What is the CSC Service Work charge on my credit card?
Facts checked
Short answer
CSC SERVICE WORK is CSC ServiceWorks, the company that runs card-operated laundry machines in apartment buildings, dorms and laundromats, and the air and vacuum machines at many gas stations. The charge is usually a laundry cycle, a CSC GO app top-up, or $1.50 to $2.50 for tire air. The statement just cuts the company's name short.
How it shows up on your statement
- CSC SERVICE WORK
- CSC SERVICEWORKS
- CSC SERVICE W PLAINVIEW NY
- CTLP*CSC SERVICE WORKS
Banks trim and reformat these, so yours may be shorter or carry a different city or number. Why charge names look strange.
Who is CSC Service Work?
It's CSC ServiceWorks, Inc., with the name cut short to fit a card statement. CSC says it has more than one million machines in service across the US and Canada, which makes it the company behind the shared laundry room in a lot of apartment buildings. It lists 127,000 multi-housing communities, 1,300 colleges and universities, 6,700 hotels, 4,500 laundromats and 22,800 gas stations and convenience stores among its clients.
That last number is the one that catches people out. CSC also runs the tire air and vacuum machines at many convenience stores, so a CSC charge can come from topping up a tire, nowhere near a washing machine. Its headquarters is in Melville, New York, and some statements show Plainview, NY, an earlier Long Island base.
Why is CSC Service Work on my card statement?
The charge carries CSC's name, not the apartment complex or gas station where the machine stands, which is why it's hard to place.
- Tire air or a vacuum. People on Reddit have traced mystery CSC charges of $2.01, $2.10 and $2.50 to the air pump at a gas station. One turned out to be a monthly refill of a slow-leaking tire.
- A washer or dryer paid for by card or a phone tap.
- A CSC GO app top-up. The app has a wallet you load in advance, and CSC's own guide says you can set up auto-fill, so a $10 or $20 charge can show up on a day nobody did laundry.
- A pending hold. Card readers on unattended machines often hold an amount first. Cantaloupe, which makes many of these readers, says it pre-authorizes up to $5 and posts the final amount about 24 to 72 hours later.
- Someone else's laundry. A college student on a parent's card is a common one.
A line that starts with CTLP* most likely went through a card reader made by Cantaloupe, which handles payments for many unattended machines. Our page on CTLP charges explains those.
How to get a refund from CSC ServiceWorks
There's usually nothing to cancel unless you set up auto-fill in the app. For a machine that took your money and didn't work:
- Write down the Machine ID. CSC says it's on the top right of the front of the machine, or sometimes on the side, in a format like 123-CSC.
- Fill out the refund form at cscsw.com/refund-request. You can send one request per machine; if you lost money in two or more machines, call (877) 264-6622 instead.
- If you paid in the CSC GO or CSC Pay app, request the refund in the app. For Apple Pay or Google Pay, CSC asks for the last 4 digits of the device or virtual account number shown in your phone's wallet, not the number on your physical card.
- Track it at cscsw.com/check-on-your-refund with your case ID or phone number.
Refunds through the web form arrive as a mailed check, not back on your card, and CSC says the check has to be cashed within 90 days. Its pages disagree on timing: the form says 8 to 10 business days, the FAQ says 12 to 15. To stop app reloads, turn off auto-fill in your CSC GO account.
What if you never used a CSC machine?
Think beyond laundry first. The air pump is the answer more often than people expect.
- Did anyone with your card put air in a car or bike tire, or vacuum a car, around that date? Repeated small charges a few weeks apart are often one slow leak.
- Does anyone in the household do laundry in an apartment, dorm, hotel or laundromat?
- Check the CSC GO or CSC Pay app, yours or a family member's, for top-ups and auto-fill.
- If the line is still pending, wait 72 hours. Reader holds usually adjust or drop off.
If none of that fits, call CSC at (877) 264-6622 with the date and amount, then report the charge to your card issuer and replace the card. A stolen card number works at unattended machines and in apps as easily as anywhere else.
Still don’t recognize it? Dispute it with your bank
- Open the transaction in your banking app. The detail view often shows a longer merchant name, a phone number or a city that the statement line cuts off.
- Ask the merchant for a refund first. It is usually faster than a dispute, and your card issuer may ask whether you tried.
- If the merchant says no, or you think your card number was stolen, call the number on the back of your card. Ask them to dispute the charge and, if it is fraud, to cancel the card and send a new one.
- For a credit card, follow up in writing. The FTC says your letter should reach the issuer within 60 days after the first bill with the error was sent to you, at the billing inquiries address rather than the payments address.
Federal law caps what you owe for unauthorized credit card charges at $50. Debit cards work differently: if only your card number was used, you owe nothing as long as you report it within 60 days after the statement is sent, but the money is gone from your account while the bank looks into it. See the FTC's guide to lost or stolen cards. A successful dispute becomes a chargeback against the merchant.
Questions people ask
- What is CSC Service Work on my credit card?
- CSC ServiceWorks, the company that runs card-operated laundry machines and gas station air and vacuum machines. The statement cuts the name short to CSC SERVICE WORK.
- Why did CSC ServiceWorks charge me $2.50?
- Most likely an air pump at a gas station or convenience store. People on Reddit have matched charges of $2.01 to $2.50 to filling up tires.
- How do I get a refund from CSC ServiceWorks?
- Use the form at cscsw.com/refund-request with the Machine ID from the front of the machine, or request it in the CSC GO app if you paid there. Refunds through the web form arrive as a mailed check.
- Why is CSC charging me when I didn't do laundry?
- Check for CSC GO auto-fill, which reloads your app wallet automatically, and for air or vacuum use at a gas station. Pending holds from card readers also drop off within about 72 hours.
- What is the CSC ServiceWorks phone number?
- Customer support is (877) 264-6622, 6:30am to 7:30pm Central on weekdays and 8am to 4:30pm on weekends. The contact page also lists 1-844-272-9675.
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Sources
Read on . Policies and phone numbers change, so confirm on the company’s own site before you act.