So, I signed up at 7search when LukePF was offering a $25 credit on a $50 deposit. But I didn't use 7search much and my total spend was only $21.92! So, I just remembered several weeks ago that I have some money left at 7search and decided to get a refund. So, I hop on the live chat and talk to a support rep. He was as friendly as the previous support reps and he let me know that, since it's been so long they made any charge to my credit card they can't issue a refund right away. But if i was to make another deposit with my card, they can then issue me a refund. He even did the math for me.....total deposit before $50 - the ad spend $21.92 = $28.08. And if I make a $25 deposit my total refund amount would be $53.08 plus whatever little amount they charged to verify the credit card(my case $1.25). He also let me know that, I won't receive any promotional credit back as a refund....and I let him know that, I understand that much 
Who would think that they will get promotion credits refunded as cold cash?
Anyways, So after a few days I made a $25 deposit and asked for a refund. The request was delayed due to Christmas and New Year. Finally I got a reply to the support ticket saying they have issued a refund. So, i log into my bank account and see that the refund amount is only $29.33. surprised, I contact live support again. This time they're telling me it's in their TOS to NOT Refund the initial $25 deposit. This didn't really made any sense to me. Why would someone not refund their customer's money when they want it? Specially, when you just had a chat a support rep on this subject matter and they didn't tell you anything regarding this!!!! They support rep kept blah blah about TOS. At this point I tried to log in but couldn't. told the rep to give me access to my account.
To my utter horror, after logging in I see that my account has a $0 balance!!!! Now folks, I ask you, what does your common sense tell you? When somebody doesn't want to refund you your money for whichever reason, they keep the money in your account and let you use it, no??? You don't wipe that money off your customers account, right? It's just common sense! And this goes true for any web based business. I tried to tell the support rep about this but she didn't seem to understand and I had to give up at some point. Here is a screenshot of my account's billing statement:
Notice the red mark on "Non-refundable initial deposit" ?
Say, you bought a dedicated server and you asked your provider for a refund on the sixteenth day of your purchase but they let you know that they can't do that because their refund policy states refunds are given within the first 2 weeks. So, they can't give you a refund. But will they kill the server just because you asked for a refund? NO!! The server will be available for you to use for the rest of the month. But this support rep(or the guys at 7 search) clearly thinks otherwise. Even the example I just gave is web 1.0! These days every company is customer focused and almost all of them refund for unused goods/services. But 7search not only doesn't want to refund that money they won't even let you use it!!!!! I mean how come?
Anyways, I know this was long and thanks if you've read this far. It's not so much about the amount but about how 7search handled the situation. I would like to think this was all a support rep who was maybe having a bad morning, she did at one point say, 'let me check with management', so I'm not sure about that. But everyone speaks nice of them and my previous dealings(however little they may be) have been very nice. I do hope someone responsible from 7search will see this thread and do what's right.
And did you guys know about that part of the TOS? That basically means that, no matter how much you' spent with them, they are going to shell out $25 in case you ever want a full refund for whatever reason.
Support chat log for context:
Who would think that they will get promotion credits refunded as cold cash? Anyways, So after a few days I made a $25 deposit and asked for a refund. The request was delayed due to Christmas and New Year. Finally I got a reply to the support ticket saying they have issued a refund. So, i log into my bank account and see that the refund amount is only $29.33. surprised, I contact live support again. This time they're telling me it's in their TOS to NOT Refund the initial $25 deposit. This didn't really made any sense to me. Why would someone not refund their customer's money when they want it? Specially, when you just had a chat a support rep on this subject matter and they didn't tell you anything regarding this!!!! They support rep kept blah blah about TOS. At this point I tried to log in but couldn't. told the rep to give me access to my account.
To my utter horror, after logging in I see that my account has a $0 balance!!!! Now folks, I ask you, what does your common sense tell you? When somebody doesn't want to refund you your money for whichever reason, they keep the money in your account and let you use it, no??? You don't wipe that money off your customers account, right? It's just common sense! And this goes true for any web based business. I tried to tell the support rep about this but she didn't seem to understand and I had to give up at some point. Here is a screenshot of my account's billing statement:
Notice the red mark on "Non-refundable initial deposit" ?
Say, you bought a dedicated server and you asked your provider for a refund on the sixteenth day of your purchase but they let you know that they can't do that because their refund policy states refunds are given within the first 2 weeks. So, they can't give you a refund. But will they kill the server just because you asked for a refund? NO!! The server will be available for you to use for the rest of the month. But this support rep(or the guys at 7 search) clearly thinks otherwise. Even the example I just gave is web 1.0! These days every company is customer focused and almost all of them refund for unused goods/services. But 7search not only doesn't want to refund that money they won't even let you use it!!!!! I mean how come?
Anyways, I know this was long and thanks if you've read this far. It's not so much about the amount but about how 7search handled the situation. I would like to think this was all a support rep who was maybe having a bad morning, she did at one point say, 'let me check with management', so I'm not sure about that. But everyone speaks nice of them and my previous dealings(however little they may be) have been very nice. I do hope someone responsible from 7search will see this thread and do what's right.
And did you guys know about that part of the TOS? That basically means that, no matter how much you' spent with them, they are going to shell out $25 in case you ever want a full refund for whatever reason.
Support chat log for context:
