Can users demand a refund for a service?
This question appears to be matter of some contention in the Joomla world, and is maybe different around the world. I'd like to get some feedback on the matter from my peers (that's you!).
I can only speak for North America where refunds can be given for products or services.
Services can include anything from magazine/cable TV subscriptions, car repair, or a massage.
What about subscriptions to support services? My uncle once paid a monthly fee for IT support with his new computer from a big box retailer (Best Buy). Turns out it was very poor, so he requested and received a refund.
What about you Joomla folks around the world? There are lots of service providers in the J!sphere from support to development. Do you all provide refunds?
I can only speak for North America where refunds can be given for products or services.
Services can include anything from magazine/cable TV subscriptions, car repair, or a massage.
What about subscriptions to support services? My uncle once paid a monthly fee for IT support with his new computer from a big box retailer (Best Buy). Turns out it was very poor, so he requested and received a refund.
What about you Joomla folks around the world? There are lots of service providers in the J!sphere from support to development. Do you all provide refunds?
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Comment by Ivo Apostolov on February 11, 2010 at 1:12pm -
I don't know about refund, but a common practice for the people providing web services is to have half of the amount in advance and half of the amount once the job is done.
If the second amount has been paid, it's kind of "acceptance protocol".
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Comment by Victor Drover on February 11, 2010 at 1:14pm -
What about the first half? All my contracts have a refund window for the deposit (written notice in 30 days) , from which the hourly rate of any existing work is subtracted.
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Comment by Ivo Apostolov on February 11, 2010 at 1:16pm
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The first part is not refunded (I say it's like that usually, not always) if the work has commenced. So, if anything was done (time was spent), you would doubtfully get anything back. At least this is how it works in Bulgaria.
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Comment by Victor Drover on February 11, 2010 at 1:16pm
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What about in the non-J world. Can u get a refund for a bad haircut in Bulgaria?
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Comment by Ronni K. G. Christiansen on February 11, 2010 at 1:17pm -
Here (Denmark) if you subscribe to something and you have recieved as in I.e. access to a website, phone, newspaper etc. you can ofcause not ask for a refund.
If you paid for access to a website (i.e. subscriptionbased 3rd party developer sites) you would have gotten the service and hence had no longer any right what so ever for a refund as you had gained exactly what you was promised for the product.
But let me come with some examples:
As in every single subscription service in the US - if you subscribe to a newspaper and your getting it you cant complaint over the articles in the paper and demand a refund.
You cant order a phone subscription and demand a refund if noone calls - or the wrong people call.
The subscription as such is a service that you pay to get access to - and as such that is the sole judgement mark.
If you pay for access to a Merchanics Garage and the useage of his tools to fix your own car - you cant complain if the mechnic doesnt have a special wrench or if your car goes broke while your fixing it - You didnt pay the mechnic to fix your car - only to use his tools and access his garage.
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Comment by Ivo Apostolov on February 11, 2010 at 1:20pm
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In fact it is quite common here to re-negotiate the second payment. Very often the scope changes during the work (increase) or a developer misses a deadline (decrease) and similar.
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Comment by Ivo Apostolov on February 11, 2010 at 1:22pm
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You don't prepay haircut here... so you just don't pay.
However in case of ISPs or Cable broadcasters, I had cases when the quality was not satisfactory. They offered either refund or additional free services (i.e. two months for free etc., which had greater value and I choose them).
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Comment by Victor Drover on February 11, 2010 at 1:23pm
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So if I pay for 1 year of phone service in Denmark, and in the first month I find the call quality crappy, it is impossible to get a refund for the remaining 11 months?
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Comment by Ronni K. G. Christiansen on February 11, 2010 at 1:34pm
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But now your not comparing the same things.
If you pay for a phone service for 1 year and it doesnt work you can get a refund.
If you pay for a phone service and complaint over it doesnt have live TV - you cant get a refund unless you paid for a subscription with Live TV in it.
If you want to meassure something - you must first agree on what you are meassuring.
If i sell entries to a music festival and one of the bands sux you cant get a refund for the festival - If you buy tickets to 1 band and the band is unable to play you get a refund.
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Comment by Klas on February 11, 2010 at 1:36pm -
If provider provided what was agreed, legally you cannot ask for a refund, the same as you can't return a book because it wasn't as enlightening as you thought it will be (at least here). But smart and long term thinking providers will still offer some discount or other sort of compensation in such cases - although this is more common practice in B2B or services that have high unit value, so most subscriptions would fall outside of this.
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