Support

Reply to a WooCommerce refund request that falls outside policy

A scenario prompt for declining a refund that's past your policy window without sounding robotic, while still offering a real alternative.

Works with Claude / GPT1,850 uses 4.5

The prompt

support-refund-request-outside-policy
A customer emails your WooCommerce store's support inbox:

"Hi, I bought the Advanced Reports extension on your site 47 days ago. It doesn't
do what I thought it would, and I'd like a full refund please."

YOUR POLICY: [refunds only within 14 days of purchase, no exceptions stated on the
product page at checkout]

Write the reply, as the support lead handling billing disputes.

Requirements:
- Open by naming the specific product and purchase date back to them, so it's clear
  someone actually looked at the order, not a form letter.
- State the policy plainly, including the actual day count difference (47 days vs
  a 14-day window), without being smug about it or hiding the number.
- Before applying the policy, check the message for a signal that this is actually
  a product defect or a broken feature. If it is, treat it as a support issue
  first, since a customer shouldn't pay for something that never worked, and the
  refund clock stops mattering.
- If the policy genuinely applies, don't say a flat no. Offer one concrete
  alternative: store credit, a discount on a better-fit product, or hands-on setup
  help to get value from what they already bought.
- Keep it under 120 words. No links to a generic terms-of-service page as the
  entire answer.

Replace the customer message, purchase date, and policy details with your actual
situation before running this.

The line that matters most here is checking for a hidden defect claim before you enforce the window: a customer who says “it doesn’t do what I thought” might actually mean a broken feature, and refusing a refund on that basis will escalate fast. When policy genuinely applies, a concrete alternative gets a better outcome than a bare no.