Refund and cancellation policy

This policy explains how trials, renewals, cancellations and refunds work for startbuddi plans, extra seats and Chip credits. It forms part of our Terms of service. Prices and what each plan includes are on our pricing page.

Nothing in this policy takes away rights you have under the consumer law of the country you live in. Where that law gives you more than this policy does, the law wins.

1The Free plan

The Free plan costs nothing and has no end date. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to refund.

2Your 30-day trial

• Every paid plan can start with a 30-day trial. Each workspace can have one trial.
• You do not need a card to start a trial.
• During the trial some sending allowances are capped whatever the plan (for example 500 emails), to protect our sending reputation. Billing shows what applies.
• We remind the workspace owner before the trial ends, and Billing shows the end date.
• If you have saved a card and do not cancel before the trial ends, your first monthly payment is taken on that date and the plan continues. If you have not saved a card, the workspace moves to the Free plan limits. Either way, nothing is deleted.

3Billing periods and renewals

• Plans are billed monthly or yearly, in advance. A yearly plan costs 10 times the monthly price.
• Your plan renews automatically at the end of each period until you cancel. Billing shows your next renewal date.
• We charge in the currency shown at checkout. Depending on where you are and how you pay, payments are processed by Paystack, Stripe or PayPal. Your bank may add its own fees or exchange-rate costs, which we do not control.
• Prices may change. We will tell the workspace owner at least 30 days before a new price applies to an existing plan, and the new price starts from your next renewal after that notice. If you do not want to pay the new price, you can cancel before it applies.

4Cancelling

• Only the workspace owner or an admin can cancel. Open Settings, then Billing, and choose Cancel subscription.
• Deleting a workspace does not cancel its plan by itself, so cancel the plan first.
• Cancelling stops the next renewal. Your plan keeps working until the end of the period you have already paid for, and its status shows as “Cancels soon”.
• When the period ends, paid features lock and the workspace moves to the Free plan limits. Your contacts, invoices, documents and other data are not deleted: you can still view and export them, and choosing a plan again switches everything back on.
• If you want your data deleted as well, the owner can delete the workspace from Settings, then Danger zone, after exporting anything they want to keep. Our Privacy policy explains how deletion works.

5Refunds

Plan fees are not refunded, except where the law requires a refund or where we have made a mistake. In practice this means:

• Cancelling part-way through a period: no part refund for the days left. You keep full access until the period ends.
• Changing plans part-way through a period: moving up is charged for the rest of the period straight away. Moving down does not give cash back; where your payment provider supports it, any unused amount is taken off your next bill.
• Removing seats: the lower price starts from your next renewal. Nothing already paid is refunded.
• Forgetting to cancel before a renewal: renewals are not refunded as a rule. If something went wrong, contact us and we will look at it.
• Our mistakes: if we charged you twice, charged the wrong amount, or charged you after you had cancelled, we will refund the difference to the original payment method.
• Legal rights: if you are a consumer and the law where you live gives you a right to cancel and be refunded (for example a cooling-off period for online purchases), you keep that right. Where you ask for the service to start straight away during a cooling-off period, the law may let us keep a proportionate amount for the time you used it.

Refunds go back to the card or account you paid with. How long they take to appear depends on your bank and your payment provider.

6Extra seats

You can add seats at any time; you pay a prorated amount for the rest of the current period straight away. You can remove spare seats in Billing, and the saving starts at your next renewal. You cannot remove a seat someone is still using, so remove the teammate or cancel the invite first.

7Chip credits

• Paid plans include a monthly allowance of Chip credits, added to your workspace’s credit balance.
• Credits you buy separately, such as a Boost pack, do not expire while your workspace exists. Because they do not expire, bought credits are not refunded, except where the law requires it or we made a mistake.
• Some Chip actions give their credits back automatically when they produce nothing, for example a prospect search that finds nobody. You can see every charge and every credit returned under Billing, in “Where credits went”.
• If you switch on automatic top-up, we buy a new pack for you when your balance runs low. You can switch it off at any time in Billing.

8Failed payments

If a renewal payment fails, you do not lose access straight away. You get a 7-day grace period to update your payment method in Billing. If the payment still has not gone through when the grace period ends, the workspace is paused until it does. Your data stays in place.

9Chargebacks

If you think a charge is wrong, please contact us first: we can usually fix it faster than your bank. If you raise a chargeback, we may pause paid features on the workspace while the dispute is open.

10Payments you take from your own customers

This policy covers what you pay startbuddi. When your customers pay you through startbuddi invoices, payment links, bookings or a shop, the money goes to your own Paystack or Stripe account. Refunds to your customers are made by you, from that account, under your own refund policy.

11How to ask about a charge

Email hello@startbuddi.com with your workspace name, the date and the amount. We will look into it and reply with what we find.

Questions about this document? Email privacy@startbuddi.com.