Issuing Refunds/Credit To Students

Administrator
Jul 13, 2023
5 min read

Updated: Mar 31

Keywords: refund, refunding, credit, crediting, payment, payment plan, drop, dropped programs, cancel, canceled program, prorate, prorating, discount, request, make up, missed class, policy, greenlight, allocate, breakdown, computation

Refund and Credit Policy

Our official policy is no refunds, credits or make-ups.
Our unofficial policy is "happiness over profit"

This means that when students request refunds or credits, do the following:

Look for a way to accommodate / help them. When there's clear communication, a lot of issues can be solved
Consider giving an above and beyond bonus to encourage them to continue
(Usually) do make the refund/credit available if other efforts don't work

Note: It's very rare that we issue refunds to students and we only do this when Danny and/or the manager gave green light.

Here are several scenarios a student support specialist may encounter:

The student will not be able to attend the program after we decided to postpone it/change location, and they specifically asked for refund or credit
The student has a family member who died/got sick and can no longer attend, and they specifically asked for refund/credit
The student has paid for a program that we eventually cancelled due to low number of enrollment
The student wants to drop out because he has change in work schedule, and they specifically asked for refund/credit

We automatically issue refund when:

The student paid twice for a single program. The duplicate payment is returned. If the student paid through Stripe (bank card), we will deduct the 3% card processing fee from their refund amount.
The request is from Danny himself

We issue refunds through:

Venmo, if they sent payment using Venmo/Zelle
Stripe, if they paid through bank card

Important: All refund and credit request should be forwarded to Danny and the manager.

Refund/credit example, plus going above and beyond:

Scenario A: "I didn't know I had to buy dance shoes. I'd like a refund."

Good response: "Hey Mike! Oh yes I understand this. I've just now spoken to our director Danny and he said he'd be happy to contribute up to $100 towards your first pair of dance shoes. There are some great options both above and below this price point. Is that helpful?"

Turns out this students wanted a refund for traveling reasons and was just using the shoes as an excuse. Danny spoke to him on the phone, got the real information and we then gave the refund.

Scenario B: "My husband and I attended the salsa 101 class last night. I enjoyed Danny and Marina, but it was too crowded for us. Would it be possible to pay for that one class but get a refund on the rest of the series? Let me know and thanks!"

Good response: "Hi Gillian! Thanks for the feedback. Love when we hear from our students ways we can improve :) Typically Day 1 has higher attendance than future weeks, and the class tends to thin out over time. Our academy director is encouraging you and your husband to practice together at the privacy of your home with the recap video of the class yesterday. Then come to the next class as well. If after that one you still feel it's crowded, we can apply everything towards private lessons including from the first two classes you took. If you prefer refund, we'll deduct the cost of the first class only. How does that sound?"

When we break our own rules, be sure to let the student know that we’re doing them a favor.

Examples:

Giving a credit for a future program if they want to drop
Refunding a program if they drop
Granting discounts for various of reasons

Sample Communications:

Scenario A: Student wants to come to Monday 101 because they’re missing Sunday 101 that week

“The official policy is that we don’t have any sort of make-ups or switching days because it causes some chaos with balance, but we do want to help when we can. It looks like we can get you in to this day without any balance issues so yes let’s do it.”

Scenario B: Student got major injury and wants to drop the program in week 5.

“Officially we don’t do any sorts of credits or refunds. We do want to support you though. We’ll credit the remainder of the program for any future program. Please note that it will be just this time that we can make the adjustment. I hope that’s helpful! 🙏”

Good to mention that we’re doing it just this once (so the expectation is NOT that they can ask to bend the rules all the time).

Scenario C: Student asks for discount to be able to afford to continue to 102.

“Alright, we’ll make it happen. Please avoid mentioning it to other students and just keep it between yourself, Danny, and MaS staff. Fair enough?”

Refund/credit requests:

Where to send: As of now, we have a payment/refund/credit channel where the entire student support team and Claire (manager) are members. This is where we forward requests and ask Claire to process them.

For tricky or complicated requests that require not just Claire but also Danny’s input, forward them to the student support channel and make sure to tag leadership.

What to write when approaching leadership with a refund/credit request:

Problem
Context (so reader has all the info without digging on different platforms)
Proposed solution
Ask a question if relevant

Example A: Refund request from Rachel Yeagyeong Cho

She wants a refund for her S2 bachata 101 program
She can no longer commit to Sundays due to her heavy weekend schedule but is still enrolled in S2 Salsa 102a Tuesdays which works for her (weekdays)
I’ve already mentioned the option of crediting her for a future program (since transferring isn’t possible as we only have one bachata 101 class for S2) but she insists on a refund. Ratio would be 11 movers: 10 shakers w/o her.
Greenlight to refund?

Example B: Credit request from Rachel Yeagyeong Cho

She registered for S2 bachata 101 program and was only able to attend Weeks 1 and 2
She asked if she could drop the program because her work schedule suddenly changed, causing her to miss Weeks 1 and 2, and she might miss a few more weeks
I asked about the other days she’ll miss since we might have a solution to make it work but she insists on dropping the class and joining next season
Greenlight to credit her for the remaining 8 weeks of her program?

Computation (percentage): All programs run for 10 weeks, with each week accounting for 10% of the total duration. Refunds and credit or prorations are calculated based on the actual price the student paid, not the original program price. Let's refer to Example B above for computation.

Breakdown:

Price paid: 497 ($49.7 or $50 per class)
Less weeks 1 and 2 (50 x 2 or 497 - 20%): $100
Remaining credit: $397

Sample message to Rachel:

"Hi Rachel! Got the green light from Danny to credit you $397 (80%) for the remaining weeks of your bachata 101 program. You can apply this toward any future program. Upon registration, choose "custom amount", enter the adjusted price after subtracting your credit and note in the comments that you're applying your credit towards that program :)"