Refund & Cancellation Policy

Every Gigspact booking runs on full-payment escrow (Terms Section 6). The processor holds the Customer’s entire quoted amount plus the Vendor’s good-faith deposit until the event completes or the applicable cancellation-tier outcome resolves.

• Customer downpayment. Captured into the processor-held payment intent at booking-lock. Gigspact never holds Customer funds directly.
• Customer balance. If the event is 14 or more days away at booking-lock, the Customer authorizes a payment method that the processor charges automatically at T-minus-14 days — the exact capture date is on the signed Agreement. If the event is less than 14 days away at booking-lock, the entire quoted amount is captured up front in a single transaction.
• Vendor good-faith deposit. Held on the processor’s side at booking-lock. This is what balances risk: the Customer no longer carries all the cancellation risk, and the Vendor no longer carries all the no-show risk.
• Release trigger. Escrowed funds release only when the event is confirmed complete — typically via QR check-in on the event day plus any proof-of-service the Agreement requires — or when a dispute, cancellation, or force-majeure outcome resolves.
• Off-platform payments. Money that never moved through the processor is outside the scope of this policy. Gigspact cannot release, refund, or transfer funds it never held (Terms Section 7).

Cancellation tiers are set in each Agreement, but the standard tiers apply when the Agreement does not override them. Tiers are measured from the event start time recorded in the Agreement. Because bookings run on full-payment escrow (see Section 1), each tier controls how the Customer’s downpayment is treated; any balance already captured at the time of cancellation is refunded to the Customer in the same proportion; any balance not yet captured is simply not charged.

• More than 30 days out. Downpayment fully refundable. Any captured balance is fully refunded. Scheduled captures still pending are cancelled. Vendor good-faith deposit released back to the Vendor.
• 15–30 days out. Downpayment refunded 50% (the remaining 50% releases to the Vendor as a scheduling fee). Any captured balance is fully refunded. Scheduled captures still pending are cancelled.
• 3–14 days out. Downpayment non-refundable and released to the Vendor. Any captured balance is fully refunded to the Customer. Vendor good-faith deposit released back to the Vendor.
• Fewer than 72 hours out. Downpayment released to the Vendor. Any captured balance is fully refunded to the Customer. Vendor good-faith deposit forfeited if the Vendor is the party cancelling (see Section 4).

Cancel from the booking page. The applicable tier from Section 2 (or the Agreement) is applied automatically. Refunds initiate back to the original payment method within one business day; the bank or card network typically settles within 5–10 business days.

If the Vendor cancels, the Customer’s downpayment and any captured balance are refunded in full regardless of window, and any pending balance capture is cancelled. The Vendor’s good-faith deposit is applied as follows:

• More than 30 days out. Good-faith deposit released back to the Vendor.
• 3–30 days out. 50% of the good-faith deposit released to the Customer as a re-booking credit or refund; 50% released back to the Vendor.
• Fewer than 72 hours out. Full good-faith deposit released to the Customer as compensation.

Repeated late Vendor cancellations trigger review under the Community Guidelines and may reduce the Vendor’s confidence score.

• Customer no-show. If the Vendor arrived and completed QR check-in but the Customer or venue was inaccessible, the Vendor submits a no-show claim within 48 hours. On acceptance, the Customer’s full captured amount (downpayment plus any captured balance) releases to the Vendor and the good-faith deposit is returned.
• Vendor no-show. If the Vendor did not appear and did not check in, the Customer submits a no-show claim within 48 hours. On acceptance, the Customer receives a full refund of the captured amount plus the Vendor’s full good-faith deposit.
• Every claim can be rebutted by the other party within the rebuttal window shown in-app. Unresolved rebuttals escalate to dispute review (Section 6).

If a Customer believes a Vendor did not deliver what the Agreement specified — wrong scope, missing deliverables, or unsafe execution — they may open a dispute within seven days of the event. The Vendor may rebut, either party may appeal to Gigspact staff, and the reviewer decides how escrow releases.

Possible dispute outcomes — each is applied to the full captured amount (downpayment plus any captured balance):

• Full release. Captured amount released to the Vendor; good-faith deposit returned.
• Partial release. A portion of the captured amount held back and refunded to the Customer, based on the missing scope.
• Full refund. Captured amount fully refunded and, in severe non-delivery cases, the Vendor’s good-faith deposit awarded to the Customer.

Appeals are reviewed by a staff member who was not the original decider. Appeal decisions are final for Platform-mediated release, without prejudice to legal remedies outside the Platform.

Force-majeure events — typhoons, floods, earthquakes, declared emergencies, government-imposed restrictions, and other circumstances beyond either party’s control — are handled with neutral release rules:

• Bookings scheduled during an official advisory or restriction affecting the event location are eligible for a full Customer refund and full good-faith return to the Vendor.
• Customers and Vendors may instead agree in-app to reschedule without penalty. Rescheduling preserves the original escrow hold.
• Gigspact may pause payouts across all affected bookings during a declared force-majeure window and will communicate the plan in-app.

When a scheduled balance capture fails (long-lead bookings only — short-lead bookings capture the full quoted amount at booking-lock and never reach this path), the Platform runs the fixed escalation timeline defined in Terms Section 6. Only the Vendor can waive the balance, through an explicit in-app action logged to the booking’s audit trail. The Platform will not silently forgo collection.

• T-14 through T-9. The capture is retried daily. The Customer is notified on email, SMS, and in-app with a direct link to update the payment method. No money moves unless a retry succeeds.
• T-9. The Vendor is asked to choose: cancel (the Customer’s downpayment forfeits to the Vendor), waive the balance (proceed on the downpayment as full payment), or wait one more retry cycle. A Vendor waiver is irreversible and is recorded on the booking record.
• T-3. Final decision prompt to the Vendor with a 24-hour response window. No response defaults to cancel at T-2.
• Default-cancel outcome. The downpayment forfeits to the Vendor as compensation for the reserved date and preparation costs. The Vendor’s good-faith deposit returns to the Vendor. The balance is not captured. The Customer receives no refund of the downpayment and their account is flagged payment_unresolved for six months — future bookings during that window require the full quoted amount to be captured at booking-lock regardless of lead time. The flag clears early if the Customer settles directly with the affected Vendor and both parties confirm the resolution in-app (Terms Section 6).

• Gigspact’s platform fee is disclosed at booking. It is refunded to the Customer whenever the Customer downpayment is refunded in full. Partial refunds keep a proportional platform fee.
• Payment-processor fees are set by our payment service provider. They are non-refundable in most cases; where the processor refunds them to us, we pass the refund through.
• Refund amounts are always net of the processor fee retained by the network.

Once a refund is authorized in-app, we send the request to our payment processor within one business day. Settlement to the original payment method depends on the card network or e-wallet and typically lands within 5–10 business days. You will see the refund status update on the booking page as the processor confirms each leg.

• Bookings marked completed by QR check-in and matching proof-of-service, where no dispute is filed within the 7-day dispute window.
• Portions of a booking already delivered when the Customer cancels late.
• Downpayments on bookings that reach the T-2 default-cancel outcome via failed balance capture (Section 8) — the downpayment forfeits to the Vendor under Terms Section 6.
• Off-platform payments — Gigspact cannot refund funds it never held. Pursue those directly through the Agreement (Terms Section 7).
• Add-on services purchased outside Gigspact’s escrow flow.
• Consequential losses — lost venue deposits, third-party vendor forfeitures, guest travel expenses — are outside the Platform’s refund scope. Pursue them under the Agreement or in the appropriate legal venue.

Open the booking in Gigspact and choose the appropriate action — Cancel, Report no-show, or Open dispute. Each action shows exactly what will happen to the money before you confirm. For questions or edge cases not covered in-app, email support@gigspact.com with the booking reference.