Refund and Cancellation Policy

The short version. Money paid for work that has not been performed is returned. Work that has been delivered and accepted is invoiced in full and is not refunded. Retainers can be ended by either side on 30 days written notice. Refund requests go to pay@971global.com, are acknowledged within 5 business days, and approved refunds are processed within 10 business days of approval, back to the original payment method.

1. How our engagements are billed

The refund position depends on how a piece of work was billed, so it helps to start there. Every engagement uses one of four models, and the model is named in the accepted proposal or scope of work before any payment is taken.

Project milestone

A fixed scope is divided into milestones with a fee attached to each one. A milestone is invoiced when the work in it is delivered and accepted by the client. A deposit is usually taken before the first milestone starts.

Monthly retainer

An agreed level of ongoing service, such as IT consultancy or managed support, billed monthly in advance at a fixed monthly fee. It continues month to month until either party ends it.

Time and materials

Work billed against recorded hours at an agreed rate, invoiced in arrears with a time record attached. Expenses and third party costs are passed through at cost and shown separately.

Brokerage commission

For the introduction of buyers and sellers of goods, a commission is earned on completion of the transaction it relates to. The commission basis is agreed in writing before the introduction is made.

2. Deposits and advance payments

A project engagement usually starts after a deposit. The amount is stated in the accepted scope of work before any payment is requested. The deposit reserves delivery capacity and is applied against the earliest invoices on the engagement rather than being held separately.

Before any work has started. A deposit is refundable in full if the client decides not to proceed and tells us before work on the engagement begins. There is no cancellation charge in that situation.
After work has started. The deposit is applied against the work performed up to the point of cancellation, valued at the rates or milestone fees in the accepted scope. Any balance remaining after that is refunded. Where the work performed exceeds the deposit, the difference is invoiced.
Where we cannot deliver. If the company is unable to carry out the engagement, whether because of capacity, a license limitation, or any other reason on our side, the deposit is returned in full, less only the value of work already delivered and accepted by the client.

Advance payments on a retainer follow the same logic. A month paid in advance is earned as the month is served.

3. Canceling a retainer

A retainer can be ended by either the client or the company by giving 30 days written notice. Notice is effective from the date it is received by email at pay@971global.com or hello@971global.com.

The 30 day notice period is served and invoiced in the normal way. Work continues during the notice period, and clients are encouraged to use it, since it is the natural window for handover, documentation, and transfer of access.

Where a retainer month has already been paid in advance and notice is given part way through it, the paid month runs to its end. The refundable amount, where there is one, is any remaining balance beyond the end of the notice period. There is no penalty for canceling and no minimum commitment beyond what an accepted scope of work states.

4. What is refundable

Any amount paid in advance for work that has not been performed by the effective date of cancellation.
A deposit paid where work on the engagement has not started.
A duplicate payment, an overpayment, or an amount charged in error, including time billed that the time record does not support.
An amount paid for a milestone that was not delivered, and which the company will not be delivering.
A brokerage commission charged in advance where the introduced transaction did not complete.
Any amount where the company is unable to carry out the engagement it accepted.

5. What is not refundable

Work that has been delivered and accepted. Accepted milestones and accepted time records are invoiced in full and are not refunded.
Hours already recorded and delivered on a time and materials engagement, up to the effective date of cancellation.
Retainer fees for a notice period that has been served.
Third party costs the company has committed to on the client's behalf and cannot cancel or recover, such as software licenses, subscriptions, hosting, certificates, or freight. These are shown as separate line items on the invoice so their status is visible before they are incurred.
A brokerage commission on a transaction that has completed, once the introduction has produced the result it was agreed for.
Custom work that has been delivered to the accepted scope, where the client's requirement subsequently changed or a commercial outcome did not follow. Fees pay for the work performed, not for a business result.

Where a deliverable does not correspond to the accepted scope, the position is different. Clients are asked to tell us within 14 days of delivery, and we correct the deliverable at our own cost. A refund is considered where a correction is not practical or where the client prefers not to continue.

6. How to request a refund

Refund requests are handled by email at pay@971global.com. The following details let us look into it without a round of questions:

The invoice number, or the payment reference.
The date and amount of the payment.
The payment method used.
The reason for the request, described in whatever level of detail you have.
The name of the engagement or scope of work it relates to.

7. How a request is handled and when the money moves

Acknowledgment within 5 business days. We confirm receipt and name the person handling the review, by role where a name is not used.
Review. We check the request against the accepted scope of work, the delivery record, and the invoice, and we come back with a written decision. Where the position is straightforward, this usually takes a few days. Where the request touches a disputed deliverable, we say how long the review will take.
Processing within 10 business days of approval. Once a refund is approved, it is issued within 10 business days.
Original payment method. Refunds are returned by the method used for the original payment. A card payment is refunded to the same card, and a bank transfer is returned to the originating account. We do not issue refunds by a different route, to a third party account, or as credit, unless the client asks for credit in writing and we agree to it.
Arrival time. A card refund leaves us on the date we process it, and the time it takes to appear on a statement is set by the issuing bank. Five to ten business days is common, and longer is possible on some international cards. Bank transfers usually arrive within a few business days.

Where a request is declined, we explain the reasoning against the accepted scope of work and the delivery record, and the client is welcome to come back on it.

8. Before starting a card chargeback

We would much rather hear from you directly. A message to pay@971global.com reaches a person who can look at the invoice, the scope of work, and the delivery record on the same day in most cases, and a billing error is usually resolved faster that way than through a card dispute, which takes weeks to run its course.

Clients are asked to raise a billing question with us first, and to allow the 5 business day acknowledgment and the review period described above, before opening a dispute with a card issuer. If a request has been made and we have not come back within the stated timescales, that is a fair reason to escalate, and we would want to know about it either way.

9. Contact

Billing, invoices, cancellations, and refunds: pay@971global.com

Everything else: hello@971global.com

971 Global F.Z.E, License No. 43239, F1-227-OaaS - 03-C, Al Jurf Building - F1 Block, Ajman Free Zone, Ajman, United Arab Emirates.

This policy sits alongside our Terms of Service and our engagement and billing page. Where an accepted scope of work sets out different cancellation or refund arrangements for a particular engagement, that scope of work applies to it.