[runedev]

Are they charged fully upfront at the start of the hour or does it see how long the runtime was and charge based on that?

Because I've started this script a few times now and it wasn't working for me so I tried changing some stuff but I ended up down $0.50 in about 20 minutes just trying to get it to work

Here's an example of what I mean.

Based on this I can only assume that it charges me every time I start an instance of the script. Which seems a little unfair when the script doesn't work properly.

I assume this is done because it benefits scripters. If Runemate was more interested in benefitting it's customers they could simply charge people by multiplying the hourly rate by the amount of time ran. So as an example, assuming it ran for 15 minutes that's $0.16 * 0.25 = $0.04

 

[cuppajava]

So just to answer the title's question:

Why am I charged every time I start an instance?
Upon starting the bot you will be charged for the first hour of use. If you only run the bot for 30 minutes, you will still have been charged for the full hour. If you stop the bot manually and restart it, you will be charged again. If the bot breaks, doesn't work or you are overcharged and you feel as though you deserve a refund, post in the relevant forum thread for the bot you are using, providing supporting evidence (eg: how the bug occurred and log files) and it is at the author's discretion whether they refund you.

Tutorial - Wallet and Premium Bots FAQ

I assume this is done because it benefits scripters.

It does not benefit scripters. I send out multiple refunds a day to people who request them with evidence that they used the bot. I'd love for this to be changed, it's really tedious giving out so many 10 cent refunds. I don't mind refunding botters, it's just tedious. (Also often the issues botters are facing are temporary Runemate issues, or issues with Runelite plugins, not even things I can fix)

If Runemate was more interested in benefitting it's customers they could simply charge people by multiplying the hourly rate by the amount of time ran.

The only person who can change this is Arbiter, and I'm not even certain if he is feasibly able to as transactions are handled by the forum software and it's limitations.

I'd be in favor of the system changing to (at least) have some sort of grace period where the bot doesn't charge if it's stopped right away. But I'm not holding my breath on it as it's been requested before.

If a bot seems to be giving you issues, test using the lite version so you don't get charged. And feel free to contact the author for a refund.