I purchased a theme but encountered some issues. I requested a refund on the platform, but the author rejected it. I have one chance to appeal, so I submitted my appeal text along with four attachments on Envato. However, when I clicked the “Raise Dispute” button, the submission failed.
I tried submitting via PC using both Edge and Chrome, but neither worked. Doesn’t Envato test the usability of its pages regularly?
Additionally, what other channels (such as email) can I use to escalate this issue?
Hello, I clicked on the link you provided, and it’s ridiculous—it just asks me to contact the author again instead of allowing me to appeal directly to your platform.
I am trying to submit an appeal because I already contacted the author the first time, and they refused to issue a refund.
You are not addressing the issue where the appeal submission is not working. (I still have one appeal opportunity, but the “Submit Appeal” button on your website is unresponsive. You should fix this issue so customers can properly submit their appeals.)
Following your link, I contacted the author again, but what if they refuse once more? When I try to submit an appeal, your website won’t allow it due to a bug, leaving me stuck in an endless loop.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why users are slowly leaving your theme store. People believe that having proof means they are protected, yet the platform fails to act in situations like this.
The main reason for my first refund request was the “workscount” theme:
1, After completing the installation, without enabling WordPress debug mode, I encountered an error message in the backend:
“Property ‘msg’ on null in /www/wwwroot/wordpress/wp-content/themes/workscout/inc/b372b0Base.php on line 610.”
This issue was resolved after the author suggested changes to the PHP code.
In the “home1” template, clicking on “Browse all categories” fails to load, and other navigation of some pages returns a 404 error.
The author provided a partial fix for this. the 404 issue was resolved, but the “browse all categories” loading failure still exists - perhaps this is an issue with the demo test data itself, so I’ll set it aside for now.
I continued to explore the theme. To troubleshoot potential problems caused by the test server using IP addresses instead of the real domain name, I migrated the site to the production server and correctly pointed to the domain name. Now, I found a new problem:
3. In the “home2” template, the “Popular Categories” section shows duplicate content. I replaced the original “Name” and “Description” content one by one in the “Categories” of the “Job Manager”. (without deleting the demo data, just replacing it with my own content), but the homepage still shows duplicate entries - even though there are no actual duplicate records in the backend. What is causing this? This question remains unanswered.
Most importantly, “workscount” is based on the “Job Manager” plugin, but it lacks the support for “WP Job Manager - WooCommerce Paid List” in the core package. WooCommerce Paid Listings” module in the core package, resulting in the following warning:
“This plugin is not compatible with the enabled WooCommerce feature ‘High Performance Order Store’ and should not be enabled. Managing WooCommerce Features”.
If the theme doesn’t even integrate well with WooCommerce, then why did I choose “workscount”?
Therefore, I respectfully request a refund. It’s still only the initial installation and testing phase - I will be very frustrated if I run into more unforeseen issues before the site goes live. Thanks.
“Workscount” is built on the “Job Manager” plugin, but it lacks proper support for the core package of “Job Manager” — especially for the “WP Job Manager - WooCommerce Paid Listings” component. I receive a warning:
“‘High Performance Order Storage’ and should not be enabled. Manage WooCommerce features.”*
I believe I have sufficient grounds for a refund, but here’s the problem:
The theme author refuses to issue a refund.
I have only one chance to file a dispute on the platform, but the “Raise Dispute” button on the website is completely unresponsive — whether I use Edge or Chrome. How is a user supposed to exercise their refund rights?
I appreciate replies under my post, but here’s the issue:
The first reply led me to a refund application link, but after submitting it, the case goes back to the theme author to decide. Since the author still refuses to refund, I’m again pushed to appeal through the platform, but the “Raise Dispute” button doesn’t work, which traps me in an endless loop.
The second reply offered a link to choose the product for a refund. But the theme I want to refund was purchased on March 28, and it’s not visible in the dropdown — I can only see my most recent purchase. I clicked “Need to find an older purchase?”, entered the Item ID and Item Purchase Code, but still couldn’t submit the form. If I can’t submit, how do I request a refund? Again, an endless loop.
The author has a time limit to agree or refuse the refund request ( 10 working days, If I’m not mistaken )
After that you could raise a ticket Envato support but from what I read, it sounds like you have changed your mind about the item. I’m not sure what process you have been through with the author but from what I read her, you don’t have much “grounds” to request refund.
I have changed my opinion about Workscount for two main reasons, as I mentioned earlier:
There is a bug in how the homepage categories are displayed — even though there are no duplicate entries in the backend, the frontend still loads duplicate content. The author’s response was to fix this by using another plugin. This gives the impression that the theme is unfinished and was not properly tested before release.
The theme is built upon a specific plugin, which officially requires a core component package to function correctly. However, the theme author’s support for this core package is inadequate. In fact, WordPress even shows a compatibility warning (see the screenshot I posted). This completely killed my interest in using the theme.
Aren’t these reasons valid enough? According to your refund policy, does it mean that as long as the author replies, it counts as “support provided,” and any refund request is automatically assumed to be the customer’s fault — and therefore denied?
If that’s the case, why not consider it from another perspective: Instead of forcing the customer to invest time and energy into a theme that clearly wasn’t thoroughly tested (as evidenced by the repeated category display bug on the homepage), why not allow them to switch to a better theme that will help them build their website and market it more efficiently?
If I can’t get a refund for this, I will no longer purchase any WordPress themes or plugins from your platform. I’ve completely lost confidence in your refund policy, your refund request interface design, and even the basic UI — some buttons on the page are not even clickable.
From your posts, I can see you are complaining that the concerned theme has multiple bugs. If you have prove then you are eligible to get a refund then you can request a refund. If the author does not respond to the refund request within 7 days or decline the refund request, you will be given an option to raise a dispute with Envato. This option should appear automatically as a link or button on the refund request details page after 7 days from the refund request date.
