Refund Policy

What must I do to claim a refund?

Firstly, we will not offer refunds without having had reasonable opportunity to address any problems you may be having. Not only are the majority of problems (even those that may appear severe) easy for us to solve, but they may also not be a result of using our software, or be the result of mis-use of our software.

Therefore, before asking for a refund, please contact technical support, providing a complete description of the problem you are experiencing. It is not sufficient to just say “the program doesn’t work”… we will need to know what you tried to do, what it is doing (or not doing), and how that differed from what you expected.

What about the E.U. 7-day “cooling-off” period?

Because we are based in the E.U., there is a 7-day cooling off period for all distance sales, during which time customers have a legal right to an immediate and unconditional refund upon return of the goods, with money returned to the customers’ account within 30 days.

However, the law contains explicit exemptions for computer software and services (downloadable software is classed as a service), so this cooling-off period will only apply where you have not downloaded software or generated a license key. Equally, for physical goods (CD-ROMs), the cooling-off period will terminate when the seal is broken on the packaging.

Please note also that the statutory cooling-off period does not apply to business customers, only to consumers.

What if I don't read the system requirements?

As a result of repeated incidents of this problem, we are no longer prepared to offer refunds in this case. We do not think it is unreasonable to expect customers to make an effort to check that what they are purchasing will work on their machine.

Note that this applies to all restrictions mentioned in the system requirements (for instance, the fact that some products may require a separate boot disk in order to use some or all of their features).

Please be polite.

If you require a refund, please ask us politely. There is no need to enter into a diatribe about how awful you feel the software is, nor is there any need for threats, of legal action, adverse publicity or of any other nature. Such actions will not affect your chances of getting a refund (which we will happily provide if your claim is justifiable and provided we have been given a reasonable opportunity to make good), but they may also result in your being permanently banned from purchasing or using our software, and in extreme cases, they could also result in legal action being taken against you.

License termination and refunds.

If you accept a refund for one of our products, your license to use that product will generally terminate at that point. Unless you have been told otherwise, you should therefore destroy all copies of the software and any associated license keys.

Billing disputes/chargebacks

The credit card companies’ billing dispute mechanisms are not the right way to go about obtaining a refund. In the first instance, you should always contact us rather than the credit card company or the payment processor.

If you raise a billing dispute through your credit card company and we do not feel that a refund is justifiable, we will pursue the matter, and will seek recovery of any expenses we incur in so doing, in addition to the original amount in dispute.

Currency exchange and bank charges.

We will refund the amount charged, in the currency that you were charged. If this is not your native currency, your bank may charge exchange fees, or a change in the exchange rate may have resulted in a difference in the amount refunded as compared with the amount you originally paid in your native currency. You have sole responsibility for any fees paid or losses incurred in this manner.

Additionally, if you have paid using a payment method other than the on-line payment methods supported by our site, there may be costs associated with refunding your money. Where these costs are less than 10% of the amount of the refund, or £10 Sterling, whichever is the smaller, we will bear the cost. If the cost of refunding your money rises above this level, we will expect you to pay the difference; in such a situation, we will contact you before sending a refund to advise you of the situation.