[WhyNotHugo]

They took money from many clients to provide a service.

They did not provide the service the advertised: they provided something much inferior (and that's actually unsuitable for many industries).

It's not really really about "what would clients have done otherwise". It's a matter of giving money back.

If you pay me to write a program, and it only does half of what I promise, wouldn't you want [part of] your money back?