That can only get the money back, while the author would clearly prefer he get the service he paid for months ago (and be able to deploy/promote his software).

That can only get the money back, while the author would clearly prefer he get the service he paid for months ago (and be able to deploy/promote his software). Complicating the transaction with a dispute/chargeback could make that real goal even harder to achieve, not just by making the previous purchase attempt appear 'unpaid', but also perhaps giving his account/card a 'uses chargebacks' flag within Google.