Credit card disputes | Small business owners warn others after losing money when customers cheat them at Wake Co.

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Two Wake County small business owners are speaking out about customer disputes that are costing them hundreds of dollars, even after they have proof that customers got what they paid for.


Tina Vora, a salon and spa owner in Cary, says, “I’m standing up for myself. I’m standing up for my staff.” Vora is speaking after a client disputed receiving more than $500.00 in hair services at her salon. “How can you be so disrespectful to the salon stylist and small businesses that are struggling post-Covid,” she adds.

The client, who Vora says had her hair done at her salon before scheduling an appointment.

“There are some text reminders when you see that she confirmed,” he said.

Vora even has a video with the date and time of the client arriving for her appointment at 4:25 pm “We disclosed these charges to this client, it was not a surprise to her,” Vora added. The client had several services done on her hair. Vora says that she went above and beyond for this client.

“It took about five and a half hours and the stylist was here until 10 at night.” Vora says the client paid $543 for the service.

“You see the amount of the service and the amount of the tip and the timestamp. He was very happy. He even posed for social media,” Vora said. The before and after transformations are still up on the salon’s Instagram page, and a week later, Vora received a dispute from the salon’s payment processing center.

“I was very shocked. I tried to contact her, but got no response.”

Vora provided everything to prove that the services were performed. “We have so much evidence, the camera recordings, the client checking in and out, taking service, taking payments and confirming their appointments and I was hoping that we would win at this point as well, to my surprise, we didn’t.” Vora said.

ABC11 troubleshooter Diane Wilson contacted the payment processing center, who said that once a dispute is finalized, it cannot be voided.

This also happened to Elisa McLean, owner of Flavors Ice Cream in Raleigh.

“They got the product. I sold them the product.” A customer purchased an eGift Card on the Flavors Ice Cream website. That same day, McLean says he has video of a customer using that gift card and then returning multiple times that week, leaving only 26 cents on the card.

Then about a week later, McLean says, “There’s a dispute over a credit card that was used to pay for an electronic card online.”

McLean says he sent the proof he has to show the customer got the product, but eventually got this notice that he lost it.

“My heart sank because I thought: I won’t have that $50.00 in my account? That $50 may seem small to some, but for a small business like this, it hurts.”

“Small business owners just need to be careful, not everyone has our best interest at heart”
Both owners say that while they have already taken several steps, they are now taking additional steps to further protect themselves from credit card disputes when it is not a reported stolen credit card.

When it comes to Tina Vora, the owner of the salon, she takes the client to small claims court to try to recover over five hundred dollars for the salon services performed.

“I definitely want to warn all business owners to validate ID and credit card and be on the lookout for customers like these,” he emphasizes.

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