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Retailer guide

How to Dispute a Chargeback with Kohl's

Each Kohl's rule on this page comes from the Kohl's Routing Guide (2019).

At a glance

The guide sets Kohl's routing, shipping and bill of lading rules. Not following its TMS routing instructions in full brings a chargeback for the full cost of transportation plus any applicable handling costs.

Routing system
Kohl's TMS. Every vendor must enter domestic shipment details in it. The 2019 guide calls it Transplace.
K-Link
The guide sends vendors to K-Link's Transportation tab for the TMS Revision Form.
Documents
A separate VICS (now GS1) bill of lading for each Kohl's DC, with a unique vendor-issued BOL number. Kohl's requires Shipper Load and Count.
Dispute window
We hold no sourced dispute window for Kohl's, so we do not state one.
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Kohl's
Submission channel
We hold no sourced submission channel for Kohl's, so we do not state one. We publish a specific only when it is sourced, never a guessed value.
Source
Kohl's Routing Guide (2019).

Reason-code taxonomy at a glance

For a full list of chargebacks, the Routing Guide points to Kohl's Vendor Compliance Schedule of Charges Chart.

Charges the Routing Guide names

The guide names what follows when some of its rules are broken.

WhenWhat the guide says follows
A carrier other than the one TMS or Kohl's Transportation specified is usedThe vendor is liable for merchandise lost or damaged in transit.
A driver is required to load or count a shipmentAll related carrier charges plus a handling charge are assessed to the vendor.
Loading takes more than two hoursThe extra time is charged back at the cost of detention plus any applicable fees.
No declared value is listed on the BOL, and loss or damage occursAn immediate chargeback of the difference between the carrier's release value and the cost of the shipment, plus all related freight costs.
A backhaul or multi-stop pickup is disruptedA chargeback for the full cost of transportation of the entire shipment.
Hazmat freight is not identified, or is wrongly flagged, in TMSSubject to chargebacks.

Routing / carrier compliance

The Routing Guide says collect shipments must ship with the carrier TMS assigned. It also sets a weekly routing calendar.

The Deduction Code Library lists more of the guide's rules.

StepWhat the Routing Guide says
Standard ship windowMonday start ship date, Saturday PO cancel date.
How often to routeNo more than once a week per Kohl's distribution center.
Target routing dayWednesday of the week before the PO start ship date.
Last day to route with no penaltyThursday by 11:59 PM CST, the week before the PO start ship date.
Routing inside the ship windowMay be routed and picked up after the cancel date, and is subject to both a late routing penalty and a late shipment penalty.

What a BOL needs for an accessorial dispute

To dispute a compliance accessorial chargeback, the BOL needs four things the driver fills in at loading. They are the appointment time, time in, time out, and an additional driver signature for those times.

When risk of loss passes

Under the guide's passage-of-title terms, risk of loss passes to Kohl's only when it receives, inspects and accepts the goods at its receiving facility or store. That is true whichever party pays for transport.

What evidence you need

  • The bill of lading. It names the carrier and its SCAC, to check against the carrier TMS assigned.
  • The EDI 856 ASN. It must include the bill of lading number and the SCAC.
  • For an accessorial chargeback, the BOL with the driver's appointment time, time in, time out and signature.
  • The bill of lading
    • the carrier and its SCAC
  • The EDI 856 ASN
    • the bill of lading number
    • the SCAC
  • For an accessorial chargeback
    the BOL
    • appointment time
    • time in
    • time out
    • signature
The evidence list above, by document.

How a Kohl's dispute is prepared

Each Kohl's deduction is matched to the documents that answer it. The dispute is then prepared for review.

  1. deduction
  2. the documents that answer it
  3. prepared for review

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