How did you handle this kind of refund request?

Envato Authors Theme Authors
1

Hey,

We would like to know how did you guys handle this refund situation.

Basically customer is not happy with theme because he has issue with 3rd party plugin which is not advertised that it support by our theme. Or customer made some customisation and break some of theme functionality and layout.

Then customer told us to fix 3rd party plugin issue and fix customisation. Sometime if it’s simple CSS display issue we can fix it but if they are complex issue then we have to tell customer that we can’t support 3rd party plugin or custom modification.

Then customer submit a refund for this and we decline it. Next customer get angry and rated your theme 1 star.

So when we got 1 star rating, we are forced to give refund for 3rd party plugin and custom modification issue.

Submit a ticket to Envato support won’t work well. We tried before and Envato support staff who responsible for rating removal won’t remove it if customer opened refund request already. They seems to be on buyer side if buyer want to get refund.

Then after customer got his refund. We checked his website again and he still using our theme which he already got refund.

How did you guys handle this kind of situation?

2

Yes, We are also facing such issues regarding the refund policy given to the authors.

Customers are asking for the customization, if not given they are forcing us to give the refund as they are saying we are not able to use your theme.

Not able to understand how to handle such situations.

3

If the buyer continues using your theme illegally after a refund has been processed (takes a few days), you can send him a warning. In case of non-compliance, send a DMCA to the webhost.

Do note that some buyers may complain that they didn’t get a proper refund - that they only got “credit” from Envato. This is what they agreed to when signing up at Envato. It’s not author’s fault and it doesn’t entitle the buyers to continue using the theme.