So it’s been a while since I wrote a post but today I feel that we need to talk about something important when it comes to buying a digital product, let’s talk about refunds. I really do hope that you read this whole post, as I’ve always tried my very best to be honest, and open with this community as I love helping everyone in that uses Divi.
So here the thing at the bottom of every page on Bolt Themes is a link to our T&C where we mention our refund policy which basically says “Due to the nature of our product, refunds are not available.” but even though we technically don’t do refunds, I have refunded customers who have actually had issue that was not resolvable or our support for them had fallen through the crack. (Which I hate, which is why I am looking for a support person.)
So today I told a customer that I will not refund him as he made a decision to move from WooCommerce to another eCommerce plugin and he has resorted to blackmailing me, threatening to write a blog post trashing our products and posting it all over social media and here the thing before he threatened me I was actually considering giving him a refund but I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED. Below are some of the emails I have received from him.
Ok now that the blackmail part is out the of the way let me tell you why we picked such a hard refund policy and when will actually issue a refund.
So when I started Bolt Themes I actually didn’t have a refund policy for the first 3 months as I had not given it any thought but due to no refund request and the fact that I what I had learned over those 3 months was that unhappy customer, would be happy if you helped them fix the issue that they were having, I had also seen some other Divi company who also had a no refund policy in place so not just me who has picked this refund route.
So here the scenario with digital products, once you’ve downloaded a digital product such as our plugin, we have no way of knowing that you will really delete our products and never use them again, so how would you like spending hours creating something and then you issue a refund because someone say they will delete you product and you one day found out that they still using your hard work after you gave them their money back. How would that make you feel? you most likely will feel angry right? that why I picked this refund policy for our products.
Okay, now here when I will consider a refund policy.
The plugin is breaking your website and we can’t fix it.
Their feature that we can’t implement within your timeline (If it a feature we’ve promised)
If we have not responded to support tickets in a timely manner (Again I am looking to hire a support person)
Reason we will not refund for:
You bought without reading what the plugin does
You threaten us, not a chance
you’ve picked another route for your site
I am sorry that this person is not happy with my decision to not refund him.
Never let these bullies take control, you did right, kudos to you for taking stand.
Thanks Robin, it’s a hard situation to have to deal with.
All i can say is Donkey the guy is a sad reminder of the sheltered part of society who think that they actually are in a comic book and that life has no consequences. Donkey. Way to hold your ground, Im a firm believer in good customer service. but I have literally watched years of paid support piss away because I impulsively bought the wrong plugin or what have you. But that was my mistake not the developers. And in my opinion to take money back out the pocket you just put it in isn’t cool as there maybe a child next meal riding on it. Ya never know. that being said I expect the same treatment when it isn’t and its always the bigger guys that don’t reciprocate usually , as they hide behind a policy and an oh so useful support forum. Anyway Dr JackAss has all the bad mojo collection in trust to come around when he cant take it .
He’s an ugly poser. If he were worthy of $50/hr, he wouldn’t need a plugin to format his woo pages.
Thanks Suzy for your support 🙂
That guy is 100% wrong not to mention disrespectful
Thanks Jessica, a little politeness would’ve gone a lot further.
Sounds like your plugin did not work well for him and you wanted to hold on to the $20. As a business owner I would have issued the refund in good faith instead of turning it into bad blood.
Henery, his issue was not really with my plugin, he was using WooCommerce and changed to another eCommerce plugin. Now my product is a Divi/WooCommerce addon, it’s not my fault he changed his mind about the solution he wanted to use for eCommerce.
If there was an issue with my plugin not working, I would’ve refunded him.
No worries, his text speaks for itself.
Thanks Anton 🙂
All publicity is good publicity and his person just comes off as a troll. Ignore it and move on, if anything this William iNCREASE your sales and website hits. Thanks the troll.
Sounds more like, he did not know what he was doing or wanted. I never purchase anything until i am 100% sure it is what i want. I get to test allot of themes sometimes. The latest i got to try out was divi and extra. Man i have to say, those themes have beaten other themes.
if he truly was that aware of what he wanted, he would of known that woocommerce can do allot more than ecommerce can do. but each person has their own taste.
I would not of refunded him either. I would of pointed out that i only give refunds as long as everything I can try to do with my products does not work. That includes if it is actually for my product not working with what it is suppose to.
he has no case nor a argument.
btw, is there any screenshots of the divi soon plugin?
well done standing up to the jerk