How easy is it to dispute an unauthorized charge?

[Buxton McGraff]

This weekend I was charged 3 different times by Steam, for games that I didn't authorize. I have no idea how somebody supposedly bought them on my account, but they were able to use my debit card because my Steam account is linked to my Paypal. The charges apparently happened several days ago, however it only appeared on my bank statement about 3 hours ago, and on top of that, because I had insufficient balance on my card, I was also charged an overdraft fee of 20 dollars.

The bank is currently closed so I'm not able to get any help right now, so I'll be going there first thing in the morning. What I need to know is, how difficult will it be, if at all possible, to dispute these charges? I've never had a problem like this before, so I'm not really sure what to do...

Please help. Where do I go from here??

[raechuul]

My boyfriend had something similar happen to him with Xbox Live. His bank was nice about it and gave his money back, and Xbox tracked the guy down and banned his account or something.

[vindicatorx]

real simple pick up the phone and call your credit card company.

[someotherguy]

I would suggest you let Steam support know of the problem, and what you will be doing about it. They might just refund you the money instead of going through dispute.
I have never disputed anything besides couple of items on credit card (not your situation), and that's extremely easy, but I believe it also costs the business (Steam in your example) extra money - that's why I'm suggesting contacting them first.

[Dakia]

If your card is issued through a bank, visit the bank and tell them that you want to dispute charges on your account. Most likely, the bank will just credit you back and write off the charges as a loss.

It is very easy to dispute and usually only takes a couple minutes.

[Antherios]

I work for one of the US banks, and from what ive seen so far, if you really didn't made these transactions you can win the disputes easily. So i think for most banks its really easy.
But depending on the bank, they will ask you a LOT of questions, so be prepared for that.

[Buxton McGraff]

Okay thanks everybody. I'll head to the bank first thing in the morning.