME NOW. I’M PISSED OFF. AND IT TAKES A LOT TO PISS ME OFF!