refund-vs-goodwill-decision

---
name: refund-vs-goodwill-decision
description: Works out whether a service complaint is a legal remedy you owe under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or a goodwill gesture you choose to give, using the Act's own reasonable care and skill test and its own remedy ladder of repeat performance then price reduction. It writes down which applies and why, so a manager is not guessing between "we don't have to" and "have a dessert" with nothing in between. Use once a complaint is triaged as service-quality, before anything is offered.
---

# The refund you owe, told apart from the gesture you're giving

Takes one triaged complaint and decides: a breach with a remedy owed, a remedy ladder already exhausted, or no breach at all, where anything offered is pure goodwill.

## What it does

1. **Tests against the Act's standard first.** Section 49(1): "every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill." A dish not to personal taste is not a breach; one served raw when medium was ordered is.
2. **Offers repeat performance first.** Section 54(3) lists repeat performance before price reduction. Section 55(1) defines it as a right "to require the trader to perform the service again... in conformity with the contract," and section 55(2) requires it "within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience" with the trader bearing the costs.
3. **Moves to price reduction only where repeat performance fails.** Section 55(3): it cannot be required "if completing performance... is impossible." Section 56(3) adds the route where a repeat offer itself breached the reasonable-time rule. Section 56(1)-(2) allow the reduction to be "the full amount of the price."
4. **Pays on the Act's clock.** Section 56(4): a refund "must be given without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days." Section 56(5): "the same means of payment" used to pay, unless agreed otherwise. Section 56(6): "no fee" on the refund.
5. **Labels anything else goodwill.** No breach found means no remedy under sections 54-56 applies, and anything offered anyway is a business choice, never described to the guest as compensation owed.

## Then it checks

1. Every complaint has a recorded decision: no breach, repeat performance offered, or price reduction with its reason.
2. Repeat performance is not skipped to a refund without a recorded reason.
3. Any price reduction carries an amount, a 14-day deadline, and a matching refund method.
4. No refund carries a fee.
5. Any goodwill gesture is recorded as goodwill, never implied to be required.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only. Never invent a fact, a number or a quote. Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never state a "legal minimum refund" figure; the Act sets a process, not a price list.
- Never call a goodwill gesture legally required, or an Act-based remedy a favour.
- A working decision record for the owner or manager to apply, and for a solicitor to check in any disputed case; not legal advice.

## Built from
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, ss.49, 54, 55 and 56, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/49 (and /54, /55, /56), read 4 Nov 2026: the standard and full remedy ladder behind every step.

# refund-vs-goodwill-decision

## You are given
A triaged service_quality complaint: `complaint_id`, what was ordered or booked, what was delivered, whether the guest has left, the amount and method paid, and the date paid. Claude's decision: whether a breach occurred, which remedy applies (`none`, `repeat_performance`, `price_reduction`), the reasoning, and any price reduction amount or goodwill gesture.

## Produce
Write into a `./refund-vs-goodwill-output/` folder:

1. `decisions.csv` with columns: `complaint_id`, `breach_found`, `remedy_type`, `reasoning_quote`, `repeat_performance_offered`, `repeat_performance_outcome`, `price_reduction_amount`, `refund_deadline_date`, `refund_method`, `refund_method_matches_original`, `fee_charged`, `goodwill_offered`, `goodwill_description`, `goodwill_labelled_as_goodwill`. `breach_found` is `yes` or `no`. `remedy_type` is exactly one of `none`, `repeat_performance`, `price_reduction`. `refund_deadline_date` is the payment-method-agreement date plus 14 days, calculated, never estimated. `refund_method_matches_original`, `fee_charged` and `goodwill_labelled_as_goodwill` are `yes` or `no`.
2. `remedy-ladder-check.csv` with columns: `complaint_id`, `repeat_performance_possible`, `skipped_to_price_reduction`, `skip_reason_recorded`, `verdict`. `verdict` is `pass` or `ladder skipped without recorded reason`.
3. `refund-timing.csv` with columns: `complaint_id`, `refund_agreed_date`, `refund_deadline_date`, `refund_paid_date`, `days_taken`, `within_14_days`. `within_14_days` is `yes`, `no`, or `pending` if not yet paid. `days_taken` is counted from `refund_agreed_date`, never estimated.
4. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any `price_reduction` decision with no amount recorded; any repeat performance skipped with no reason recorded; any refund with `fee_charged` as `yes`; any refund whose method does not match the original payment unless a written guest agreement is recorded; any goodwill gesture not explicitly labelled as goodwill; and any refund already overdue against its 14-day deadline.

## Rules
- Codex calculates deadlines, matches payment methods, and records. It never decides whether a breach occurred, never sets a refund amount, and never decides whether an offer is goodwill; those judgements are supplied to it.
- The 14-day deadline is always the agreement date plus 14 calendar days, never estimated.
- Never charge, suggest, or record a fee against a refund; any found is flagged in `gaps.md`, not normalised away.
- Never suggest wording telling a guest a goodwill gesture is a legal entitlement, or an Act-based remedy a favour.
- Never invent a price reduction amount; use only the figure supplied.
- British English, GBP, DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes.
- Every file ends: this is a working decision record for the owner to apply and for a solicitor to check in any disputed case; not legal advice.

## Return
The absolute path and row count of each file. Complaints by `remedy_type`, and `breach_found` yes versus no. Repeat performances skipped and whether each had a recorded reason. Refunds overdue, on time, or pending. Fees charged against a refund. Goodwill gestures labelled correctly versus not. The `gaps.md` item count.