Disputing in Synergy is tedious but not difficult if you begin with an understanding of the process and the documentation needed.
In this portion, we will cover an example dispute for a domestic vendor.
Considerations When Disputing at Target
A process note about disputing in Synergy: once you have clicked the “Next” button, you are unable to edit the previous page. To avoid the headache of having to completely reset your form, take careful note of the auto-populated information and the manual inputs.
To begin, Login into Partners Online, click through the Apps and Reports section and select Synergy.
To begin a dispute, click the red button on the side bar stating “Create New Case”. In the drop down menu, select the option that reads “Dispute”.
This selection will kick off the beginning of your dispute case. This is where having your documentation beforehand proves helpful.
1. Enter the Document Number (Invoice or Deduction/ Chargeback #) for the case you are disputing. If a message pops up indicating your document number was not found in the Partners Online system, here is a short list of the potential reasons why:
a. Resolved cases already exist for this document.
b. You can still submit your case, but please check pre vious case resolutions to ensure you intend to submit another.
c. The document is 18 months or older.
d. The document has already been paid in full.
e. An open case already exists against this document.
f. The document has a future due date.
i. you will not be able to submit a dispute for that document number.
2. If your document number matches the Target system, the deduction/Invoice Type, Claim/Doc Type, and Claim Sub Doc type will automatically populate.
3. Select a reason for disputing. The only reason descriptions that will populate will be relevant to your Deduction Type from the previous selections. Some of the reasons for dis puting that will populate after the top four fields have been filled in are:
a. Carton Shortage
b. Damaged or Defective goods
c. Casepack or Masterpack issue
d. Cost difference
e. Substitution
f. Unit or Internal Shortage
4. Target also asks for a brief explanation on why the supplier is submitting a dispute. This is a great spot for any addi tional context that may assist Target’s team in approving your dispute, such as additional delivery receipt numbers or if an order was mis-received against other purchase orders.
5. After clicking Next, the screen will display a summary of Document info. Double check that the Document Amount, Department, Purchase Order Number, Location, and Receipts are correct.
6. The three fields that require an input on this section are Disputed Amount, Class, and Receipt number.
a. Dispute Amount
i. This section is for denoting the amount being disputed. If a supplier wanted to dispute a partial amount for whatever reason, they would enter in the desired amount. Clicking the check box indicating) “Dispute Full Amount” will auto-populate the amount Target has listed for this particular invoice.
b. Receipt number
i. Receipt or appointment information will populate for match chargebacks (with the exception of cost difference disputes) and unpaid invoices if there is a delivery receipt (DR) in their system for the purchase order/location (PO/LOC) combination being disputed.
ii. If no receipt information is populating under the PO/LOC combination being disputed, vendors still have the option to use the manual entry func tion to type in specific receipt/appointment num bers for the same LOC. (comma separated receipt numbers, without spaces, up to 100 characters).
7. After clicking Next, Synergy tries to pull related docu ments for the dispute claim. These documents can be seen by clicking the “view” button. The vendor can choose to submit these documents by selecting the checkbox on the left-hand side of the page.
a. Adding additional documents is crucial to success fully disputing your claim. Best practice here is to
upload your documents in one of the allowed file types listed below.
i. .png, .jpg, .pdf, .csv, .gif, .tif, .eml, Word, Power Point, Excel.
b. The most helpful documents to attach when disput ing in Synergy are Proof of Delivery, BOL, Invoice, and Email Approval from the merchant team when necessary. These documents can vary in success rate depending on your department and dispute reason.
8. Ta-Da! You have successfully filed your Target dis pute claim. Now for the hardest portion: waiting for the response.
Dispute Statuses
After submitting your dispute, check back to view the status of your claim. Here is a short list of dispute sta tuses and what they mean.
After a new dispute is created it is filed immediately as “New,” and it progresses through a set of stages (sta tuses), sometimes with setbacks and skips:
“New” – The dispute has been made, but Target has not started looking at it yet.
“In-Progress” – The dispute has been made, and Tar get has started looking at it.
“Re-Opened” – This is a very uncommon status, and it likely has something to do with editing or updating dispute claims. However, what is more likely with Tar get is that, when a dispute is missing documentation or has an error, they will simply close the case and have the supplier create a new one.
“Awaiting Info” – As is the case with the “Re-Opened” status update, “Awaiting Info” is very rare. Likely, this means the dispute requires new or updated informa tion from the vendor who submitted it. Again, how ever, it is more likely that Target will simply close the case and have the supplier create a new dispute.
“Resolved” – A certain amount, if not all, of the orig inal deduction has been agreed upon by both parties to be paid back.
“Closed” – The total amount of the agreed upon num ber from the resolution has been paid back and the dispute is now, obviously, closed. Also, some disputes that are proven illegitimate can also be “Closed” by Target, in which case either the supplier has seen that the original deduction was valid or Target has refused to pay it back.
In other words, some that are “Closed” have been “Resolved,” but not all “Closed” have been “Resolved.” Also, all that are “Resolved” have merely yet to be offi cially “Closed.”
How long does a dispute take to be resolved?
Compared to other retailers on average, Target deduc tions are one of the quickest to resolve fines. At Target, the average time it takes for a dispute to move from submission to approval is 25 days. Having proper doc umentation and understanding the rules at play in Target’s disputing game are the best tools to have on hand for whittling down this timeline.