Before you send anything: secure your domain, hosting and a backup. Access requests get answered while things are calm and ignored once a refund is on the table, because the access is the leverage. Then send the letter below.
General information, not legal advice. For amounts that matter, one advocate consultation is money well spent — and an advocate’s letterhead makes this letter considerably more effective.
The refund request letter
[Your business name] [Address] · [Phone] · [Email] · [GSTIN if any] Date: ________ To: [Developer / firm name] [Address, if known] · [Phone] · [Email] Subject: Request for refund of ₹______ — website project for [your business name] Dear [Name], 1. On [date], we agreed that you would develop a website for my business comprising [list the pages / scope], for a total of ₹______, to be completed by [date]. 2. I paid ₹______ on [date] by [UPI / bank transfer] to [account holder name / UPI ID]. [Repeat for each payment.] 3. As at today, the position is: [choose and complete] — nothing has been delivered; the website is not live — the website is approximately ____% complete and is not live — the website was delivered but [what is missing or does not work] 4. I have followed up on [dates]. [State what happened — no reply / replies without a revised date / dates given and missed.] 5. I therefore request a refund of ₹______ within 15 days of this letter. 6. As an alternative, I am willing to settle at ₹______ in place of a full refund if you instead transfer to me, within 7 days: the domain registrar access for [domain], the hosting login, the website admin login, and a full backup of the files and database. 7. If I receive no response by [date], I will pursue this through the appropriate consumer and cyber-crime channels and through a legal notice, and will rely on this letter as evidence of an attempt to resolve the matter directly. I would much prefer to settle this directly. Yours sincerely, [Name] · [Designation] · [Business name] Enclosed: payment receipts · the agreed scope / quotation · exported message history · dated screenshots of the current state
Why the letter is written this way
Dates and amounts, no adjectives. A factual letter is far harder to dismiss than an angry one, and it reads well to anyone who later has to assess it.
Clause 6 is the important one. It gives them a cheaper way out than a cash refund — handing over access costs them nothing, and many disputes settle exactly here. Cornering someone with a single option is how a matter drags on for months.
Clause 7 states the next step without threatening. Naming the routes is factual. Threatening consequences beyond them weakens your position and can create a separate problem.
Fifteen days is a normal, reasonable window. Shorter looks aggressive; longer loses momentum.
Assemble the evidence first
Every route below asks for the same material. Gather once:
☐ Payment records — amounts, dates, UPI transaction IDs, bank statement lines
☐ The account holder name behind the UPI ID or bank account — your payment app shows this, and it is the single most important identifying detail in any claim
☐ The agreed scope — quotation, proposal, or the messages where scope and price were agreed
☐ Proof of the current state — dated screenshots, or the staging link
☐ Your follow-up attempts — call logs, the message history
☐ Their identity — full name, firm name, GSTIN, address
Export the chat rather than screenshotting it. Screenshots lose timestamps; an export keeps them.
The four filing routes, with honest odds
| Route | Cost | Timeline | Realistic outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal notice via an advocate | Modest, one-time | 15–30 day reply window | Highest yield — many settle here, often partially |
| Consumer commission (e-Daakhil, online) | Low filing fee | Months | Real, if you qualify as a consumer |
| Cybercrime portal (cybercrime.gov.in) | Free | Unpredictable | Pressure and record rather than collection |
| Civil recovery suit | Highest | Longest | For larger documented amounts |
On the consumer route
Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 you can file at the District Commission, online through e-Daakhil, without an advocate.
One honest caveat: services obtained for a commercial purpose are generally excluded — though an established exception covers purchases made to earn a livelihood through self-employment, which many small proprietors rely on. Whether your facts fit is exactly the question worth putting to an advocate.
On the criminal route — and a correction
You’ll see older guidance citing “IPC 406.” The Indian Penal Code was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on 1 July 2024 — criminal breach of trust is now BNS §316 and cheating BNS §318. Use the current sections.
Treat a police or cybercrime complaint as pressure and record, not as a collections mechanism. Where several victims complain about the same person, it becomes considerably more effective.
What’s realistically recoverable
| Your situation | Prospect |
|---|---|
| Paid to a named firm, with an invoice, vendor traceable | Reasonable — especially after a notice |
| Paid to a personal UPI, no invoice, WhatsApp-only agreement | Harder, though the notice still often works |
| Vendor locally based and traceable | Better across all routes |
| Vendor untraceable, no verifiable address | Poor — weigh the cost of pursuing |
| Small amount, uncooperative vendor | Pursuit may cost more than the loss |
Be clear-eyed: refund policies are near-universally absent from small website offers here, and some work genuinely was done — which makes a full cash refund rare without a notice.
Knowing when to stop
If the vendor is untraceable and the amount is modest, the arithmetic sometimes says stop.
Send the notice if it’s affordable, file the free online complaints, leave a factual public review — then put your energy into getting a working website. Weeks of pursuit have a cost too, in attention and in the site you still don’t have.
That’s a decision, not a surrender.
What to do this week
- Secure the domain, hosting and a backup before sending anything.
- Export the chat and assemble the six evidence items.
- Note the account holder name behind every payment.
- Send the letter — on an advocate’s letterhead if affordable.
- File the free cybercrime complaint if the payment was online.
If you want it done the certain way
We can’t recover your money and won’t pretend to. What we can do is tell you what’s salvageable — a domain still in your name, files worth keeping — and rebuild on terms where the domain, hosting and logins are yours from day one. Send us the domain name. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- Developer not responding? Exact messages to send
- Recovery routes when a developer vanishes
- When a dispute turns into threats and police talk
- Does the company have a refund policy?
- When to stop chasing and accept the loss
FAQ
How do I write a refund request letter to a web developer?
State the agreed scope and date, list each payment with dates and the recipient account name, describe the current position factually, note your follow-up attempts, request a specific refund within 15 days, and offer an alternative settlement in exchange for the domain, logins and backup.
Where can I file a complaint against a web developer in India?
A legal notice through an advocate produces results most often. You can also file at the District Consumer Commission online via e-Daakhil, and free at cybercrime.gov.in for online payments.
Which law applies if a web developer took my money?
Since 1 July 2024 the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replaced the Indian Penal Code — criminal breach of trust is BNS §316 and cheating BNS §318. Guidance citing IPC 406 is out of date.
Will I get a full refund?
Rarely without a legal notice. Refund policies are near-universally absent in this market and some work was usually done, so partial settlement — often in exchange for handing over access — is the more common outcome.
