---
id: help.disputes.what-to-do-now
title: "A customer disputed a payment: what to do now"
canonical: https://docs.secureprocessing.app/help/disputes/what-to-do-now
description: "Open the dispute in your dashboard, note the deadline, and send your evidence before it. A dispute nobody answers is lost by default."
last_verified: 2026-11-01
---

# A customer disputed a payment: what to do now

Open the dispute in your dashboard, note the deadline, and send your evidence before it. A dispute nobody answers is lost by default.

Who can: Owner, Administrator, Support can answer a dispute in [Disputes](https://dashboard.secureprocessing.app/disputes).

## Do these first

1. **Open it.** The link is in our email. Otherwise open **Disputes** in the dashboard and choose the dispute.
2. **Note the deadline.** It is at the top of the page and in the email’s subject line. It comes from your customer’s own bank and cannot be extended.
3. **Read the reason.** It says what your customer told their bank, such as "They do not recognise the charge".
4. **Decide.** Contest it by [sending your evidence](https://docs.secureprocessing.app/help/disputes/send-your-evidence.md), or accept it if you agree.

## Reminders

We email your business’s owner when a dispute opens, then three days before the deadline and again the day before. We stop once you have sent your evidence.

## Talk to your customer

It often helps to contact them. Many disputes come from a charge they did not recognise, and any message where they acknowledge the order is strong evidence.

## If you decide not to contest it

Under **Or accept it**, type ACCEPT and press **Accept the dispute**. That tells us no evidence is coming. It does not move any money by itself, because the bank still has to decide.

You can only do this before you submit evidence. If you change your mind afterwards, write to us and we will tell the bank.

## If the deadline has passed

Send what you have anyway. We will pass it on, but the bank does not have to look at it.

For developers: [Disputes](https://docs.secureprocessing.app/disputes.md)

## Related

- [Send your evidence before the deadline](https://docs.secureprocessing.app/help/disputes/send-your-evidence.md)
- [What happens to my money during a dispute](https://docs.secureprocessing.app/help/disputes/what-happens-to-my-money.md)
- [What is a dispute (chargeback)?](https://docs.secureprocessing.app/help/disputes/what-is-a-dispute.md)

Still stuck? Write to [admin@secureprocessing.app](mailto:admin@secureprocessing.app) with the dispute’s id and the bank case reference.