Legal advice please regarding a refund request from a client

In My Humble Opinion
1

So I run a small business (but the most popular in a conurbation of half a million people) and largely my life is trouble free… but about once per year I get a difficult customer.

Usually I just nod my head, pay them off, and get rid of them to avoid any hassle… but in the latest example, what should I have done/could do in the future?

So she pays for a block of 5 lessons for her son.
We have the lessons, and she pays for another 5.
After lesson 1 of the new block, she demands a refund of the remaining lessons.

She claims in an email that we’ve only had 6 lessons in the last 10 weeks… that it’s not a reflection on their quality, just her son wants them every week, so she wants to find someone else.

Now, I told her at the start that I’m very busy and can’t guarantee the same day and time each week, but I’ll do my best if she can only book certain days. She mentions a few weeks in that her son doesn’t like gaps in lessons, but I ask her for a potential back up day if her first choice doesn’t pan out any given week… she says Sunday, so we do 1 or 2 of them over the next few weeks when her first choice isn’t available.

My small print…

Before anyone buys lessons, I send them an email stating they are buying 5 lessons, and they never expire… but I don’t state anywhere they are weekly. I also state that any lesson renewals are to be made on the date of the 5th and last lesson, so they are always 1 week in advance (she broke this on the renewal).

So where do I stand legally? I did offer to repay her for the unused lessons, but only at the end of the following month. They haven’t responded to this email, which was over 2 weeks ago.

Can she demand a refund given she’s sent written evidence it’s nothing to do with the quality, that it just doesn’t fit with her and her sons availability?

In my opinion, I’ve not broken any contract, and by not acknowledging my previous offer to pay the refund at the end of April, there is no acceptance to that offer… hence it doesn’t exist. But I’m only going on what I’ve read… I’m no expert…

Any advice on this situation, I would be very grateful.

BONUS SCENARIO - QUESTION

While I remember… I had the almost exact same scenario last year… but in that situation, I offered a refund to her as I realised I couldn’t fit her in. She asked for it the next day… I requested 10 days. She wrote me an email stating 'if you don’t give me a refund by 5pm Monday I will report you to the police, trading standards and inland revenue for stealing my money and not providing the service you were selling, and she basically accused me of stealing.

Isn’t this blackmail? I mean, I did pay up by her deadline… because I just didn’t want to deal with a crazy person.

Any advice to that situation would be welcome too as you never know when this could happen again.

(for the record… I’ve had 3 refund requests in 5 years).

2

Moderator Action

Questions involving legal issues belong in IMHO.

Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.

3

Frankly, in a business like yours, where reputation is everything, I think you should swallow it. If she starts tweeting and going on FB, saying how you won’t refund money for lessons her son didn’t use, you will look like a crook. The terms and conditions she agreed won’t matter; all that will matter is perception.

4

That was my initial thought… don’t deal with crazy. I always wonder though if she had shot herself in the foot initially while threatening me (the FB/reputation stuff aside).

5

Yeah, if we’ve learned nothing else from the recent United debacle, it’s that the business is always wrong and the customer has always been treated badly, even if the customer is primarily or partially responsible. So if I were you I would refund with a smile and thank her for her business.

6

I’m a little confused here. Did the kid get a lesson every week, just not always on the same day, or did he get 6 lessons in 10 weeks?

In either case, it looks to be a simple matter of scheduling not working out. You can either stand your ground and tell her “no refunds” or you can say “sorry the scheduling doesn’t work” and refund the unused lessons. But since you’ve already offered to refund the unused lessons, you shouldn’t really try to claim “no refunds” at this point.

7

She only wants a refund for the lessons you haven’t provided, right? I don’t see what the problem is, here. You can have a “no refunds” policy, but the point of the policy is to discourage someone from, say, buying 5 lessons at the discounted 5-lesson rate and then asking for a refund after 1 lesson. This is not that case - she’s received 6 lessons from you, and now doesn’t want any more. Doesn’t matter why.

I’d just write her a check for the lessons her son didn’t receive and close the books on the matter. Reading between the lines, do you not have the money or the ability to borrow it as needed? That’s a far more serious problem than some minor quibbling like this.

8

I’m with those that say to cheerfully refund the money for the remaining lessons. Whether or not she has a valid case isn’t the point. If you’re a great teacher, they’ll be back, anyhow.

To your bonus complaint, I know of a business that throws you out, discontinues communications, and keeps all your prepaid money at the slightest whisper of pursuing legal claims against it.

9

If I asked for a refund for some service I’d used only part of, and the provider said, sure, but I can’t refund until <date in the future>, I would probably be slightly annoyed that I couldn’t get it sooner, but not enough to argue. I’d consider the matter settled and put a note on my calendar to ensure that the refund was received at the future date.

I’m not sure why you think she needs to additionally confirm that you have agreed to refund her. She asked for a refund, you offered to provide one. Case closed?

Now, I think you would have been within your rights to say, sorry, I don’t offer refunds for scheduling preferences. But you didn’t. You said you’d refund her. So you should.

10

So … she wants you to refund the money for the four lessons her son hasn’t had.

You are also fine with refunding the money for the four lessons.

You want the date of this refund to be “the end of the next month” which, if I’m reading the timeline correctly, means the end of April, currently 3 weeks away.

She wants the date of this refund to be … not specified, because the crazy woman mentioned in the end of the post who couldn’t wait 10 days is someone completely different.

Why the end of the month? Do you have a cash flow problem? If not, since you have both in principle agreed on the refund, why don’t you just do it now?

Or if you really won’t have the money for another 3 weeks, then just pay it in three weeks. It could be that she hasn’t responded to your mail because she’s just thinking “eh, whatever”. But undoubtedly she will still want the refund! I’d send her an email in a couple of weeks saying “just organising your refund now, it will be ready on <whatever date you’ve decided to do it>”, assuming that her silence means she still wants what she wanted originally.

FWIW we have been in a similar situation with a music teacher and it IS pretty annoying with a young kid to not have a regular schedule. So I totally understand her reason for wanting to change over, although it is a bit dim of her to re-up for another 5 when she already knew your scheduling constraints. But maybe she was covering her bases while she looked for another teacher.

11

I think you should refund the money and now. I’m sure you don’t book lessons with people when they agree to your 5 lesson rate and then they tell you, oh, but I’ll pay for it in 3 weeks.

12

Hi, I’ll clarify a few things. I give any refunds at at the end of the month alongside all my other outgoings for easy bookkeeping purposes. Plus it also gives me time to potentially iron out any miscommunication’s or issues.

The situations mentioned are dealt with. I have either refunded or stated I will refund - I am merely using them as examples as to how best prepare or deal with such situations should they arise in the future - mostly from a legal standpoint.

I’m not asking what to do ‘now’, just whether I should stand up to someone similar in the future - and if so what would happen.

It’s always a tricky situation, and I’m just gathering advice and opinions.

13

Can you just have a disclaimer or something in the contract that says “Block purchases of lessons will not be refunded after the first lesson”?

14

Read this with the understanding that I don’t know if you are offering lessons for students of a very high level of accomplishment (I assume they are guitar lessons), equivalent to a private skating coach for an Olympic hopeful, or just that you are a well-regarded teacher of a typical level of guitar lessons for grade school and high school students that most parents would have experience with…but assuming it is the latter:

It seems to me that you are way too focused on legalities (“where do I stand legally,” “I’ve not broken any contract, and by not acknowledging my previous offer to pay the refund at the end of April, there is no acceptance to that offer…”, your small print, whether her comment that she had no complaints about the quality of the lessons absolved you from any obligation to refund her money (that’ll teach her to be considerate of your feelings as a human being…) etc.). This seems overdone for a person offering a personal service to parents/students (not commercial entities) involving sums of I am guessing under $500.

Why not approach it from the standpoint of two ethical people making an effort not to unduly inconvenience the other while of course not causing themselves harm? She paid for lessons ahead of time based on trust and goodwill (did she ask to speak to your banker to ensure that you would remain in business long enough to complete all five lessons?), she did go through with six lessons, and it doesn’t sound like you have really suffered a loss of opportunity in terms of reserving specific times for lessons that she later cancelled on short notice…so why not refund her money if that is your intention anyways?

I assume you handle your bookkeeping yourself, your customers pay you and not a corporation or limited liability company that you have set up.

If that is the case, the “end of the month for easy bookkeeping” seems kind of lame. If you were a multi-person operation with a billing/finance department, it could be understandable (“it will take a few weeks to process your refund request”) but if you are just working for yourself, you can refund her anytime you want, and she knows that. So to her it just looks like you are hanging onto her money just because.

The e-mail you send setting out your terms for providing lessons is great, but you should think of it in terms of setting expectations rather than creating some sort of contract situation or small print (i.e., you seem to want to imply that since the e-mail doesn’t specifically state “weekly lessons” she has no grounds for finding the lack of a regular weekly appointment to be a justification for wanting a refund…and that she broke your rules about when she can renew…wait, you let her break the rules on renewal? Well, your failure to enforce those rules now render any and all agreements between you null and void!).

It’s great to conduct your business/livelihood in a business-like manner, but be flexible when you can afford to be. This case sounds like one where you very much can afford to be.

15

If I was that woman I’d be pretty ticked at you too.

You’ve both agreed you should refund the money, but you’re holding on to it “to make bookkeeping easier”? Come on. That is just bad customer service. You should have cut a check 5 minutes after agreeing to refund her, assuming it was on the phone. If it was in person you should have handed one to her immediately. Good customer service >> some bookkeeping your clients don’t care about.

My bigger concern is how flaky you seem to be as a music teacher. I took lessons from several different teachers as a kid, and “same time, same place, every week” was the minimum expectation (Of course, if someone was sick or on vacation or something an exception can be made). If you can’t commit to a consistent time each week for each of your clients, I’m amazed you have any clients at all. I don’t blame the woman for wanting a refund!

There are times to worry about the legalities, and there are times when it pays to have a reputation as easy to work with, prompt, and consistent. Even if you cut this woman a check now, what do you think she’s going to say when (and it’s a when, not if) someone asks her about your services? “Oh, he’s great even if it didn’t work out” or “Lazy bum can’t keep a schedule and held on to my refund for a month, six lessons was six too many”?

My advice in the future is to try reasonably to keep your clients happy if you want a business. It sounds like you just have a hobby for some extra income… which is fine, but try to still show some respect for your clients.

I know this comes off as a bit harsh, but the amount of entitlement I read into your post makes me think you need some more direct advice.

16

I know it’s not really relevant to your refund question, but do you mind expanding on your scheduling? In my years of lessons (as a student with about 10 different teachers, and as teacher for 15 years) I’ve literally never once heard of anyone not sticking to a set schedule with each student. I can’t even figure out how you do it, but am more interested in why?

17

My guess is the lessons take a a back seat scheduling wise to some other gigs that are not regularly scheduled.
I must say, in the last example with the more aggressive client, you were out of line. If you cancel because you can’t do a job then you refund immediately not wait 10 days for the ease of your bookkeeping. They want that money to hire someone who CAN do the job and they shouldn’t have to wait on your convenience when you are at fault.

18

I am also a small business owner and I cheerfully refund even when it’s clearly the customer at fault. You have no leverage in this situation and the customer has a multitude of ways to make your life miserable and potentially ruin your reputation. It doesn’t matter what the contract says, it’s all about how the customer feels, and if they feel cheated in any way you’ve lost the battle. Unless you are willing to risk your reputation as an honest business person you should always bow down to the customer and move on. It’s usually a relatively small amount of money in the greater scheme of things.

BTW, thanks for teaching me a new word (conurbation).

19

I think you’re being unreasonable (in both scenarios you listed) and should refund her for the unused lessons as soon as possible. I’m not sure what the hangup is.

20

Refund the money for unused lessons.

It’s the best policy and helps your reputation.

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