Motel guest disputed the charge with their bank? You can still sue for the room
Tell SueEasy what happened, and it helps you prepare a complete small claims filing for what the guest still owes for the room, ready to file with the court, with fees starting at $199.
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The cost of leaving a reversed charge alone
Your stay records age out
Key-card logs, folio detail and housekeeping notes sit on a retention schedule. Pull them before the system purges them.
The network route eventually closes
Once the issuer's dispute process is finished, the reversal is final as far as the card brand is concerned. Court is a separate track with its own clock.
Someone stayed for free
Every month that passes is a month a guest occupied a sellable room and kept the money back.
So will you actually recover it?
Not every reversed charge is worth filing on. These are the patterns that tend to decide it.
Recovery more likely
- A signed registration card authorizing the charge is on file
- The folio shows nights actually occupied, matched by key-card or property-system logs
- The guest raised no service complaint while they were still staying
- The issuer dispute is finished, so there's no risk of collecting the same money twice
Recovery harder
- The guest complained at the desk and there's no record of how you responded
- Nothing signed, because check-in was contactless and nobody captured authorization
- The room was booked and paid through a travel site, which can put the platform between you and the guest
- The reversed amount bundles unitemized incidentals in with the room rate
What it costs to pursue a reversed charge
Start free, see everything before you pay
- Full guided intake
- Reversed amount and contract basis checked for common problems
- Defenses the guest is likely to raise
- Draft demand letter preview
Priced by how much is at stake in your case
- Amount claimed under $12,500: $199
- Amount claimed $12,500-$35,000: $699
- Amount claimed over $35,000: $1,299
- Complete demand letter and filing, ready to go
- Court fee collected in one checkout
Extra confidence, priced by case size
- Everything in File it yourself
- Licensed CA attorney review
- Revisions before filing
- Attorney can appear on your behalf if your case is filed outside small claims; small claims still requires you to appear yourself
Court filing fees are separate, paid to the clerk. This covers preparing your filing. It does not include legal representation unless you add attorney review.
When you might not need us
If your dispute with the card issuer is still open, let it finish first. You can't collect the same money twice, and a representment (the merchant's side of a card dispute, filed through your processor) often resolves it at no cost to you. SC-100, California's small claims form, is free from any court, and every county provides a free small claims advisor.
The value is in the analysis, not the forms
SC-100 is free everywhere. What we actually charge for is working out whether your claim is a breach of the registration agreement or an open book account, whether the motel's entity type caps you at $6,250 instead of $12,500, and assembling the folio, signed card and access logs into a packet that survives a "the service was never delivered" defense.
How a reversed charge becomes a claim you can file
"CCP" below refers to California's Code of Civil Procedure, the statute that sets small claims limits and filing deadlines.
It's a payment reversal
The bank takes the money back out of your account. That decides who is holding it, not who is owed it.
The debt survives it
Losing the card dispute doesn't cancel what the guest owes for the room. That promise sits in your registration agreement.
The network isn't a court
Card company rules are a deal between banks and merchants. A judge doesn't have to follow them.
Processor fees stack on top
Your processor usually charges a fee per chargeback. Keep the statement, because you can claim that too.
Reason codes matter
"Services not rendered" is a claim about your motel. Your stay records answer it directly.
Repeat disputes leave a trail
If the same guest has done this before, write it down. It helps show the complaint wasn't real.
Breach of contract
The signed registration card is a promise to pay. Not paying breaks it, and you get four years to sue. CCP 337.
Open book account
If charges built up on a running folio, that account is your claim. Also four years.
A fallback theory
If your paperwork is thin, keep it simple. They slept here and never paid.
What goes in the number
The reversed room money, the chargeback fee your processor charged, and your court costs if you win.
Never claim it twice
If the bank already gave part of it back, claim only the rest.
Interest
If your terms set a rate, it keeps running after the breach. If they set none, the law gives 10% a year. Civil Code 3289.
The registered guest
Sue the person who signed, using the name and address on the registration card.
Not the card issuer
The bank just applied its own rules. It doesn't owe you for the room.
Travel-site bookings
If a booking site took the payment, the deal may sit between you and the platform. Check the partner terms before naming anyone.
Corporate and group stays
If a company was billed, you sue the company and serve its registered agent.
A person, not a room
You sue a named person or a named business, never "room 214".
Get the address right
Most self-filed cases fail here. Start with the registration card address, but don't stop there.
$12,500 for an individual
The most one person can claim, a sole proprietor included. CCP 116.221.
$6,250 for an entity
If the motel is an LLC, corporation or partnership, you get half. CCP 116.220.
Two large claims a year
Only two claims over $2,500 a year, anywhere in California. Smaller ones are unlimited. CCP 116.231.
No splitting
One stay is one claim. You can't cut a $9,000 folio in two to fit under the cap.
If you're over the cap
Drop the extra and stay in small claims, or move up to limited civil, which runs to $35,000. CCP 116.220(d).
Four years to file
Counted from when payment was due and missed, not from the day the bank ruled against you.
Fighting the dispute with the bank, or filing against the guest
These solve the same problem two different ways, and you can do one after the other, as long as you never collect the same money twice.
The card dispute route
- Costs nothing to start, and your processor handles the paperwork
- Decided on documents alone, so there's no hearing to attend
- Runs on card network rules rather than California law, and the issuer decides
- Fast, but the outcome is final within the network and the chargeback fee stays yours either way
The small claims route
- A hearing 20 to 70 days after you file, set by the clerk under CCP 116.330
- Decided by a judge on evidence, and no attorneys appear on either side under CCP 116.530
- Total claim has to fit the $12,500 individual cap, or $6,250 if the motel is an entity
- You end up with an enforceable judgment, though collecting on it is still your job
CCP 116.530 keeps attorneys out of a small claims hearing, and CCP 116.540 says a company can't send just anyone in their place. It has to appear through a regular employee, or an appointed or elected officer or director, hired for something other than showing up in small claims, so whoever actually knows the folio needs to be the person in the room.
File a LawsuitHow to take a reversed charge to small claims
Close out the card dispute
Know what you got back before you file.
- RepresentmentFile your rebuttal through the processor first
- Final answerWait for the issuer's decision, then work from the balance
- FeesNote the chargeback fee your processor charged you
- No double dippingClaim only what wasn't recovered
Pull the whole stay file
Proof that a real guest slept in a real room.
- Registration cardThe signed authorization to charge
- FolioLine-by-line charges for the stay
- Access logsKey-card or property-system entries
- Staff notesHousekeeping and front-desk records
Pick your legal theory
How you frame it decides what you have to prove.
- Written contractThe registration agreement, four years under CCP 337
- Open book accountA running folio balance, also four years
- FallbackLodging received and never paid for
- Add-onsChargeback fee and court costs
Check your cap
Your business type sets the ceiling, not the loss.
- Individual$12,500 for a natural person or sole proprietor
- Entity$6,250 for an LLC, corporation or partnership
- FrequencyTwo claims over $2,500 per calendar year
- Over the lineWaive the excess, or file limited civil up to $35,000
File form SC-100
The form that opens your small claims case.
- Filing fee$30 up to $1,500, $50 up to $5,000, $75 up to $12,500, set by Gov. Code 70613
- WhereThe county where the guest lives or where the stay happened
- Fee waiverAvailable on form FW-001
- Defendant nameExactly as it appears on the registration card
Serve the guest
Someone else has to hand them the papers.
- Personal serviceA process server or the sheriff, most reliable
- Certified mailCheapest, only works if they sign for it
- Substituted serviceLeave with an adult, then mail a copy
- Deadlines15 days ahead in-county, 20 if outside, and longer for substituted service
At the hearing, and after
Bring three copies. No attorneys, either side.
- Lead with occupancyNights stayed, then charges, then the reversal
- "Service wasn't delivered"Answer with access logs and the absence of any complaint
- Who appearsAn entity must send an employee, officer or director
- CollectingBank levy, wage garnishment or a lien if they don't pay voluntarily
Reversed charge and chargeback FAQs
SueEasy is a self-help legal technology product built by LegalForce RAPC Worldwide, P.C. Using SueEasy does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not provide legal advice. We are not a law firm and cannot represent you in court. Every California county provides a free small claims advisor, and we can point you to yours.