Tencent Workbuddy released a statement last night, apologizing for a "quiet" price adjustment. The story starts on September 10: Workbuddy launched DeepSeek-V4.1 Flash and simultaneously kicked off a two-week 50%-off credits trial, originally scheduled to end on September 24. The team later decided to extend the discount all the way to November 5 and restore original pricing starting at 14:00 that day—but this adjustment was not communicated to users in time. It was only when some users noticed their charges had become more expensive that confusion arose, and the team deeply apologizes for this.
Price difference automatically refunded, no application neededTo make up for this oversight, Workbuddy offered a clear remedy: for accounts that used DeepSeek-V4.1 Flash between 14:00 on November 5 and 23:59 on November 8, all credits consumed by that model during this period will be recalculated at 50% off the original price, and the difference—that is, 50% of the total credits actually consumed—will be fully refunded. More importantly, users do not need to apply for this refund; it will be automatically calculated and credited back by the system, expected to arrive within 7 business days, and users just need to keep an eye out for it.
A textbook "cleanup"From extending the benefit to a silent price increase, and then to apologizing and refunding the difference, this chain of actions has put the old topic of "transparent campaign rules" back on the table. For AI tools that charge by credits, the start and end of a discount should be clear and easy to check; missing just one announcement can easily damage user trust. Workbuddy chose automatic refunds rather than haggling, which can be seen as a response that just about earns a passing grade for this "communication lesson".
