Money back guarantee

Here is my final say on it.

Prorate it, simple and works for both parties.

Why?

Customer:

Gives them a peace of mind that the server won't go into flames. Given that they can just fire their provider at any time and anywhere.

Provider:
Gives you a peace of mind that for every day that you provides a working service and ensure that the customers are happy you got a pay day. Failing that you only lost what you didn't even delivered yet.

Fair for both parties and even gives the customer a slight "edge" given the nature of such a policy.
 
Harv45 said:
Here is my final say on it.

Prorate it, simple and works for both parties.

Why?

Customer:

Gives them a peace of mind that the server won't go into flames. Given that they can just fire their provider at any time and anywhere.

Provider:
Gives you a peace of mind that for every day that you provides a working service and ensure that the customers are happy you got a pay day. Failing that you only lost what you didn't even delivered yet.

Fair for both parties and even gives the customer a slight "edge" given the nature of such a policy.
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You have no idea how and what Prorate is.

Why you prorate a payment all it means is the payment is due on a specific date of the month (which you set), so say you set payments for 1st of the month and a client signs up on 20th of month why will end up paying from 20th to 1st and then the whole of the following month in 1 payment, and your MBG period would still apply
 
easyhostmedia said:
You have no idea how and what Prorate is.

Why you prorate a payment all it means is the payment is due on a specific date of the month (which you set), so say you set payments for 1st of the month and a client signs up on 20th of month why will end up paying from 20th to 1st and then the whole of the following month in 1 payment, and your MBG period would still apply
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A prorated guarantee works like this...

Say if a client signs up for a month, but they only used the service for 10 days (20 days remaining). Because they only used it for 10 days under such a guarantee they would qualifies for a refund of 20 days worth of service (~66% back) since they already used 10 days.

I never heard it called anything else at select providers who does provides this (usually for game servers and such).
 
Harv45 said:
A prorated guarantee works like this...

Say if a client signs up for a month, but they only used the service for 10 days (20 days remaining). Because they only used it for 10 days under such a guarantee they would qualifies for a refund of 20 days worth of service (~66% back) since they already used 10 days.

I never heard it called anything else at select providers who does provides this (usually for game servers and such).
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Makes sense and as a customer, I like the idea of prorated refunds. A lot.

The exception to the rule is 100% money-back guarantee on the initial term of 15, 30 or 45 days (most common ones I've seen), etc.
 
Harv45 said:
A prorated guarantee works like this...

Say if a client signs up for a month, but they only used the service for 10 days (20 days remaining). Because they only used it for 10 days under such a guarantee they would qualifies for a refund of 20 days worth of service (~66% back) since they already used 10 days.

I never heard it called anything else at select providers who does provides this (usually for game servers and such).
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Game servers are sold differently to normal hosting as these are sold in blocks and usually billed hourly
 
Artashes said:
Makes sense and as a customer, I like the idea of prorated refunds. A lot.

The exception to the rule is 100% money-back guarantee on the initial term of 15, 30 or 45 days (most common ones I've seen), etc.
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Indeed, beside it easy to remember rule for both parties. :)

Now if that could be an industry standard then second to world peace life would be great. :)
 
i know in the UK my MBG is fine as it was checked by Trading Standards and i know that HMRC (tax office) dont like prorated refunds being issued.
They see it as a user signs up for a service and they agree to use that service for a given period and after any MBG has passed and if they want to leave then they understand any monies paid are lost. also when it comes to monthly subscription they class each payment as accepting a new contract with the MBG only applying to first payment made.
 
Yes! If you comply with the terms of service of your host. You can usually recive a refund within the first 30 days.

Please note that in the European Union, you are allowed a refund regardless of their decision, within the first month, if you do not violate the terms of service, and you must be refunded within 1 moth.

If your outside the EU, it's recommended to issue a chargeback against the purchase and cite the terms of service regarding refunds. You will most likely win the charge back, in most cases without dispute.

Of course, if you use a service such as a domain name or dedicated IP and it's made clear that it's non refundable, you will be unable to get a refund in most cases. And if you are lucky enough to get one, the provider has the right to completely prohibit you from using their services as they can cite it as Service abuse.

Finally, if you want a refund after 30 days, if your doing a month by month renewal, you most likely won't recive one. However, if your paying a pre-paid term, unused months can usally be refunded.

However, no laws that I'm aware of stipulate how a refund is isused. If you are allowed to continue being a customer after a refund, the provider could issue the refund as client credit.

Although, you are allowed to request a refund to your original payment method. But, if you want a refund from a credit card purchase, sent to your bitcoin or PayPal account, the host can decide wether or not to allow it.

- Kieran
 
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Kieran said:
Please note that in the European Union, you are allowed a refund regardless of their decision, within the first month, if you do not violate the terms of service, and you must be refunded within 1 moth.
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Not 100% true as some services are exempt, such as if the plan has been made to clients specifications then it is made to order and therefore cannot be refunded under the The Consumer Contracts Regulations, also this ONLY applies to Consumers, so if you ordered as a business then these regulations do not apply

Kieran said:
Of course, if you use a service such as a domain name or dedicated IP and it's made clear that it's non refundable, you will be unable to get a refund in most cases. And if you are lucky enough to get one, the provider has the right to completely prohibit you from using their services as they can cite it as Service abuse.
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No host will refund domains, IPs, SSL certs. etc. as most of these are ordered in the buyers name or assigned to a specific domain, so if refunded the domain etc. would still be registered to the buyer.

Kieran said:
However, if your paying a pre-paid term, unused months can usally be refunded.
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This is upto the host, if they have a MBG then no matter what period you paid after the Guarantee period they dont need to refund you anything . i.e you pay £200 for an annual plan with a 30 day MBG and you cancel on day 29 then they will refund you, but if you cancel on day 31 they could say sorry you are over the MBG so no refund.
Kieran said:
However, no laws that I'm aware of stipulate how a refund is isused. If you are allowed to continue being a customer after a refund, the provider could issue the refund as client credit.
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well you need to learn a lot as laws are in place that refunds MUST be made in the same method as paid from. ie. you pay using Paypal then refund must be made to the same paypal account paid from, you pay by credit card, then refund must be made to the same credit card.
Kieran said:
Although, you are allowed to request a refund to your original payment method. But, if you want a refund from a credit card purchase, sent to your bitcoin or PayPal account, the host can decide wether or not to allow it.
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No a host cannot decide to pay a different method, MUST be refund to the same method/source the original payment was made. if you do not then you will find yourself without any method to take payments as both Visa and Mastercard would block any payment processor from dealing with you.
 
easyhostmedia said:
Not 100% true as some services are exempt, such as if the plan has been made to clients specifications then it is made to order and therefore cannot be refunded under the The Consumer Contracts Regulations, also this ONLY applies to Consumers, so if you ordered as a business then these regulations do not apply


No host will refund domains, IPs, SSL certs. etc. as most of these are ordered in the buyers name or assigned to a specific domain, so if refunded the domain etc. would still be registered to the buyer.


This is upto the host, if they have a MBG then no matter what period you paid after the Guarantee period they dont need to refund you anything . i.e you pay £200 for an annual plan with a 30 day MBG and you cancel on day 29 then they will refund you, but if you cancel on day 31 they could say sorry you are over the MBG so no refund.

well you need to learn a lot as laws are in place that refunds MUST be made in the same method as paid from. ie. you pay using Paypal then refund must be made to the same paypal account paid from, you pay by credit card, then refund must be made to the same credit card.

No a host cannot decide to pay a different method, MUST be refund to the same method/source the original payment was made. if you do not then you will find yourself without any method to take payments as both Visa and Mastercard would block any payment processor from dealing with you.
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Please note the original poster did not provide details in this matter, therefore I made it based on them being an individual using a standard service. If they are using business or custom services, I'd expect them to know much better.

I believe I already stated that domains, dedicated IP's etc are very varied, as some companies will actually refund people, cancel the domain (at their loss) and block the client from being a customer in future. It's not a common issue, however smaller hosts can very easily fall into this so called trap.

Regarding MGB after the first month, I stated they SHOULD refund unused months, and most larger hosts do, however there is no legal obligation for them to do so whatsoever. They usually do it on moral grounds, to avoid negative feedback on review sites.

In my experience hosts have chosen different refund methods, and when they use PayPal, to my knowledge, I've never seen PayPal block a business account as a direct result of this. If they do it frequently, of course, but if it's occasional PayPal won't even blink an eye at it, as it's a pain for them to deal with it if the buyer/seller do not agree with each other.


All information I specified regarding the legal side is from https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/index_en.htm, however I have admittedly failed to check exact details before making the final draft of this post. The cooling-off period is 14 days (not 1 Month) as I orginially thought and it's the same period for receiving a refund. So it's 30 days total, not 60 as I may have led some people to believe.

I will in future provide references in posts such as this regarding the law, and make sure the information matches what the law says.
 
Kieran said:
cancel the domain (at their loss).
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You cannot cancel a domain once registered ( some companies like resellerclub will give you 3 days to cancel for refund less $1), but after that all you can do is place a lock on the domain so it cannot be moved, but it will remain in the buyer name for them to use as they wish
Kieran said:
I've never seen PayPal block a business account as a direct result of this.
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Paypal dont need to do anything as paypal have agreements with Visa and Mastercard to accept payments into a paypal account using debit and credit cards, so if Visa and Mastercard block your company then you are stuck as Paypal would have to follow what visa and mastercard say and if they tell paypal not to offer services to you then that is what paypal would do as if they dont they then risk losing their company.

Kieran said:
All information I specified regarding the legal side is from https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/index_en.htm, however I have admittedly failed to check exact details before making the final draft of this post. The cooling-off period is 14 days (not 1 Month) as I orginially thought and it's the same period for receiving a refund. So it's 30 days total, not 60 as I may have led some people to believe.

I will in future provide references in posts such as this regarding the law, and make sure the information matches what the law says.
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I am well aware of the law as being running a web hosting business in the UK since 1999 and have all my policies checked by local Trading Standards to make sure they comply fully with current legislation.
 
easyhostmedia said:
You cannot cancel a domain once registered ( some companies like resellerclub will give you 3 days to cancel for refund less $1), but after that all you can do is place a lock on the domain so it cannot be moved, but it will remain in the buyer name for them to use as they wish.
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I've noted the ability to cancel domains in the past. Once I had a domain for 9 months, and I cancelled it with the register. The following day it was open for new registrations and showed as having no owner or registration records.

This was 2014, so it may have changed since then.

By the way, I did not state the reseller would be refunded, only the buyer, at the loss of the reseller.
 
Kieran said:
By the way, I did not state the reseller would be refunded, only the buyer, at the loss of the reseller.
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why should the reseller by left out of pocket. all domains once registered can only be revoked without any record by ICANN and Nominet (no registrar can do this).

The reseller can be refunded if the registrar allows this for a very short time ( like i said resellerclub allows 3 days and even then they will refund you but will keep $1)
so the best thing a reseller can do is lock down the domain, so it cannot be moved, disable the users account so they have no access to it and change the nameservers for the domain, so the domain cannot be used
 
easyhostmedia said:
why should the reseller by left out of pocket. all domains once registered can only be revoked without any record by ICANN and Nominet (no registrar can do this).

The reseller can be refunded if the registrar allows this for a very short time ( like i said resellerclub allows 3 days and even then they will refund you but will keep $1)
so the best thing a reseller can do is lock down the domain, so it cannot be moved, disable the users account so they have no access to it and change the nameservers for the domain, so the domain cannot be used
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As I already stated, it's unlikely, but possible the reseller would provision a refund. And I've also stated in 2014 CrazyDomains allowed me to completely cancel a domain 3 months before expiry.

The registrar of some extensions may have changed since then, and so could some rules.

However, I have a RC Account and I'm still given an option on clients accounts to 'Cancel Domain', although I've not used it, so I can't confirm it actually works or not.

This is now going round in circles, so unless you have any new information to add, please do not respond, as I won't be.
 
We offer a 30 day money back guarantee. You can cancel your account within 30 days from account activation for a full refund of the monthly hosting fees. Except for registered domains.
 
Kieran said:
I did not state to any extent that RC will provide a refund, I stated it can be cancelled. It actually says even outside the period they will delete the domain at register level if ih email them.
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yes and you only have a limited time to cancel a domain as stated in the link i provided.
It is not guaranteed they will cancel a domain when you email them.
 
Getting your money back on cancellation of service depends on what refund policy the web host possess. Hence make sure to go through all the terms of services and refund policy before subscribing with any web host.
 
Most often such option as money back guarantee is advertised by hosting providers, so you will see it near the tariff plan. However it would be better to check the terms of service, as some services include such guarantee and others - not.
 
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