subject: Responding To Refund Requests [print this page] It is regrettable but true part of business: there will be a time, a client is going to request for their money back. In spite of your strong refund rule (and you should have a defined one clearly), you may be faced with an inconvenient truth: a customer is going to demand for a refund.
As a businessperson, you have expenses, and these expenses exist whether or not clients pay, so it can be aggravating if a customer opens a PayPal dispute, or otherwise requests their money back, especially after a service has been rendered. You can be the best businessperson ever, and you can provide high-quality services, but its still going to happen. So, then, the question is this: how will you handle it? Everyone makes mistakes, and if you didnt provide the level of service that your customer expected, then the right thing to do is issue a refund. Sometimes, though it's really vague. If the customer just disliked the service, but still got what was owed to them, then you have to consider that on case-by-case basis.
If every customer will just say they dislike the service and have their money back, that would clearly not be a good thing. A lax refund policy could result in you being taken aware of. Still, customers are your employers in a sense. After all, if not with the customers, you will not be in business. The issue of refunds is really a balancing act; you have to consider each request on a case-by-case basis. A decision thats appropriate in one case may not be so in another.
What will help you is an obvious defined refund policy, usually found at your Terms of Service. In this section, you will define when refunds will be issued, and under what circumstances. If you want to set-up a no-refunds policy, then make sure it obviously says in this section, and make sure that at some time during the sign up or payment method, the customer checks a box or otherwise that shows they have read and agreed to the terms.
While it may seem harsh to say no refunds, you can soften the blow by saying that you reserve the right to issue no refunds except in the case of failure to provide service. Such a clause may wind up helping you should there be a dispute or chargeback, especially since PayPal tends to side with the merchant when it comes to services. Still, you dont want to use that to abuse your customers. Be reasonable with your refund policy. When a customer is upset about service, try to make it right. You may want to suggest a giving a service credit other than a straight refund. If a customer is clearly trying to take advantage of you, then it would be worth your time to stand your ground, always with professionalism and courtesy, which is the key.
Refunds are a part of business. Apart from not doing business at all, theres not really much that can be done about that. The important thing is how you handle refund requests. Even the most dissatisfied of customers will remember how you handled their request, and they may one day return if you take care of them. Handle it the wrong way, and that customer will make sure the Internet community knows about it.
