A charge labeled “Lyte Charging Inc” on your bank or credit card statement is a fee from Lyte.City, a portable phone-charger rental service that operates self-service kiosks in venues like restaurants, malls, stadiums, arcades, and airports. If the amount is small (a few dollars), it reflects the per-half-hour rental rate. If it’s roughly $29.90, it’s the flat penalty for keeping a charger longer than 24 hours.1Google Play. Lyte – Stay Charged Anywhere
Why the Charge Appeared
Lyte.City places kiosks stocked with 5,000 mAh portable battery packs in public venues. A user opens the Lyte app, scans a QR code on the kiosk, and the machine releases a charger. Some kiosks also accept a credit card directly at the machine. When finished, the user pushes the charger into any open slot at any Lyte kiosk in the network, not necessarily the one where the rental started.1Google Play. Lyte – Stay Charged Anywhere2Replay Magazine. Lyte.City
Kiosks are in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and London, and the company has a national partnership with Dave & Buster’s. If someone using your card visited one of these venues, that’s the likely origin of the charge.2Replay Magazine. Lyte.City
One reason the billing descriptor reads “Lyte Charging Inc” rather than the more familiar “Lyte.City” brand is that payments run through Stripe, which passes the registered merchant name to the card network.3Stripe. Lyte Customer Story
What the Amount Tells You
The standard rental rate is $1 per 30 minutes of use (£1 in the UK). Small charges on a statement almost always correspond to time-based rentals.1Google Play. Lyte – Stay Charged Anywhere
The $29.90 charge is different. If a rented charger is not returned to any kiosk within 24 hours, Lyte automatically bills a flat $29.90 (or £29.90) to the card on file. Once that fee is charged, the rental is terminated in the app and the portable charger becomes the user’s property to keep.4Apple App Store. Lyte – Stay Charged Anywhere1Google Play. Lyte – Stay Charged Anywhere
So a charge close to $29.90 nearly always means the charger was kept past the 24-hour window. If you still have the charger, returning it now will not reverse the fee automatically, but it does support your case if you contact the company.
Contacting Lyte First
Lyte does not publish a formal refund policy. If the charge looks wrong (for example, you returned the charger on time but were still billed the loss fee), start with the company. Support channels listed by Lyte:
- General inquiries: contact@lyte.city
- App-related support: app@lyte.city
- UK phone: +44 20 3978 02925Lyte.City. Lyte.City Homepage
The U.S. mailing address is Lyte Charging Inc., 1400 Hemlock Ave, San Mateo, CA 94401.1Google Play. Lyte – Stay Charged Anywhere When you write, include the date and amount of the charge, the venue where you used the kiosk if you know it, and (for a disputed loss fee) any detail you can offer about when and where you returned the charger.
Disputing the Charge With Your Bank
If Lyte does not resolve the issue, or if you never authorized the charge in the first place, you can dispute it through your credit card issuer. The Fair Credit Billing Act lets you challenge billing errors, including unauthorized charges and charges for services not received as agreed, by sending a written dispute to your card company within 60 days of the statement date on which the charge first appeared.6Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
The issuer must acknowledge your written notice within 30 days and resolve the matter within two billing cycles or 90 days, whichever comes first. While the investigation is open, you don’t have to pay the disputed amount, and the issuer cannot report you as delinquent on that portion of the bill.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Dispute a Charge on My Credit Card Bill For unauthorized charges, federal law caps your personal liability at $50.6Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
If your card issuer doesn’t resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or by phone at (855) 411-2372, or contact your state attorney general’s office.