Customer Service and the MATCH List

Customer service is one of the most important parts of running a business. Keeping your customers happy, resolving issues, and helping hot leads are all just a few aspects of customer service. If this isn’t a priority for your business, it is time to rethink that. Poor customer service can harm, or even break, any business. Not only will it give you a bad reputation, but it could also lead to your business being placed on the MATCH List, getting your merchant account shut down, and possibly losing your business. Wondering how your customer service skills can lead you to losing everything? Keep reading to learn more about the MATCH List and ways your poor customer service will get you blacklisted.

What Is the MATCH List?

Mastercard Alert To Control High-risk Merchants (MATCH Pro) lets an acquiring partner look up whether another acquiring partner has terminated a merchant in the past and the reason for said termination, to help with an onboarding decision.

Step 1: Prior to executing the merchant agreement, the Acquirers submit an inquiry to the MATCH Pro API that includes information on a merchant and the associated principal owner(s).

Step 2: MATCH Pro searches the database for possible matches between the merchant information provided in the inquiry and information related to merchants added to MATCH Pro by other Acquirers during the past five years.

Step 3: MATCH Pro returns details of possible merchants found listed in MATCH; the response indicates if each search result is based on an exact MATCH Pro or phonetic matches to each of the data elements provided by the acquirer.

Ways Your Poor Customer Service Will Get You Blacklisted

Poor customer service won’t just give you a bad reputation. It will cause severe damage that could see your merchant account getting taken away or even losing your business by getting blacklisted onto the MATCH List. Bad customer service will lead to MATCH List code violations, such as excessive chargebacks or PCI Data Security Noncompliance.

An excessive chargeback violation is defined as:

The merchant’s chargeback ratio exceeded the acceptable threshold set by the card network (e.g., Mastercard requires listing if the ratio is $>1\%$ of transactions and the chargeback dollar amount is $>\$5,000$ in one month).

A PCI-DSS violation is defined as:

The merchant failed to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements, putting cardholder data at risk.

Failure to Resolve Issues

No matter what kind of business you run, you will run into an unhappy customer. Issues can pop up anywhere for any reason, and it is important that you address them as quickly and as friendly as possible.

Many issues may arise through no fault of your own. Your customer may have received a damaged product, a service wasn’t up to their standard, they were double-billed, or anything in between. If a customer reaches out to you with their issue, it is your opportunity to fix the problem in a timely manner. This will show the customer that you care about the issue and want to resolve it.

If not, the customer will get even angrier and possibly open a chargeback against you. They may also write a bad review, contact the BBB, or post negative comments on social media. All of this can add up to you getting placed on the MATCH List if it happens enough times.

Goods or Services Not As Pictured or Described

If you send out a product or service that is wildly different from what was advertised, this could result in a chargeback being opened against you.

It is important to make sure you post genuine service listings on your website, use photos of your actual products rather than stock images or AI images, and allow customers to post reviews with photos. This way, the customer will not feel they are receiving something that was advertised incorrectly.

If your business is service-based, it is important that everything listed on your website is true and correct. If you list a service that you do not offer, it is important that you are able to source that service from elsewhere in a timely manner and be up-front with the customer about it. Otherwise, take it down from your listing so that you do not run into any issues.

Lazy Billing Descriptions

Did you know that your billing description can make a profound impact on your business?

Here is what they are and why they matter, according to Stripe:

A billing descriptor is identifying text that appears on a customer’s credit or debit card statement. It contains information about a transaction and the business associated with the charge. Your business information appears on your customers’ credit or debit card statements alongside other charges made during the billing period.

Businesses usually create billing descriptors when they open their merchant accounts, and billing descriptions typically remain the same for every transaction—or at least every transaction of the same type. Individual transactions are denoted by payment reference numbers, which appear alongside the billing descriptor on the card statement.

Billing descriptors are a powerful tool that businesses can use to prevent chargebacks. A chargeback is a reversal of funds following a debit or credit card purchase. One of the most common situations that prompts customers to request a chargeback is when they don’t recognize a charge on their card statement.

Data Breaches and Leaks

Security is an essential part of your business. Safeguarding your customers’ data is not only important, but it can also result in your business getting shut down if you do not do it. Identity theft and fraud are crimes that could get you shut down—even if you are not at fault.

As mentioned, PCI-DSS is a reason code for the MATCH List. If you do not follow the PCI standards, you can get a violation and get placed on the MATCH List.

If you are placed on the MATCH List due to this violation, you need to correct your standards immediately and prove that you have made the adjustment. With any luck, you can get early removal from the MATCH List. If not, you will have to wait the five-year penalty period.

Your name, address, associates’ names and addresses, as well as phone numbers and other identifiers, are the information that is placed on the MATCH List. It creates a tight system that does not allow for loopholes, such as reopening under another business name.

MATCH List Experts: TFM Law

Customer service is an important part of every business. So much so that it can make or break you. Have you racked up too many chargebacks this year? You may be on the MATCH List and not even know it yet. Luckily, we can help.

If you have found yourself on the Match List, you have options. Don’t wait the five-year period; get back to business ASAP.

The Law Offices of Theodore Monroe focuses on litigation and counseling in the areas of payments, credit card processing, e-commerce, direct response marketing, and Federal Trade Commission enforcement.

Last year, the firm removed 100% of the people who came to us from the MATCH list.

Theodore F. Monroe, Founder of TFM Law, has successfully:

• Represented merchants recovering funds from processors
• Structured processing relationships to comply with Card Brand requirements
• Drafted and negotiated contracts involving payment facilitators and ISOs
• Represented continuity merchants in compliance and litigation issues
• Fought for numerous companies in suits brought by the Federal Trade Commission and obtained excellent results for firms in the digital products, loan modification, government grant, and nutraceuticals industries

Before opening his firm, Mr. Monroe practiced law with Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May (now Reed Smith LLP) and Lewis, D’Amato, Brisbois & Bisgaard (now Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith), where he defended numerous accounting and law firms in professional liability actions, and insurance carriers in bad faith actions.

Before becoming a lawyer, Mr. Monroe worked as a forensic accountant at Coopers & Lybrand, which provided him with a unique background in forensic accounting and financial analysis among litigators in Los Angeles. Mr. Monroe studied at Duke University Law School, achieved a BS with Honors in Accounting from the University of Kentucky, and is a member of the California State Bar and the Kentucky State Bar.