One of my customers did contact me today telling me he ordered an account 3 months ago but now he tried to log in with the username and password I sent them these days and realized the password is not working. Now he wants a refund for the three months because he didn't have the right password he says...

Keep two things in mind:
1. If he would have sent me an email three months ago I would have sent him a new password immediately... but he chose not to use the account for three months.

2. Cpanel indicates that someone already logged in. To me it looks like the customer did log in and change the password...then forgot about it.

What would you do if that happens ?

Although you probably do not have to refund him anything, I would probably refund him for 2 months instead of the full 3.

If the customer didnt contact you, it is his mistake too
So in my opinion no refund is needed but for showing that you care you can let him use the account for 15 more days
San

Hello,

Do you keep running logs of e-mail conversations, and automated e-mails sent to
the customer (such as welcome e-mails?) If so, I would first verify if the PW did in
fact work and if the customer was just not knowledgeable on how to use your
software...?

Also, another alternative would be the customer simply wanting a refund and making
an excuse up to get one.

Either way, feel it out by touch. You have your policy, but if it is a legitimate problem
and if it is your mistake then stand up and take care of it and give him his money
back.

If not, then keep the money and give him a few months credit. Sometimes a small
hand-out can be the difference between saving and losing a customer.

Dan

The thing is I can't verify if the password has been wrong initially because he used that feature to reset his password and send him a new password... But the logs show that someone logged in perviously so unless it got hacked he must have had access.

I won't refund him, doesn't make sense, to complain and say you only tried 3 months later. Would not want to set such a precedence.

was ANYTHING at all uploaded to the website, if that is the case, then its pretty obvious that he had the password.

No refund. why? it's his own fault

sounds a bit odd...

I agree with BlueCapacity where I would volunteer to meet him halfway...

please keep us posted as to how this turns out... good luck

No refund, as you provided a working service right from the start - he got what he paid for, the fact that he didn't use it is actually his problem not yours!! The fact that he did reset the password just goes to show he could have had access all along if he wanted!

If you want to go the extra mile, explain that, then offer him a free month, although I'd talk to him in person and ask a few questions to check he is a bonafide long term customer and not just jerking you around. I'd also ask him if he thinks you should give him a free month. But this is definitely erring on the side of generosity.

I would not give a refund. We only guarantee a 30-day money back guarantee, so if this happened to us the request would be invalid. I don't know if your company guarantees such a refund though, and for what period of time.

Originally posted by thomas.smith
One of my customers did contact me today telling me he ordered an account 3 months ago but now he tried to log in with the username and password I sent them these days and realized the password is not working. Now he wants a refund for the three months because he didn't have the right password he says...

Keep two things in mind:
1. If he would have sent me an email three months ago I would have sent him a new password immediately... but he chose not to use the account for three months.

2. Cpanel indicates that someone already logged in. To me it looks like the customer did log in and change the password...then forgot about it.

What would you do if that happens ?

Oh please! That guy is obviously some kind of con artist. Probably realizes he could get back a few extra dollars to buy some happy meals if he can manage to sucker you in. Obviously him not being able to log in caused him no great suffering or else he would have contacted you before three months had passed.

That's a customer I'd be very wary of keeping. For a peaceful life I'd probably just give him one month's refund and send him on his way.

its his problem..
i think you shouldnt refound him anything..
how much does he pay you per month?

please dont refund.........

ok, I told him that I can not offer a refund. I will wait for his response...

The customer is wrong. But so what? It's not the customer who matters here, it's the public perception of your service.

The Web space was available to the customer and so he ought to pay for it even though he didn't use it. He *could* have used it, but he chose not to do so. You fulfilled your part of the bargain.

But is it worth the aggravation and the possible bad publicity to deny him a refund - even a partial refund?

Offer to refund him half of what he wants. If he complains, give him the full refund, tell him you're sorry things didn't work out better, and express the hope that you can do business again.

And then relate the whole story here so others can see that you're a fair and honest businessman.

I doubt you'll get a flood of 'con artists' signing up for accounts, not using them, and then asking for refunds.

I believe that good deeds are rewarded, especially in business.

LordBob, I disagree. If the OP can prove that the account was accessed previously, then the password worked. I would bring it to the client's attention, very politely, that you have records that indicate that the original password and id that he was sent was valid and that the site was accessed using it. And that if he had been aware of the issue for 3 months he should have contacted him to have it corrected. Obviously the client is trying to pull a fast one. Giving in to blackmail is not an option in order to avoid some minor PR problems.

In the major corp that i work for we run into similar problems ALL THE TIME.

This is not for a hosting biz, so adapt anything here where needed.

The policy we use for outages: Credits for outages are prorated to the day, outages of less than 24 hours will not be credited.

Outages reported long after it first accured: Credits for outages are prorated to the day, we will only credit a customer from the time the outage was first reported until the issue is resolved. (if greater than 24 hours)

Now with these 2 policies in place, your customer would not be credited where I work. The exception would be if he raised a major fuss and it would be cheaper and easier to just try and appease him. It would likely start out with an offer of a "$20 customer service garentee" then possibly 1 free month. Then possibly half the non-reported outage. I doubt it would go too far past that no matter what the customer said or did.

Yours, being a smaller business might be better off just giving the credit to avoid bad word of mouth. I'd likely structure it as to give the next x months free instead of actually cutting the person a check and to ensure that they stay hosting with you instead of leaving with your money.

Well, yes, if the client had accessed the account, then it's a different story. I was going on the assumption that the client hadn't used the account at all during the 3-month period. If my assumption is correct, the client is a dullard, not a con artist.

Either way, though, the best solution is a partial refund.

I don't believe the client threatened to blackmail the host. I think he just asked for (demanded?) his money back.

I remember a story about Sam Walton's customer service policy when he opened the first Wal-Marts in the South. He'd give his customers refunds even if they had obviously driven their pick-up truck over the merchandise and then called him dirty names when asking for their money back. Everyone could have defrauded Walton and gotten away with it, but very few did. There are way more honest people in the world than dishonest ones. Point is, all of Walton's customers knew they were covered, and so they didn't hesitate to buy at his store.

I'm looking at this from a retailer's perspective. Maybe there isn't a correlation with Web hosting...

There are many excellent thoughts here. In my way of thinking, you offered a service, provided it for 3 months without interruption(?). How the client used it, or did not use it, is not your concern (as long as it is used within your TOS/AUP of course). It still cost you as a business to maintain that server for his account (and all the others), hold a portion of disk space, etc., aside for him, and so on.

I would not refund him after 3 months. if you do, he will move on to another host and do it to them as well.

just my 2 cents....

- Mike :cool:

Originally posted by thomas.smith
ok, I told him that I can not offer a refund. I will wait for his response...

Did you hear back from your client? I'd like to know how this story ends.

LordBob, you sell me a bike with a 30 day money back guarantee

2 or 3 weeks later I take off the brake lines, and put them on a different bike (for what ever reason).

a week later I put them back on the bike you sold me, but put them in wrong. Not knowing this I go for a bike ride, go to stop quick, and run right into a Ice-cream stand (no persons were hurt in the creation of this story)

Should you give me anything back because the brakes didn't work?

bitfuzzy -

In your hypothetical, the important factor is the wording of the money-back guarantee. Is it unconditional? If so, then yes, you'd get your money back. But if the guarantee is worded such that any tampering with the bike invalidates the warranty, then technically no, you wouldn't be entitled to a refund.

Would you instead be entitled to store credit? I guess that depends on how much I value your trade and how far I'm willing to go to keep you as my customer.

I wonder if the OP had a written policy about refunds.

i would probably politely tell him that we only provide a 30 day m.b. guarantee (thats what we do) and we cannot refund his payments. if he wants we can cancel his account or send him the password.

the truth is on your side. you DID provide the service as advertised (assuming you really did). keep in mind though, there is truth and there is reality :) if he persists and threatens chargebacks/lawsuit/BBB complaint consider giving the refund. fighting till the end is not worth it sometimes, even if you are right.

Originally posted by bitfuzzy
LordBob, you sell me a bike with a 30 day money back guarantee

2 or 3 weeks later I take off the brake lines, and put them on a different bike (for what ever reason).

a week later I put them back on the bike you sold me, but put them in wrong. Not knowing this I go for a bike ride, go to stop quick, and run right into a Ice-cream stand (no persons were hurt in the creation of this story)

Should you give me anything back because the brakes didn't work?

This doesn't make sense as the account holder is saying they never did anything with the account other than sign up. Your example would make more sense if you kept the bike in the box and then wanted to return it 3 weeks later.

Originally posted by Naes
This doesn't make sense as the account holder is saying they never did anything with the account other than sign up. Your example would make more sense if you kept the bike in the box and then wanted to return it 3 weeks later.

The poster indicated that the client in question had logged into his account, (3 months ago) recently contacted him that he can't login, so wants a refund. ?? changed password, userid etc ??

hey Thomas...

just curious as to the latest on this situation

how is it going?

I would not refund the customer.

First of all, you had resources allocated to him, and therefore the service was being given.

It is not your responsability to verify all passwords, all the time. The customer did not complaint when he received his "Welcome Email", so you assumed the username/password combination was working, or you would have received a support request, which you did not.

With this said, no one can point the finger to you.

I do not agree with what some people said here. Even if you refund this customer, you will lose him. Don't ask me why, but it just feels like it.

Probably your refund will be used to signup for another hosting account, elsewhere. ;)