Message disappeared? Star Seller badge affected

[DonutCrafters]

A customer accidentally purchased the wrong listing and requested a refund. I approved their refund and sent them a message back at the same time, through the return page- in less than 24 hours.

I know the customer received the message as they responded answering/ referencing things I specifically said in this message. For whatever reason that first message I sent to them disappeared from the message history and because of this I will not be getting the Star Seller badge. 

This was supposed to be my first Star Seller month and I was so excited. I've been working so hard for it, this is so frustrating

[NanaLetha]

You must reply to the message.

[GieseDeseiGns]

The return page and message page are not connected, so the message you sent did not count in messages.

[Adorabilities]

The message didn't disappear -- it was never a message in the first place. What you wrote was just text that's entered into the refund notification.

[BagmakerSupply]

@DonutCrafters: If the customer contacted you via a Help Request, then by Etsy rules you need to reply to that thread's first Message.
The "message" in the refund form does not count as any sort of reply, and the "message" in the cancellation form is appended to the default message thread you have with that (buyer) account, but never to a Help Request thread.