A refund can return the money without returning the afternoon spent trying to obtain it.

Money can be returned and the effort cannot. The calls, the queuing, the explaining, the emotional cost of persisting, are all spent, and the resolution restores the amount while quietly treating the process as costless. The company’s exposure ends at the sum. Yours did not.

When you decide whether to pursue something, count the time honestly as part of the price. Sometimes it is worth it on principle, which is a valid reason. And when you handle other people’s complaints, remember that a full refund does not make them whole.