I am not sure were to post this so it is here, if a mod or admin sees it should go somewhere else please do so ASAP

Well, a few days back a person at IPBHelpers wanted help with her IPB 1.3 board with installing alot of mods and skins and I voluteered to do that and for a certain amount of money ($120.00)

She also bought $24.00 (3 months) of hosting off of me from my hosting company

Now today, she IM's me after I have installed all her 7 skins and have done 6 mods so far and tells me she wants a full refund (expect for the skin I installed which is not much) so I am a bit pissed by that time and the reason I could do them right after payment was that in school I hade 3 tests and a science project (that I won #2) I mite add. I want to know is it right for me to give her money back after what she did to me.

Why or Why Not Please State The Obvious.

Thank You

- Scott Oldford

Regardless of what she says. She should be charged for your labour. A refund does not undo the labour that you did.

You post is a little bit rambling.
Are you saying you couldn't get the job done because you had school work to do and now she wants a refund?

What does your contract with her say?

Don't have a contract? Give her back the money and consider it money well spent on a lesson learned.

--Tina

Well, I was going to do all the mod's on friday and have everything done it was all on my computer as I downloaded her files and then upload them and do the database changes. So really she ripped me off and now she is really p*ssed becasue she thinks she won't get her money back.

What was the agreement?
Did she know that you wouldn't be able to do the work properly because you are a student?

Yes, I indicated to her that I am a student and to make it worst my iternet got disconnected for 2 days in my area (I am on 56k Dialup) and that week I hade 2 tests and a science project (which was 35 pages long)

Can I ask you a question?
Is the site in your profile (realhoster.net) your site?

Yes, still getting the template done and getting content done as I also admin www.ipbhelpers.com and moderate some other places.

Why do you ask ?>

I ask because there seems to be an issue here.
You offered this woman a service and you offered her web hosting.
You are in school. You can't even complete a job efficiently and you are starting a web hosting business? How are you going to explain to your clients that you can't help them because you are at school.
How are you going to deal with server problems when you are at school?
Why do you have a "business" online when the website is nowhere near completion?

I'm going to side with the lady on this and say you should refund her money.

lol, right on I am on a reseller package and I am really not looking to make any really money out of it. Now I am on a perfectly fine 2.4 GHZ Processor with 80 GB Harddrive & 1 GB Ram. It's all managed and have not had any down time for 2 months or more. I see why you are going to side with this lady and it is completley fine in my reasoning. All I am saying is that she wanted to change hosting companies becasue she was paying $20.00/monthly for 200 Mb diskspace & 15 GB Transfer which is not a good deal.

After looking into this more, I agree with Blue.

Ok, I really am not to big on the hosting I wasnt looking for hosting advice at all I am looking into the issue that after 6 days hardly being at the computer at all becasue of techneical reasons and being out of the house reasons I couldn't complete them in 6 days, yet I said I would do them within 14 days which would of been kept. I have hade many clients that I have done php scripts for and installed mods and the same for webhosting but no one does this if they want there money back they ask a day or two not 6 days.

How long did you spend on the project before she requested a refund? I would grant a partial refund, as your labor is not free and you did do work on it.

If no opportunity for a refund was given to her at the begining of this, then no refund should be given to her. She used your time and labor and should pay for it.

slippy, we need to know the exact terms of your understanding with the lady. You were supposed to finish the job in 14 days but she asked for a refund after 7 days and after you did a serious part of the work?

The legal aspect is completely separated from the moral issue though. You need to be aware that in web design and programming, some people will try to take advantage of you. You need advice from a lawyer on how to protect yourself.

Well I spent about an hour uploading the skins since the server was very slow upload 0.57 KBS Uploading Speed (ARGGG) and then I would say 2 hours off and on doing mods as they were some big ones and I took my time since I did upload and download. I mean out of no where she says she wants her money back it really ticks me off.

to ldcdc I really am not going to go to a lawyer as it's only $100 in this issue but still I don't think it's legal at all.

it's only $100 in this issueI was not talking about this issue. You need to know where you stand legally in the future if such things happen. Believe me, you're not the first person asked to refund after hours or days of work have been put in.

What if the next time this happens you're days away from finishing a huge project worth a lot more than $100? ;)

but still I don't think it's legal at all.Right and wrong (or what we perceive as right and wrong) are not always in consensus with the law.

slippy, really none of us here can answer your question.

Whether or not she gets a refund is clearly defined in your contract/agreement with her. What are your contract terms?

As Tina said, if you don't have a contract, consider this a good lesson learned. ALL JOBS GET DONE ON A CONTRACT. ( <=== that's the rule ) No contract, no job. It's that simple.

The contract protects you and it protects the customer. :) It defines all the terms that you're asking about now.

So if you want to know your answer - refer to your contract/agreement with the client. I am sorry it is not something we can answer for you.

:D Bailey

Slippy try to resolve this wihtout having to do a full refund. Maybe giver her a partial refund. I recommend that you write a up a service agreement/TOS for the next time you do work like this. Also have clients read and agree to the to the service agreement before accepting money.

Don't let her take advantage. If you must give her a full refund restore(or try to) everything to how it was was before you did your work.

And since this topic has nothing to do do with running a hosting business, I guess it could have been posted in the lounge.

Without going into the rights or wrong of your current situation, i'd suggest in future that you:

1) break a project down into sections
2) give deadlines and costings for each section
3) get a legal agreement written up detailing the above

In the agreement specify that should the buyer wish to cancel early they will be liable for 100% costs of every section completed and 50% of every section started.

We use basecamphq.com for project management and its a good way of keeping track of whats done and whats not should an issue arise.

Well, I have paid the money today so I will be writing up a unaversal TOS for later buisness.

Thanks for everyones advice!