Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!


Auto Renewals and Refunds - Page 2
New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.

All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.

Auto Renewals and Refunds

2»

Comments

  • JasonMJasonM Member

    @LittleCreek said: What to do when a client forgets that he has a subscription to a service that auto renews and then later wants a refund after the 30 day refund window has passed?

    Depends on case-by-case basis. If the client is quite old and reliable then you can give an account credit which he can use to buy another service from you. If the client is new, and probably he didn't use the service/bandwidth and was his genuine mistake to cancel the subscription and if the amount is not too big, you can offer him account credit or partial refund, like 50%. Else, like others said, point him the TOS. You can refund 25% for his loss, and keep the 75% as services were provided already.

    Thanked by 1khalequzzaman
  • In general I'd say no, do not refund.

    For one you do generally offer 30d refunds, that's a big plus already, but if I understood correctly the client got auto renewed for an already existing product. I imagine client has an annually paid service and figured a month or two after renewal that he doesn't need it (anymore)
    I think that a renewal isn't even bound to a (common) refund policy in this case as he used it for quite some time and knew what he got quite well. For me, refunds do only apply to newly paid products that you've got a problem with somehow.
    Further, this would break the idea of the annual commitment completely (if that's the case as imagined)

    You could refund (-operating costs) as a good gesture of will, but I think you're in no way required to.

  • @LittleCreek

    You will not be allowed to sign up here again.

    When a hoster gets mad.

  • then remove payment subscription as well

  • onidelonidel Member, Patron Provider, BF Ambassador

    To simplify things for both parties, we don't offer subscription billing by default. However, if any customer prefers subscription billing, they can reach out, and we'll enable it for them.

    Thanked by 1mustafamw3
  • symbxsymbx Member

    Are people completely ignore all incoming messages?

    You get at least one of these (in most cases, all):

    - Email from provider before payment
    - Notification from PayPal
    - Notification from bank
    - Email from PayPal
    - Email from provider after payment
    

    If a card is used instead, you still get 3 out of 5.

    Definitely not a provider problem if someone ignores all for 2 month.

  • LeviLevi Member

    Yes, remove subscription and leave add funds and manual payment.

  • ralfralf Member

    I for one have certainly missed auto-renewal notices (and paid) on annual servers that I'm not actually using for a couple of years in a row. But they're usually cheap (if I'm not using them) and I just accept that it was my stupidity for not noticing in time. It's not fair to ask for a refund even for a totally idling VM, as it's still used up an IP the provider could have used for someone else.

  • @Levi said:
    Yes, remove subscription and leave add funds and manual payment.

    To be honest, subscriptions can both be a convenience and an inconvenience. You don't want to find out your services have been shutdown because you forgot to pay as well as paying for something you wanted to cancel. In the end it's the customer's responsibility.

  • FreekFreek Member

    @yoursunny said:
    Frantech has the proper solution:
    Payment will not be taken automatically. To pay your invoice, please login at https://my.frantech.ca/viewinvoice.php?id=986018 and click Pay Now, then follow the instructions on screen.

    Don't offer subscription at all.
    Manual payment only.

    Interesting. NameCrane does offer PP subscriptions.

  • JabJabJabJab Member

    @Petey_Long said:

    @melp57 said: My only beef is the auto renew takes place about a week before its really due.

    That's one thing I've ran into as well. Don't really understand why as you're essentially pre-paying for something you've already paid for.

    This is so you will have time to react if your card declines or anything like that. Do you imagine getting suspended on the day0 because your card declined? "Why don't providers try to charge earlier!!111"
    There are pros and cons, like always.

  • LeviLevi Member

    @Freek said:

    @yoursunny said:
    Frantech has the proper solution:
    Payment will not be taken automatically. To pay your invoice, please login at https://my.frantech.ca/viewinvoice.php?id=986018 and click Pay Now, then follow the instructions on screen.

    Don't offer subscription at all.
    Manual payment only.

    Interesting. NameCrane does offer PP subscriptions.

    The crane is separate division with separate logic. To diversify Francisco’ misstakes.

    Thanked by 1yoursunny
  • LittleCreekLittleCreek Member, Patron Provider

    @Petey_Long said:

    @melp57 said: My only beef is the auto renew takes place about a week before its really due.

    That's one thing I've ran into as well. Don't really understand why as you're essentially pre-paying for something you've already paid for.

    That is the way WHMCS works. I have not found a way to change it except to change when invoices are created. I have invoices create 5 days in advance so its not an a long period of time.

  • LittleCreekLittleCreek Member, Patron Provider

    Good discussion. From what I see not one solution fits all people.

  • @LittleCreek said:

    @Petey_Long said:

    @melp57 said: My only beef is the auto renew takes place about a week before its really due.

    That's one thing I've ran into as well. Don't really understand why as you're essentially pre-paying for something you've already paid for.

    That is the way WHMCS works. I have not found a way to change it except to change when invoices are created. I have invoices create 5 days in advance so its not an a long period of time.

    If that's a WHMCS limitation, then at least you're aware of it and took steps to minimize any issues. Can't knock someone for something they don't have any control over.

    @LittleCreek said: Good discussion. From what I see not one solution fits all people.

    Definitely not a one size fits all solution. To feel better about your decision, just take into consideration how long the person's been a client, how your interactions with them have been, if they've generated any unnecessary extra work/abuse complaints, etc... if they've been a good egg and it's not going to financially break you - I'd lean towards refund (possibly minus the month - depending on how generous you're feeling)

    If they were a terrible person, abused the machines/staff or were otherwise a bad client, I'd instruct them on how to disable autopay and tell them to follow those instructions before renewal comes up, otherwise, enjoy the service.

  • MumblyMumbly Member

    If the service was canceled, but the client forgot to cancel the subscription, I would say, "refund him". Why keeping money that was received by mistake? Refund, end of story, and peace of mind.

    However, this case is a bit different. If I understand correctly, the client neither canceled the service nor the subscription, so the service was running and paid for as usual. I don't see any grounds for a refund here.

Sign In or Register to comment.