You are correct, this should not be complex at all. This is simply sales pressure from the sales person. Also we do not know the exact contract that they have signed. Neither of us have seen it and the presumption we are all making is that there is some sort of financing contingency in there.
However that is an assumption on all our parts yeah?
I did not mean to imply any sort of complexity here at all. Many buyers let these salespersons types steam roll them and push them around. It is more of a personality trait then anything else and these salespeople take advantage of that. Even if the contract does not have the financing contingency in it, these buyers most likely will get thier money back if they are assertive enough and yes a simple call or letter from an attorney should do the trick if the buyers cannot do it themselves.
Sometimes if buyers just have a pep talk from an advocate who is in the know, and who can review the documentation with them so that they know what trump cards to pull when talking to a salesperson, that is all that is needed.