This is unacceptable, I have received a refund request from a customer because he can’t install a theme stating “stylesheet missing” error, I have replied him with a solution (install a theme file that is inside a zip file he downloaded from themeforest), this is what he answered:
There is no ARCHIVE folder, and why is it not in the zipped theme file? Can you please issue a refund? I would prefer to use a theme that can be installed as it should be (by installing the zipped theme and widgets). I don’t have time to chase down files, sorry – a nice theme but I just need to move on. Please let me know what you need for the refund.
We have to stop this behaviour, Envato should penalize those users who just download a perfectly working theme and file a chargeback with their card processor. They treat us/authors like shit! I’ve been working on this theme for a whole year, and it is working perfectly fine for thousands of customers, but some customers seem to abuse it, and I don’t like it at all.
Yes, he got refund from PayPal, so Envato took money away from me as well, that’s my issue, those type of customers should get their accounts frozen or something, you can’t just use themes without paying for them.
I don’t think the buyer had a valid reason to request a refund and Envato probably wouldn’t have processed one under the circumstances… but when it comes to a chargeback there’s not much Envato can do. However, I’d be interested to know what you sent to the guy between the first email he sent that you’ve quoted, and the second one.
Under the circumstances, I think you were perfectly polite. The ‘you can’t just download themes left and right’ could have been worded slightly more sensitively, although that’s essentially what he was looking to do, so it kind of had to be said… but either way, I don’t think you were rude in any way shape or form.
Unfortunately Envato are in the back seat for this, basically the customer is always right when it comes to online payments, all they need to do is go back to their bank or Paypal and say they didn’t authorise the payment and they will be refunded almost instantly… The businesses affected can’t appeal and lose the money and can lose the products as well.
Some payment processors protect against this but it’s rare and Paypal definitely don’t, unfortunately it’s one of those risks of doing business online.
Don’t let the refund get to you, it could have happened to anyone else, their account would have been locked down and their purchase code removed so they shouldn’t be able to get support from you, just concentrate on the good buyers
