I Need To Think About That

About a year ago, a customer named Joan emailed me and asked me to meet with her about the three hours remaining on her debit card.

The time she purchased was about to expire, so I was glad to hear from her.

Much to my surprise, instead of asking me to help her with the project, she asked for a refund.

Joanne told me that she changed direction after hiring me and couldn’t use the time she had left.

I took a breath and listened to her tell me why she didn’t take advantage of the time.

When she finished, I told her I had a no refund policy.

Joanne went on to explain that since she was a non-profit, there were better uses for her money than working with me, and she hoped I would honor that and give her a refund.

I have to admit that her request brought me down. But, luckily, I had enough sense to tell her I’d think about it and get back to her in two days.

I could hear in her voice that Joanne was shocked by my answer. She expected me to issue a refund immediately.

After letting the dust settle, I decided not to give Joan a refund because:

• My no refund policy was clearly stated when she decided to work with me
• Its non-profit status has nothing to do with how my business is structured
• A refund would not be fair to other customers who did not use all their time

I wrote her this email:

I decided to honor my no refund policy.

Before I decided to work together, I met with your team for over 30 minutes on Zoom. I answered all your questions, and you committed to working with me for 5 hours.

This time is available to you and your team until the end of June. Here is a link to my services page so you can see the many ways I can help: https://rocketgirlsolutions.com/services/

#Stop talking. I never heard from Joan again, and that’s fine by me.

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