Hard client conversations at a small agency
Short answer
Work out which problem you have before you write anything, because the reply that fixes one makes another worse. A refund request is one of four things: you missed what was agreed, the work was delivered but disliked, the client's plans changed, or they want leverage. Silence is at least four things too: a prospect, an approver, an overdue payer, and a client who pays and never replies. Your own mistake has one order: name it in a plain sentence, own it, say what you have already done to fix it, and name the one change that stops a repeat. Send that before the client finds it.
What to say when a client wants a refund, when the mistake is yours, and when a client stops replying. The order of steps, with messages to copy.
People search these phrases for the wording, and each post has it, but the wording is the easy part. Start with the apology post if something went wrong on your side today: the fix should already be moving when the message goes out. Use the refund post the moment the word appears. Acknowledge it the same day, ask one question, then match the offer to the reason, whether that is a redo, the remaining revision rounds, a pause or a calm no. Use the silence post when messages stop. It bans "just checking in" and gives every message three parts: the exact thing you need, a question they can answer in a word, and a date. Then say what happens if the date passes, and only write a next step you will carry out. That post is a method, with no client stories and no reply rates, because I have no figure I could show you.