Commercial and Business Disputes
Money owed to a small business by a supplier, a customer or a provider that did not deliver. We handle the payment-route claims and tell you honestly when you need a solicitor instead.
120 days
Usual chargeback window
Any card
Commercial cards included
$0
Payable before a claim succeeds
What this service is, and what it is not
Small businesses lose money in the same ways consumers do, a supplier takes a deposit and disappears, equipment arrives broken, a service is never delivered, a subscription keeps billing after cancellation, but they almost never use the same routes to get it back. The assumption is that a business dispute means a solicitor and a county court claim. Often it does not.
Chargeback is a card scheme rule, not a consumer statute. Where a business paid by commercial debit or credit card, the scheme reason codes for goods not received, services not provided and misdescribed goods apply in the same way. The windows are the same, the evidence is the same, and the money comes back the same way. For a disputed supplier payment under a few thousand pounds, it is usually faster and cheaper than any legal route.
Where the payment was made by bank transfer, the position is different and generally weaker: the mandatory reimbursement rules protect consumers, micro-enterprises and small charities, but not larger businesses, and a straightforward breach of contract between two trading companies is a matter for the courts.
That is the line we draw. We are an FCA-authorised claims management company, not a firm of solicitors, and we do not conduct litigation. We will pursue the payment-scheme and regulated-complaint routes properly, and where your dispute is genuinely a contractual claim that needs issuing in court, we will say so at the assessment and point you to someone who can do it, rather than running a weaker version of your claim and charging you for it.
Business challenges this addresses
You assume a business dispute means court
For a card-funded supplier payment it usually does not. Chargeback applies to commercial cards and is generally faster and cheaper than issuing a claim.
The supplier has gone into administration
An insolvent supplier rarely pays out, but the card route recovers from the acquiring bank rather than the company, which is why it keeps working when the company has stopped.
The deposit was paid by transfer
Transfers carry far less protection than cards, and for a limited company the reimbursement rules generally do not apply at all. It matters which account it left.
The amount does not justify a solicitor
This is the most common situation we see: a genuine loss of a few thousand pounds that is real money to a small business and uneconomic to litigate.
How we deliver it
Every stage has a named owner on our side and a defined output. You always know what is happening and what comes next.
Typical duration: Typically 8–14 weeks for a card route
-
Free assessment
How the payment was made, from which account, and to whom. That establishes immediately whether this is a claim we can run or one that needs a solicitor.
-
Route and deadline check
Card scheme claim, regulated complaint, or neither. Chargeback windows are short and are counted from the transaction or the delivery date, whichever is later.
-
Evidence gathering
The purchase order, the invoice, the specification, the delivery terms and the correspondence where things broke down. Commercial claims are decided on documents.
-
Formal claim
We put the claim to the card provider or the regulated firm in writing under the correct reason code or complaint rule, and hold them to their response deadline.
-
Escalation or referral
Regulated complaints go to the Financial Ombudsman where eligible. Where the only remaining route is a court claim, we tell you and refer you on.
What you receive
- An early, honest view on whether this is our work or a solicitor's
- Identification of the correct card scheme reason code and its deadline
- A written claim to the card provider or regulated firm
- Escalation to the Financial Ombudsman where your business is eligible
- A documented evidence pack you keep, and can hand to a solicitor if it goes that way
- A named case handler throughout
What changes afterwards
Commercial cards carry scheme protection
The reason codes that recover a consumer's money recover a business's money too, and the process is identical.
It works against insolvent suppliers
The card route claims against the acquiring bank rather than the failed company, which is exactly when other routes stop working.
Small businesses can use the Ombudsman
Micro-enterprises and small businesses are eligible complainants at the Financial Ombudsman Service, which many business owners do not realise.
Frequently asked
Yes, for payment-route claims, chargebacks on commercial cards, Section 75 where the card is a personal credit card used for the purchase, and regulated complaints where your business is an eligible complainant. We do not conduct litigation.
Yes. Chargeback is a card scheme rule rather than a consumer protection, so it applies to commercial debit and credit cards on the same reason codes and the same timescales.
Much weaker. The mandatory reimbursement rules cover consumers, micro-enterprises and small charities, but not larger businesses, and an ordinary contractual dispute between trading companies is a court matter.
When the claim is a contractual one that has to be issued in court, when the sums justify litigation, or when you need an injunction or enforcement. We are not a law firm and we say so at the assessment rather than after taking your money.
Micro-enterprises and small businesses under the published turnover and balance sheet thresholds generally are. We check this at the assessment because it determines whether the free escalation route is open to you.
Services that pair with this one
Professional Negligence Claims
Money lost because a regulated adviser, broker or firm got it wrong. Where the firm is FCA-regulated, there is a free complaints route that…
Goods Not Received
You paid, the order never arrived, and the seller has stopped replying. Your card provider can reverse the payment.
Services Not Provided
Work paid for and never done, or done so badly it has to be redone. Builders, installers, courses, memberships and professional services.