Would you refund this person?

Sounds like its a physical product, so I would tell him you will refund the money once you receive the parts back.

Let him know he has to ship them back to you, and you will not be able to process the refund until they are delivered.

Other than that, you would be happy to give a refund once they are returned (minus shipping costs of course)

If you offer a money back guarantee you have to honour it.
If you offer a money back guarantee you will, at some time, have to refund a customers money.

If you or your business can't cope with refunding money then don't offer a guarantee to do so.

I understand that real goods cost real money but you need to factor that in when you offer these guarantees.

Yes you lost money on that sale but how many other sales have you made money on? (that only happened because you offered the money back guarantee).

If your customers discover your money back guarantee is worthless, how many do you think you will lose?

Pay up, move on, make more money, maybe re-assess your guarantee

I would refund and then change my refund policy to take
care of custom-made items as non-refundable. It's
reasonable to have a policy that says if I ordered a
custom-made item and it was delivered to my specification
then I cannot expect a refund.

-Ray Edwards

It's physical goods and the customer is entirely to blame.

He is technically educated, he is in fact somebody someone may refer to as an "expert" that gives technical advice on related forums.

It's like I was to order a SEO campaign and when the work is done I was to say "Oooops I gave you the wrong website, and keywords, please refund!" ... I guess I'm just upset because I have to refund because somebody did not bother reading what he was ordering.

The customer knows he is wrong. He even said so.

I will definitely revise my refund policy! And re-write it.

Refund the customer, take the loss and move on...

It's really just part of doing business, don't let it ruin your week (or even your hour).

You could sell the greatest product of all time and you'll occasionally have refunds or chargebacks to deal with. The more business you do, the more often it will happen.

Hey,

Don't be downhearted.

It's just how business is, sure you will get one or two asking for a refund

Honour it and move on

Regards
Bilaal

Even the best products have refunds. Always honor your refund policy. However, if you find that you are losing too much in refunds, either the product or service was not up to par, or you need to be explicit that products must be returned in re-saleable condition.

As your customer admitted he was wrong not you, I am perplexed to see the reason why you are worried.

I would always ask for the parts back, and issue the refund, as it is good business practice, and if your customer is happy, he will be more likely to come back and buy something else in the future possibly. If not, C'est la vie, move on and sell some more.

There's some great advice in this thread already.

You certainly could refuse to give the refund and arguably be justified in doing so because it sounds like it was a custom order. However, as @Tony Marriott said - if you offer a refund you have to honor it...and if you offer a refund and it doesn't specify that it doesn't cover special orders - you still have to honor it.

However - I certainly wouldn't let it ruin my week.

When I had a customer default on a $7million contract back in 2001 that left me paying over $4 million "out of pocket" on the job and ultimately led to bankruptcy - that ruined my week. When our oldest daughter was diagnosed with cancer 3 days later (4 at the time)...THAT REALLY ruined my week - again (she's doing great now)...and taught me never to say "it can't get any worse than this" - because when I did...IT did. When our 11 year old daughter was diagnosed with Type I Juvenile diabetes last Wednesday and we learned her body doesn't produce insulin so she'll have to take 4-6 shots a day for the rest of her life...that ruined my week. The first time she "crashed" and blood glucose fell into the 40s and she nearly passed out - that just scared the hell out of me - but it didn't ruin my week :-) (or hers).

So count your blessings my friend. A customer requesting a refund based on their screw-up is frustrating as hell I know (been there before) - but it's no reason to let your week be ruined.

I'd like to look at it as an OPPORTUNITY to improve your business model...and anytime we can learn something and apply it to improve our business - it's a GOOD WEEK.

And having the opportunity to do so before the same thing happens again is even better, because it minimizes your risk and ultimately could save you lots of money...which means more profit.

So I second @Bill Farnham's suggestion to take this opportunity to update your refund policy for special orders.

But even then...if a customer requested a refund at no fault of mine - depending on the circumstances - I'd seriously consider giving it. Any customer who goes to the extent of threatening unjustified disputes, lawsuits or other action could be "poison" (and better off doing business with your competition). So if I thought they were serious - and it would cost me more in time, stress, distraction and money to defend it than it would to issue a refund...I'd probably still give the refund (even if my policy said otherwise) just to eliminate the hassle and move on without the distraction (and have done so before).

So apply a little "spin" here and turn the negative into a positive you can use to improve your biz...besides - as an entrepreneur/business owner you're too strong and got too much going for you than to let a customer refund request ruin your week.

Be Well!
Mark

I'd tell him to send me back the parts at his expense and then I will refund his money. I would not give him his money back til I got the parts back. If he's a scammer he wont want to spend his money to send the items back.

There's the saying "the customer is alwasy right" and this especially applies to getting a refund when the site you purchase from has a money back guarantee... Nothing to complain about here, it's just business. Focus more on making the next customer's experience better so they repeat purchase and leave this guy with a good impression of his dealings with your company..

He sounds like a tool, but you're doing the right thing. At least you're taking the high ground with this. Well done!

Like others have stated, refund and change up your policy. You say that he is viewed as an expert so I'm guessing that he has a wide reach that could potentially do some damage to your business if he decided to make a stink about it.

It's always good to treat every customer as if they could do damage to your business with a bad review because that's exactly what they are. A huge majority of potential customers will look up reviews before they make a purchase decision and one sour customer could turn away many sales.

It is hard to refund a sale when you are dealing with physical products, but get the parts back and refund the money - it is not worth the headache to keep carrying on about it.

We all make mistakes, both in buying and selling

So, basically, you feel the moral thing to do is have a refund guarantee, but not honor it?

Never take a loss because of someone else's mistake. You are running a business and you are not getting paid to read the fine print for other people. It's your week...

Just refund and get on with it...no matter how great the product or how cheap it is..there are people who are always looking to refund...no point getting agitated over it.. Chill...weekend is coming...more sales for you~

Refund?
Hell no ... you sent the wrong parts. What you'll do instead is:

- Ask him ( once he figures his correct measurements ) wants the RIGHT parts.
- If so ... send them.

Then, adopt a policy to always obtain exact specs from customers
and make exception to the MBG if they sized it wrong, themselves.

Stick the returned parts on ebay for all it cost you and more
since likely there is someone else needing those parts.

DO NOT let this ruin your week...just remember that there will always be things that come along that will test you. Give the refund (after you receive the parts back) and move foward.