Yes for me it is last resort. Email chains go nowhere. Mentioned consumer protection laws but nothing. It's the next step before small claims court. Not having a fun day if doing a chargeback. It's very rare.

I’ve always considered the chargeback the last resort “burning the bridge” action. Problem is that merchants lately are getting way worse about customer support.

I’ve been a credit card user for 30 years, and in the first 25 of those years, I only had to resort to chargeback once. In the most recent 5 years, I’ve had to do it about 3 times. Companies in general are just way less responsive now and take their customers for granted way more than in the past.