My credit card refunded my vacation rental, and then it didn't

Warren Yue paid for a vacation rental in Oceanside, Calif., for his church fellowship group before the pandemic. He used his Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which had travel insurance.

He had to cancel the trip because of COVID.

The vacation rental management company offered a full refund but then changed its offer to a credit. Yue wanted his money back because he and his group were unlikely to take the trip.

He disputed the charge on his Chase card and gave him a full refund.

Then, Chase took half his refund back ($1,370) and said it had no choice because the merchant sued the credit card company.

Yue told Chase the merchant kept changing its policy. First, it said his stay was 100 percent refundable. Then it only offered a credit. And then it was 50 percent refundable after 30 days. Yue felt that he was the victim since he did not choose to cancel.

He was complying with a government order.

Chase has been making big bucks for not paying the cardholder, which he thinks is unethical.

Yue's vacation rental manager should have refunded every last penny, as promised. But there's a little more to his case.

First, he mentioned that Chase offers travel insurance coverage on its Sapphire Reserve card. It does; however, he didn't file a claim on his benefits. Instead, he filed a credit card dispute to get his refund. And Chase sided with him - at least initially.

Understanding the difference between a credit card dispute and an insurance claim is essential. The latter should happen any time you have to cancel a trip. The former is the last resort when the merchant refuses to deliver a promised refund.

Chase told Yue that the merchant sued it and then reversed its decision. That's highly unusual. A credit card company's relationship with a merchant is none of your concern. But it's even stranger to have a dispute reversed this way. This is the first time I've seen a case like this.

I think this might have gone differently if he'd filed a claim under his Chase card's travel insurance benefits. It would have probably covered his cancellation as a trip interruption.

I list the names, numbers and email addresses of Chase executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. A brief, polite email to one of them might have yielded a more favorable outcome.

I contacted Chase on Yue's behalf. The company refunded the $1,370 it had taken without offering an explanation.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (https://elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems.

Email him at [email protected] or get help by contacting him at https://elliottadvocacy.org/help/