Show HN: A self-hosted alternative to Trello, Basecamp, and Freshbooks

Re:Show HN: A self-hosted alternative to Trello, Basecamp, a... by sbarre on Thursday September 01, 2016 @02:18PM (#12407623)

Some advice: you may want to re-consider this approach, even though it may feel like you risk being ripped off, your reputation and overall sentiment about your product are probably worth more than the 59$ you don't want to give back.

If someone feels they can't use your product - for any reason - it's going to feel unfair to them that they can't get a refund, no matter who's fault it is.

Note that the top reply to your thread is a dissatisfied ex-customer who felt obliged to post about his bad experience (fair or otherwise), and I bet that may have almost immediately cost you a few sales.

I'm not saying give everyone a refund who asks for one, but just saying "it's not a SaaS product and I can't turn it off" might not be the best rationale (and certainly won't impress any customers who are legitimately unable to use your product).

I would err on the side of trusting your customers, and accept that some might rip you off but most won't, and you'll partially salvage a bad product experience with some good customer service.

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Re:Show HN: A self-hosted alternative to Trello, Basecamp, a... by 23andwalnut on Thursday September 01, 2016 @02:27PM (#12407689)

I agree with everything you said. I definitely give refunds. I just ask for the opportunity to help customers solve their issues first. Over the course of the last 3 years, 99.9% of refund requests were solved once I actually understood the issue that they were having and I was able to fix it for them. But I agree with you, fairness and goodwill are important. I was probably too rigid with that in the past.

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