Q: We are members of LERN and are thinking about changing our refund policy. Below is our present one and possible new one. I wanted to check with someone from LERN first to see if I was missing anything. Refunds If you cancel at least 3 days prior to workshops or series, you will receive an ATM Credit (good for one year). Otherwise - NO CREDIT can be given. A 20% processing fee will be deducted from all credits. If ATM cancels a class you will be refunded in full. No refunds or credit will be issued for classes postponed for inclement weather - every effort will be made to reschedule such classes. Possible rewrite: Sometimes things don’t go according to plan! If you cannot attend your course please inform us in writing 3 business days prior to the class start date to receive a full tuition credit toward future use at our Center. Credits are not transferable and are valid for one year from the processing date. If we receive your notice less than 3 days before the class start date but before the first day of class your class credit with be 50% of the tuition fee. Credits or transfers of tuition can not be given for cancellations received on the first day of class or after the first day. Please note that some events are non-refundable and non-transferable at our discretion.
A: You are heading in the right direction. LERN recommends that you implement the most liberal refund policy possible. This is an incentive to sign up. There are instances when someone cannot cancel three days prior to a course, in writing. In practice, it makes very little different to you whether a class is cancelled three days or one day before it meets, or even the day of the meeting. If you are giving only a voucher or credit, then you still keep the money until they sign up for something else. I also question the need for a 50% processing fee, unless this is a real cost to you, that seems a bit high. LERN does not recommend charging a processing fee for a credit. If you are giving a cash refund, then a processing fee may be appropriate. You should also offer a credit or money back guarantee for people who take the class and are dissatisfied. It costs you more in negative word-of-mouth to refuse a refund to someone who is dissatisfied than it does to refund their money. Especially today, when younger adults depend more on each other for recommendations than on any other source, you could be doing significant harm to your program with a rigid refund policy. RE: non-refundable or non-transferable fees, your policy should state clearly that "In some instances fees are non-refundable or non-transferable. In these cases, that information will be clearly stated in the course information." Unless you are incurring a cost which you must pay, even when someone cancels, you should not refuse a refund or credit. Overall, quality programs have very low refund rates. If your refund rate exceeds 4% then you need to examine what you are doing that might be improved in order to reduce the number of requests for refund.