Hello, I am a long time experienced web developer with a very good reputation for making my clients happy. I am currently in a dispute with a client who is making false accusations against me, has been extremely irrational and impossible to deal with, and is claiming that I owe him a refund based on the 3 day buyers remorse (cooling off) law. I am not at fault and have tried and tried to fulfill the terms in the project agreement he agreed to, but he is uncooperative. I have tried to research the matter, but am not clear on some things. 1. Does the 3 day period apply to web development services obtained via phone and internet? 2. Can he claim buyers remorse when he did not actually state that he wanted to terminate the project before midnight of the 3rd day? He didn't say he wanted to cancel until the 6th day and had absolutely no grounds to do so. 3. Won't my refund policy cover me anyway? My refund policy in our project agreement clearly states: I offer a 100% refund if I fail to complete the project as agreed, due to fault of my own. No refund will be provided if you choose to terminate the project for any other reason. I am confident that I have gone above and beyond to try to resolve the situation and please the client, but he is impossible. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks!
I do not believe the 3 day cooling off period applies in your situation. As I understand it, it applies to door-to-door sales and contracts for health clubs and related services. It seems like a moot point because you have stated the customer didn't advice you of a cancellation until the 6th day. While you may legally be able to enforce your contract, you have to consider that you are dealing with a person whom you claim is "irrational" and you have to weigh the benefits of collecting vs the damage they may cause to your reputation by this person venting their dissatisfaction with your services. It is entirely possible this person will go on a smear campaign against you - this could include reporting to the BBB or online postings on sites like ripoffreports. It might be best to make this person happy by refunding them the money they have paid. As the saying used to go, one dissatisfied customer will warn 20 others about your business. With the internet, they can potentially tell hundreds or thousands of others.
Which legal jurisdiction does your contract says applies? What is the law within that jurisdiction about cooling off periods? In the UK the buyer has a 7 day cooling off period which does cover services however in the UK you can effectively remove this right for services (like web design) if you write it into the contract that rights to cancel stop when work commences and you get them to agree the date work will commence. If your contract doesn't give a legal jurisdiction then you will need to look up the Ohio law (or whichever state they are claiming is relevant) and see what it says
In the end, it will be up to you to decide if you just want to give the money back or keep it. Some people you are not going to make happy at all, no matter how good you are, they will always find a flaw in your work, or they just wont be happy. If you feel that he knew the terms, and you did nothing wrong, then maybe think nothing more of it....but people can get pretty nasty if they feel you done them wrong, even if you did not, even over just a few $$$, will you be ok with possible threats, harrasment, etc? are you ok with him going around and making negative comments on other forums and such? I have seen it happen many times...just because someone would not give them their money back, for whatever reason, maybe he will, maybe he wont...how determined is he?