Is it right to open a second dispute over unresolved subscription fees?

[Honeyhilliard]

I opened a dispute after realizing custom cat app developer had been charging me since 2020. The company, custom. Cat asked me to reverse that dispute but it’s too late. Only a partial refund was given by Wells Fargo and so I will open another dispute if not refunded in full. Does this sound right? Because I’m not sure if I trust this guy Mike, the app developer at custom cat, since he originally told me when I called him about the dispute that he received no money at all, and Shopify did, and Shopify was the one that had taken my money without permission.  Wells Fargo says he is probably trying to get me to reverse the dispute and then not pay me anything, but here is what his last email stated: “We want to be considered a good partner to work with and always be fair to both parties.   We can agree to refund the $1050.00 in subscription cost, but we can't currently do that with an active dispute.  Do you want to reverse your dispute and we can try again to have Shopify reverse those subscription charges?” Can Shopify  help me get the full refund and clarify who this dispute should be with, custom cat or Shopify? I suggested to him via email Friday Dec 1st  to pay me directly, so I would not have to open another dispute. Please clarify and advise thank you

[Shay]

Hi @Honeyhilliard 

I definitely understand your concern here and that you want to know who is responsible for your refund. 

Shopify is the middle man when it comes to billing for apps for the Shopify app store but the app is fully responsible for managing and handling your refund, not Shopify. Funds collected from merchants for app fees are provided directly to the app partner account. So even if they didn't intend to collect these fees, they would have still been paid out by Shopify for them. 

If the partner has not received these funds from Shopify for any reason, that is something between the app developer and Shopify to resolve. Not the merchant and Shopify. The app developer has full responsibility in this situation. Our authenticated support team would be happy to review your account and confirm this for you, if needed. 

You can also find this detailed in our Shopify Partner Agreement here: Shopify Partner Program - Partner Program Agreement (Section 3.2).

If the partner truly believes there is an issue with their payouts in regards to these billing fees, then our partner support team would be able to confirm that for them. I recommend asking them for confirmation from our partner support team that they never received these billing payments before considering cancelling your open dispute.