Industry · Med spas
Med spa chargebacks: packages, results and memberships
Med spas sell packages, memberships and elective treatments with results that take weeks and vary by person. Disputes follow when a client stops partway through a package, doesn’t like the result, or keeps getting billed after cancelling. Your marketing counts as part of what you promised, so a bold ad can undercut a signed consent form.
Key takeaways
- Packages are the big exposure. Clients stop partway and dispute everything.
- Your ads are part of the deal. A promise in a post can outweigh “results vary” on a form.
- Count the sessions. The fight is usually about the unused part, not the whole package.
- Send the minimum. Especially photos.
Why med spas get disputed
Med spas sell results that are personal, take time to show and depend on the client’s own biology and aftercare. Much of the revenue is prepaid: six-session laser packages, injectable memberships, body contouring series. Many clients are first-timers who found you through a promotion. The disputes we see most:
- Package stopped partway. The client did two of six sessions and wants a full refund.
- Results not as promised. “No visible change.”
- Membership billed after cancelling. Monthly charges the client thought had stopped.
- Deposits, no-shows and late cancels. Fees for appointments the client didn’t keep.
- Who paid. A gift, a partner’s card, or a billing name the cardholder doesn’t recognize.
Which reason codes med spas see
Two families do most of the work. Cancelled services or not received for packages, deposits and no-shows: Visa 13.7, Visa 13.1, Mastercard 4853 and Amex C05. Not as described for results: Visa 13.3, Mastercard 4853 and Amex C31. Memberships add cancelled recurring under Visa 13.2.
The insight: your marketing is part of the promise
Most med spas hand every client a consent form that says results vary. Good. But a bank reviewer deciding “not as described” asks what the client was told, and that includes your website, your promotions, your influencer posts and your emails. A specific promise in an ad (“guaranteed results or your money back”) can outweigh a general disclaimer on a form.
Read your own ads before you contest. If your marketing promised what the client says they didn’t get, that dispute is probably one to settle, not fight.
On packages, be ready with the arithmetic. If a refund is owed, it’s usually the unused sessions under the terms the client accepted, not the whole package. A clear package policy with an expiry and a refund rule for unused sessions turns a full-amount dispute into a partial one.
Photos and patient information
If your med spa is a HIPAA covered entity, a dispute response is a disclosure of protected health information. HIPAA permits it for payment, and the minimum necessary standard applies. Before-and-after photos show faces, which are identifiers. Send them only when the result itself is what’s disputed, and send only the ones that answer the claim. This is general information, not legal advice.
Deadlines to watch
For packages and treatments expected later, Visa’s window can run 120 days from the expected service date, up to 540 days after the payment. A package sold in January with sessions through summer can be disputed the following winter. Your response window is the date on your notice, usually 7 to 21 days; a patient financing lender’s request may be shorter.
Dispute Daddy builds this for you
What matters: the terms the client accepted, the consent they signed, and dated treatment records for each session used. Dispute Daddy works from your own records, builds the response around what the client claimed, and keeps the due date in view. You review, approve and submit. A flat $99 a month. See how it works for practices.
