Visa reason code 13.2: Cancelled Recurring Transaction

Quick answer: Visa reason code 13.2 is Cancelled Recurring Transaction. The cardholder says they cancelled a subscription, membership or auto-renewal and were charged anyway. On Shopify it appears as Subscription cancelled. You win when you can show that the customer agreed to the recurring terms, that no cancellation reached you before the charge, and that they received the product or service for the period charged. You lose when the customer has a dated cancellation that you missed, and refunding that charge at once is almost always the right move.

Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Card network rules and Shopify's process change, so always check the due date and instructions on your own dispute.

Visa 13.2 at a glance

Network and code	Visa 13.2, Cancelled Recurring Transaction
Shopify label	Subscription cancelled
What the customer claims	"I cancelled this subscription, and you still charged me."
Who it affects	Stores with subscriptions, memberships, auto-renewals or subscribe-and-save products
Your response window on Shopify	Usually 7 to 21 days, shown on the dispute page
Bank decision time	Up to 75 days after you submit, per Shopify
How many times you can submit	Once
Strongest evidence	Recorded consent to the recurring terms, billing history, a reminder before renewal, no cancellation before the charge, proof of delivery or access
Default call	Fight if the cancellation came after the charge or never came. Refund at once if the customer cancelled first.

What Visa 13.2 means

Subscriptions are a common source of disputes because the customer agrees once and is charged many times. Code 13.2 is raised when the cardholder tells their bank that they ended the arrangement before a charge went through, or that the charge came after they told the merchant to stop.

Visa's 13.x family covers consumer disputes where the customer accepts the sign-up but has a complaint about what followed. Two nearby situations are easy to confuse with 13.2:

• The customer says they never agreed to a subscription at all. That usually arrives as a fraud or unrecognised dispute, not as 13.2. See Visa 10.4.
• The customer says they were charged after a free trial they did not realise would convert. That tends to arrive as misrepresentation, 13.5, or as 13.2 if they say they cancelled in time.

Equivalent codes on other networks

Network	Code	Name
Visa	13.2	Cancelled Recurring Transaction
Mastercard	4853	Cardholder Dispute (cancelled recurring billing is a named condition). See our 4853 guide
American Express	C28	Canceled Recurring Billing

If the claim is that the customer returned goods or cancelled a one-off order and never got a refund, that belongs to 13.6, credit not processed.

How a 13.2 dispute unfolds on Shopify

Shopify's help pages describe the sequence:

Stage	What happens
Day 0	The customer's bank raises the dispute. Shopify withdraws the disputed amount and the chargeback fee from your balance straight away.
Days 1 to 21	You gather evidence. Shopify says you usually have 7 to 21 days, and the exact deadline is on the dispute page.
Submission	You submit your response, which can be done once.
Review	The bank reviews it. Shopify says this can take up to 75 days.
Outcome	If you win, the amount is returned, and the fee may be too, depending on your country. If you lose, the money stays with the customer.

If your subscriptions run through a third-party app, such as a subscription or membership tool, the cancellation records live in that app, not in Shopify. Open it before you start. Customer cancellation requests, skipped orders and billing logs are your key evidence.

What the bank actually checks

The bank is asking whether this customer was entitled to stop, and whether they did before you charged them. It looks at six things.

1. Did the customer agree to recurring billing? A clear sign-up where the customer saw the price, the interval and how to cancel, and accepted.
2. Was there a cancellation before the charge? A request by email, chat, phone or account page, with a date.
3. Did you act on it? If the customer cancelled and the charge still happened, the merchant is at fault.
4. Were the terms disclosed? Cancellation terms that were hidden or unclear weaken your case.
5. Was the product or service delivered for the period charged? Shipment records, access logs or usage show the customer got value.
6. Did you remind them? A renewal reminder before the charge shows good faith and is required in some regions.

Banks are sympathetic to cardholders in subscription disputes because the rules around clear terms and easy cancellation are strict. Consent records, clear terms and a timely reminder are what turn a case.

The timeline that decides every 13.2 case

Almost every 13.2 comes down to one comparison: the date of the cancellation against the date of the charge. Lay the dates out in a row before you decide anything.

Date	Event	Source
11 March	Customer signs up and accepts the terms	Subscription app, checkout log
3 April, 3 May, 3 June	Monthly charges, none disputed	Order history
28 June	Renewal reminder sent	Email log
3 July	Disputed charge	Order history
8 July	Cancellation request received	Support inbox
20 July	Customer's bank raises the dispute	Shopify

If the cancellation date falls after the charge date, the charge was valid. If it falls before, the charge was not, and you should refund. The table also gives you the shape of your letter.

Worked example 1: a winnable case

A coffee subscription store charges £24.00 a month. A customer subscribed in March and was charged in April, May and June. The next charge was on 3 July. On 20 July the customer's bank raises a 13.2 dispute: the customer says they cancelled in June.

The merchant looks through the subscription app and finds:

• The sign-up on 11 March, with the checkbox "I agree to be charged £24.00 every month until I cancel", the timestamp and the IP address.
• A cancellation email dated 8 July, five days after the disputed charge.
• Three earlier deliveries of coffee, all confirmed by the carrier.
• A renewal reminder email sent on 28 June.

The charge on 3 July came before the cancellation request of 8 July. The reviewer can see consent, terms, a reminder, deliveries and a cancellation that arrived after the charge. This is a strong case for the July charge. The merchant should also confirm that nothing was charged after 8 July.

Worked example 2: a case to refund

A skincare store charges £39.00 a month. A customer emails on 29 June: "Please cancel my subscription." Nobody replies. The charge runs again on 3 July, and the customer's bank raises a 13.2 dispute.

The merchant took money after being told to stop. A reviewer will see the email, the date and the charge. Fighting would be a mistake. The right move is to refund the charge, cancel the subscription, send a confirmation, and fix the process so that cancellations take effect before the next billing date. The cost of that process failure was a lost customer, a fee and a mark on the dispute record.

The break-even maths

The disputed amount and the fee are already withdrawn whether you fight or not, so the only extra cost of fighting is your time.

Break-even win chance = value of your time ÷ money you would recover if you win.

Charge	Time to respond (60 min at £20/hour)	Break-even win chance
£9	£20	222% (never worth fighting on time alone)
£24	£20	83%
£49	£20	41%
£150 (annual plan)	£20	13%

Small subscription charges rarely justify a fight on their own, which is why prevention matters more than winning. The exception is a pattern: if you see many 13.2 disputes, the fee and the dispute count become the bigger problem, and clear terms and easy cancellation are the fix. Use our Should I Fight This Chargeback? calculator for your own figures.

Should you fight it or refund?

What your records show	What to do
Clear consent, no cancellation before the charge, goods or access delivered	Fight. This is the strongest pattern.
Cancellation dated after the disputed charge	Fight, and show the dates plainly.
Customer logged in, downloaded or received an order in the period charged	Fight with the usage or delivery proof.
Customer cancelled before the charge and it still went through	Refund at once.
Customer says they cancelled by phone or chat and you have no record	Weak. Check every channel before deciding.
Terms were hidden, or the trial conversion was unclear	Weak. Consider a refund and fix the sign-up.
Customer says they never agreed to a subscription at all	Check whether the sign-up was genuine. If not, refund.
Annual plan renewed without a reminder	Weak. Refund and add reminders.

How to respond to a Visa 13.2 dispute, step by step

1. Read the dispute and note the deadline. Open the dispute in Shopify and check the reason, the amount and the due date.
2. Stop further charges. Cancel the subscription in your subscription app so no new charge can create another dispute. Do this even if you plan to fight the existing one.
3. Search every channel for a cancellation. Check email, chat, social media, your help desk and any phone log for the customer's name and email.
4. Build the date timeline. Write the sign-up date, each charge, any reminder, any cancellation request and the dispute date in one table.
5. Pull the consent record. Find the sign-up page copy, the checkbox wording, and the timestamp and IP address of acceptance.
6. Collect proof the service was delivered. Shipment scans, access logs, downloads or usage for the period charged.
7. Write a short, factual letter. One page. Lead with the strongest fact and use the template below.
8. Attach the proof and submit once. Check every attachment opens, and remember you cannot add anything afterwards.

The evidence checklist

Evidence	Where to find it
Sign-up record: date, time, IP address, plan, price and the wording the customer accepted	Your subscription app or checkout log
A screenshot of the checkout or sign-up page showing the recurring terms and how to cancel	Your saved copy or page archive
Billing history for this customer: every charge, date and amount	The order list and the subscription app
Renewal reminders sent, with dates	Your email provider's log
Cancellation log: date and time of any request, and when it took effect	Support inbox and subscription app
Proof the product or service was delivered for the period	Carrier scans, access logs, usage records
Customer messages about the subscription	Support inbox and chat
Your cancellation and refund policy as shown at sign-up	Your store policies

A letter you can adapt

To the issuing bank,

We ask that this dispute for the charge of [AMOUNT] on [DATE], order [ORDER NUMBER], is reversed. The customer agreed to recurring billing and had not cancelled before the charge.

Consent. On [SIGN-UP DATE] at [TIME] the customer subscribed to [PLAN] and accepted the following wording at checkout: "[QUOTE THE TERMS]". A copy of the sign-up page and the acceptance record are attached.

Billing history. The customer was charged on [DATES] and did not dispute those charges.

Cancellation. [We did not receive a cancellation request before this charge. / The first cancellation request was received on DATE, after this charge.]

Reminder and delivery. A renewal reminder was sent on [DATE]. The customer received [PRODUCT / ACCESS] for this period, confirmed by [DELIVERY SCAN / ACCESS LOG].

The attachments show the consent, the billing history and the delivery. We ask the bank to reverse the dispute.

Keep it under a page and keep the tone neutral. Do not argue that the customer should have read the terms more carefully.

Common mistakes

• Not checking every channel. Cancellations arrive by email, chat, social media and phone. Search all of them before you decide to fight.
• Fighting a charge that came after a cancellation. You will lose, pay the fee and add to your dispute count.
• Hidden terms. If the price or renewal date was unclear at sign-up, the bank will not accept "they agreed".
• No reminder. A reminder before renewal reduces disputes and strengthens your case.
• Delayed cancellation. Cancelling "at the end of the period" without saying so clearly leads to charges the customer did not expect.
• Forgetting to stop future charges. Another charge next month becomes another dispute.
• Missing the deadline. No response means automatic loss.

How to reduce 13.2 disputes

1. Make cancellation as easy as sign-up. If a customer can join in one click, they should be able to leave in one click. A hard cancellation process creates disputes.
2. Show the terms clearly: price, interval, renewal date and how to cancel, next to the button that starts the subscription.
3. Send a confirmation email with the terms straight after sign-up.
4. Send a renewal reminder a few days before each charge, especially for annual plans and after trials.
5. Honour cancellations immediately and confirm them by email with the date of the last charge.
6. Use a recognisable billing descriptor so customers know who is charging them.
7. Offer a pause or skip as an alternative to cancelling.
8. Handle failed-payment retries carefully. Charging again days after a failed payment can look like an unexpected charge to the customer.
9. Watch your dispute rate. See chargeback rate and thresholds.

Glossary

• Recurring transaction. A payment that repeats on a schedule, such as a monthly subscription, under an agreement the customer accepted.
• Cancellation. The customer's request to end the arrangement. It matters when it was received, not when it was processed.
• Trial conversion. The point at which a free trial becomes a paid subscription.
• Billing descriptor. The name that appears on the customer's card statement.
• Renewal reminder. A message sent before a recurring charge. Required in some regions.
• Representment. Your response with evidence, sent back to the bank.

How ChargeFix handles it

ChargeFix reads the order, payment and shipping records from Shopify and brings in your refund policy from your business profile. For subscription disputes it shows what it can find, such as the order history, delivery status and dates, and says plainly when a record is missing. You add the sign-up record and cancellation log from your subscription app as files, review the draft letter and decide when to save or file. Install it free.

Frequently asked questions

What does Visa reason code 13.2 mean? The cardholder says they cancelled a recurring payment and were still charged. On Shopify it shows as Subscription cancelled.

What evidence wins a 13.2 dispute? The sign-up record with the recurring terms, billing history, a renewal reminder, proof that no cancellation was received before the charge, and proof that goods or access were delivered.

What if the customer cancelled after the charge? Show the dates. A cancellation dated after the disputed charge does not make that charge invalid.

What if I cannot find a cancellation but the customer insists? Check email, chat, social media and any phone log. If you find nothing, say so, but if there is real doubt a refund is usually cheaper than losing.

Is 13.2 the same as a free-trial dispute? Not exactly. A customer who says they did not know a trial would convert often disputes as misrepresentation (13.5). If they claim they cancelled the trial in time, it can arrive as 13.2.

How long do I have to respond on Shopify? Shopify says you usually have 7 to 21 days, and the exact date is on the dispute page. Evidence can be submitted only once.

How long does the bank take to decide? Shopify says the review can take up to 75 days after you submit.

Should I cancel the subscription when a dispute arrives? Usually yes, to stop further charges that could lead to more disputes. Then respond to the existing dispute on its own merits.

Do I need to remind customers before renewing? It is good practice, and for some regions and plan types it is required. It also makes your evidence stronger.

Does a skipped or paused subscription count as a cancellation? Not by itself. Show what the customer chose and when. If they paused, a later charge needs a clear resume date.

Can I charge a customer after they cancel if the terms say so? Only for charges that were already due under the agreed terms. A new billing period after a cancellation will be disputed and lost.

What if the billing descriptor confused the customer? Say so in your letter and show the descriptor. It supports a case where the customer recognises the service but not the name.

Sources and review

• Shopify Help Centre, Overview of the chargeback and inquiry process: response window, decision time, fees and accepted evidence.
• Shopify Help Centre, Chargeback reasons: how Shopify groups dispute reasons
• Stripe, Dispute categories and reason codes: the card network code and the category it falls under
• Adyen, Dispute reason codes and defense requirements: what each code covers
• Visa's published reason code lists, as summarised by major payment providers. Card network rules change, so confirm current details with your payment provider.

Written by the ChargeFix team. We update this page when Shopify or the card networks change their rules.