I took an order that included 24 cupcakes decorated like popcorn, with wrappers to make them look like popcorn buckets. She asked if I could do them in buttercream and I refused, since I really didn't think it would look nice. She said that was fine, she wanted them to look nice. I charged her $4.25 each since they were going to be a lot of work.
I since found a picture here on CC that has popcorn cupcakes done in buttercream. I went ahead and did hers that way, and they look great (IMO).
My issue: Not sure how long fondant would have taken me, but I baked and decorated these in 5 hours.
Do you think I should offer her a refund of some of the cost? I didn't use any fondant, but did use a truckload of buttercream. I charged her for the cost of the wrappers. She also ordered a 9in round decorated like a carnival tent (with the peaked top) and a smash cake. It's an expensive order.
I'd just like to be fair to her. She isn't aware yet that I was able to use buttercream.
as a customer I would feel really hurt, but only if you never told me. As a decorator I would tell her you were in fact able to make them look nice with butter cream, but b/c they required sooo much frosting you can only offer her a discount of $___?? Maybe charge her in between buttercream and fondant?
I think any offer of a discount would be really appreciated, even if it wasn't a lot, its a lot more than a lot of businesses would offer.
As a customer, I would also then want to recommend you to my friends, and use you again
Yep, you priced her for one thing, made another. Turn the question around, what would YOU feel about it if you were the customer.
I would charge what you would normally charge for buttercream. The original price was to be with fondant. Of course, only you know how much work went into it so definitely get your money out of it. You don't want her to feel cheated especially if you changed the icing up on her. 
Thanks....I'm thinking I'll offer $20.
I think instead of offering her a lump sum of $20, I would phrase it as an amount off per cupcake. Not that it makes a big difference to you but I feel that telling her you were able to reduce the price of each cupcake by $1 (or whatever you decide) sounds like more in the big picture.
Did you charge her extra because (initially you thought....)they were to be done in fondant?
ETA: If you used extra amount of buttercream than you would've normally...no.
"Hey, I was able (whatever) to make them using buttercream like you wanted."
and leave it at that.
KHalstead: That is exactly what I was going to do, then just rounded up to $20 instead of 18 because I can only get $20's from the ATM.
all4cake: That was what I was wondering.....I didn't charge more because of the fondant per se...just because it was going to be time consuming to make all those popcorn pieces and paint them, etc. Which it still was....but I wasn't sure how long fondant would have taken for sure since I haven't done them in fondant.
As it turned out, it cost me about 2 hours less than I budgeted (guessed) for, so I told her that, and that it rounded out to me owing her $20. She thanked me for telling her all that, but I should just keep it as a "bonus".
Thanks to all who responded!
Aww what a lovely customer- she (rightly) must have loved the cake and appreciated all your hard work. You did the right thing! 
They turned out SO cute! The popcorn looks wonderfully real!
great result - now your consience is clear and she'll go and tell all her friends how honest you are - more orders coming your way!
Thanks, everyone!
The girl who did them told how in the picture description. However, I can't find the picture....too many pics to go through!
I used a 12 round tip to make the main bulbous part of the popcorn, then used a tip 80 to make the "petals" that fan out and have the kernel attatched. I hand painted that kernel on with brown paste color mixed with some yellow and diluted a bit with vodka. Then I airbrushed them yellow, but not uniformly, so it looked like butter was drizzled on. HTH
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