Maybe I can help shed a little more light on the subject for you. I was a credit card processor for the online company I worked for until June. We often had cases of fraud (somebody using a card they were not authorized to use), cases of customers being angry and trying a chargeback (sorry, you'll never get it!), and some cases of misdirected deliveries (customer tried chargeback prior to contacting our company for replacement, etc.)...I was the primary person in charge of all credit card transactions--including chargebacks.

All chargebacks must be initiated by the customer. There is no difference between "real" credit cards and debit cards with the exception that Mastercard debit cards generally took longer for the wheels to grind (about 30 days for credit issue)... "Real" credit cards may have additional protection against fraud and bad purchases built-in to the credit contract, whereas debit Visa/MC may not (look at your agreement.) In any case, a chargeback has nothing to do with your credit protection contracts. It is relief from a debit to your account for something that was fraud, never arrived, etc.

Once the customer contacts the creditor (generally by phone, but it's always wise to do it in writing), the creditor contacts the vendor. Vendors are usually faxed a 2 page request for information about the transaction, including the name of the purchaser/cardholder, address shipped to, date, item(s), cost, shipping charges, etc. It is always the creditor who decides whether or not to refund the debit to the customer. Most vendors don't appeal the creditor's decision--it just isn't worth the time and effort and most have insurance for this situation anyway.

Vendors all have merchant account numbers with the major credit card companies (unless you used a 3rd party like Paypal) and must have correct address/contact info on file. If, for any reason, the creditor cannot contact the vendor or if the vendor fails to respond, the chargeback is issued by default.

Many times, chargebacks are misused by customers, i.e. eBay transactions that people buy and then don't want to pay for. If you have multiple chargebacks with the same credit card company like Visa/MC--doesn't matter who the issuing bank (USBank, 1stBank, etc)is-- YOU could get investigated for fraud, so don't use this option often!

Another possible consequence is that once a customer has issued a chargeback, a company can decide not to allow further transactions with that customer again. Most of the time this isn't an issue--if you are having to issue a chargeback, you probably wouldn't want to do business with that vendor again anyway.

Another not widely known fact, if your card is stolen or misused, it isn't YOU or the creditor who would press charges for fraud--it's the vendor. The vendors always lose in that situation. Credit card companies always process chargebacks (often without telling the consumer) when fraud occurs (hence they only make you responsible for the first $50) and are , therefore, never out when the fraud happens. Almost no vendor actually presses charges, unless the same person has taken them a few times. I am NOT advocating CC fraud here!

I probably added far more than my 2 cents and am hopefully not preaching to the choir. Hope it helps!