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Summary
The law and many lenders help protect you against junk merchandise, shady companies and companies in general not fulfilling their end of the bargain.

Details on What You Can Do
If you purchased an item that turned out to be damaged of essentially junk, you do have some protection under the Federal Fair Credit Billing Act. The Act allows you to withhold payment on any damaged or poor-quality goods or services purchased with a credit card. This still holds even if you have accepted the goods or services, as long as you have made an attempt to solve the problem with the merchant (i.e. you tried to return the item, reschedule a service, and so on with no success).

The sale must have been for more than $50 and must have taken place in your home state or within 100 miles of your home address. You should notify the credit card company in writing and explain why you are withholding your payment. Any documentation you have may be helpful as well (like a bill showing services you paid for, even though you may not have received them).

You may withhold the payment while the credit card company investigates your claim. If you pay the charges for the goods on your credit card bill before the dispute is resolved, you will lose your right to make a claim as protected under the law. However many lenders will allow you to still dispute the item and often will give you a "provisional credit." This means your account will be refunded the product/service amount while their investigation takes place. If the lender ends up agreeing with you, you've already been refunded and you're done. If not, it isn't the end of the world, but they will charge you back for the item.