You finally booked the client, you blocked your calendar, and then they canceled last minute. Or they tell you they’ve changed their mind and they want their money back. 

Refunds and reschedules are common, but they don’t need to derail your business (or ruin your monthly revenue). 

Last-minute cancellations and refund requests feel unfair because your contract doesn’t support you in planning for these situations to happen. 

In this post, you’ll learn how to write clear, fair refund and reschedule terms that reflect your values, protect your time, and preserve client relationships.

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What refund or reschedule policies really are

Many creative business owners feel uncomfortable putting hard policies in writing. 

They think these policies will scare off clients or make clients think they are mean or inflexible.

The reality is the opposite. Because these policies aren’t a punishment, they just outline the fairest outcome when a common hiccup occurs.

They show your clients that you’ve already thought about common ways projects get off track and have a plan in place for what will happen if that occurs.

They also help you because they remove the need to make decisions when things get emotional or messy.

Finally, these policies aren’t set in stone. But they do give you a starting place. You are allowed to make thoughtful exceptions when it makes sense. But having these policies gives you the opportunity to make these exceptions from a place of control, not because you feel like you have to. 

If you want the exact script to respond to refund or reschedule requests, I provide it on Day Two of the Copy + Paste Legal week. Sign up using the link below.  

3 things your refund policy should do

How do you write, refund, or reschedule policies to match your working style and your process? 

A refund policy should do three things. 

The first thing it should do is it should reflect your current process and your values.

• If you have an open schedule and you want to offer one reschedule request, then that’s what you write into your policy.
• If your time is extremely limited because of childcare or health concerns, then your process (and policy) might not be as flexible, and you might not offer a free reschedule.

The second thing your policy should do is set expectations early. I’ve talked many times about how the cover page of your contract can really create smoother client relationships.

And this is one of those things that I recommend including on your cover page. You should make it clear upfront and early what the refund or reschedule policy looks like. 

The third thing is to make sure it’s legally enforceable. 

Below, I share the one little word that undermines your policy. So make sure you aren’t using it and actually creating a legally enforceable policy you can rely on.

Why refund policies actually exist

Remember, policies in our contract aren’t there to punish our clients or customers.

They are there to make things fair, not only to those you work with, but also to you.

When it comes to refund policies, we’re including them to reflect your capacity and the value of your time. 

Your time is valuable, and so your contract should back that up and say that I know my worth and my contract supports that.

What to include in your policy

What you should spell out in your refund policy is what’s refundable and what’s not. 

For example, if you need to do a lot of upfront work for a client or for a project, then you might not want to make that first payment refundable. (Keep reading to learn what not to call that payment.) 

Or maybe you offer a full refund if you haven’t started, but less and less of a refund as time goes on. For example, maybe if you haven’t started work, you offer a full refund, less credit card processing fees, or an administrative fee. But once you start work, then they are only allowed a partial refund. And once you hit a specific milestone, no refund is issued.

Another way to handle it is that all payments are non-refundable as soon as the project starts.  

There are so many ways you could handle it. But what you select is the refund policy that feels good to you and matches your workflow or process. And then making sure it’s written in a legally enforceable language.

“Non-refundable” deposit myth

In most states, there’s no such thing as a non-refundable deposit.

As soon as you use the word “deposit”, it must be refundable. And so I recommend you swap “deposit” with “installment”.

 Installments can be non-refundable. Payments can be non-refundable. But deposits, in many locations, must be refundable.

A simple word swap is a great first step to making that payment non-refundable. But if you want to be fully protected, you should back it up with a liquidated damages clause.  

A liquidated damages clause is just a legal jargon way of predetermining how much that person owes you when they don’t uphold their end of the contract.  

So they hired you for a service. Then they change their mind. A liquidated damages clause says we can’t know exactly how much you were harmed financially by their changing their mind.  We don’t know if you turned away a $10,000 project. We don’t know if you turned away a $1,000 project. We don’t know if you would just be sitting there twiddling your thumbs. But a liquidated damages clause states the fair amount they owe you if they don’t uphold their end of the contract.

Exceptions are allowed

It’s also important to remember that you are allowed to make thoughtful exceptions.

Your policies are not set in stone. You can make a smart business decision. You can make the decision that feels right for this situation.

But once again, your policy gives you a starting place, so that you don’t feel pressured to do something that doesn’t feel good when emotions are high.

Inside Copy + Paste Legal Week, you’ll also get the exact script to use when you need to enforce these terms in real life. Sign up below.