August 16, 2016

Follow up regarding refunds...

After yesterday’s email about offering refunds, Mark R wrote in to ask:

Have you ever had to actually refund money?

In ten years of business, I think I’ve only given 4 refunds, all of which were voluntary (i.e., the client didn’t ask for them):

$10,000 refunded for an iPad web app project (I returned their check immediately after the kickoff meeting because it was clear that the CEO was going to sabotage the project)
$5,000 refunded for a Sencha Touch iPad app that I couldn’t get working properly (my fault for choosing a bad tool)
$5,000 refunded for work on an iPad app prototype went off the rails (my fault for not controlling scope creep)
$600 refunded for delivering a roadmap a few weeks late (my fault for letting myself get overbooked)

If we throw out the first one (since I hadn’t done any work yet), refunds amount to a fraction of a percentage point of my revenue over the same period (i.e., they haven’t been a big deal for me at all).

(Funny, I never noticed before that the iPad is the common thread in my project refunds :) )

Thanks for the question, Mark!

Yours,

—J

“Every freelancer who bills hourly should be FORCED to read Hourly Billing Is Nuts by Jonathan Stark.” —Matt Inglot