---
title: "The Refund Promise With a Trigger Only We Controlled"
canonical: https://dxdev.com/everyday-ai/the-refund-we-promised-was-ours-to-withhold/
datePublished: 2026-10-21
---
The refund in our draft terms hinged on a "note sent" trigger, and the AI reader we asked to review the page said only the provider controls it.

## What the reader said

We ran draft terms past AI readers, round after round.

The 2:55 pm verdict was "Mostly fair and unusually readable, but not yet safe to sign." Its stated reason was that the refund trigger ("note sent") is controlled only by the provider.

## Round after round

Later rounds kept flagging the refund language. The 3:03 pm reader said the refund window and the "fixed version" promise had gaps. The 3:29 pm reader named the money-back window, the "watch for breakage" burden and the liability cap. The 3:30 pm reader named two contradictions in the refund and liability terms.

Every verdict from 2:33 pm through 3:30 pm began with "Mostly fair."

## Four buyers

At 5:18 pm we switched to four readers, labeled burned, trust, dev and lawyer.

The burned reader's verdict was "I would not pay yet." It said the amount "can turn into a refund, a quote or a lost fee depending on which page I read," and it also mentioned the 10-day refund.

The lawyer reader said the refund path was generous. It also said the offering was not ready for live checkout, and it named the checkout tick text. At 5:22 pm the lawyer reader said that tick text overpromised a "full refund."

At 5:22 pm the trust reader called the page unusually open about risk on both sides. It also said the page contradicts itself on several promises, including refund windows.

## The same shape again

At 5:25 pm the burned reader's verdict said the company alone decides, after you pay, whether you get the patch. Again the decision sat with the company, not the buyer.

Three whole-page passes came back with FAIL, at 5:24 pm, 5:25 pm and 5:26 pm.

## A check that couldn't check

At 4:30 pm we asked a Haiku model to fact-check claims. It answered that it cannot browse in real time, so it could not verify them against business registries or other official sources.

That is no verification at all.

## Where it stands

The refund window showed up in the 3:03 pm, 3:29 pm and 5:22 pm verdicts. The checkout tick text showed up in the lawyer verdicts at 5:18 pm and 5:25 pm. The last whole-page pass, at 5:26 pm, still came back FAIL.