to refund or not to refund, that is the question

As a small product team, we've always prided ourselves on being customer-centric. Despite having a no-refund policy, we've managed a degree of flexibility to accommodate our customers on a case-to-case basis. Whether it was an accidental signup or a customer mistakenly opting for an annual plan when they intended to choose monthly - we've been there to help sort it out. This approach was our way of saying, 'Hey, we've got your back.'

However, we've recently observed a trend compelling us to rethink our approach. A few users have started exploiting our flexibility by purchasing a premium plan, using all the allocated credits – which essentially offer full access to our premium features for a month – and then requesting a refund the next day. This has not only put us in a tricky spot but has also led us to question the sustainability of our current approach.

We need a more robust framework to protect the integrity of our services.