Refund & Cancellation Policy

We want every client to feel confident ordering from Hiddlins (“Hiddlins”, “we”, “us” or “our”). Because our services are custom work delivered over time rather than physical goods, refunds work differently from a typical online shop. This Refund & Cancellation Policy explains, clearly and in advance, what happens to your payments if you cancel a project, an audit or a care plan. It forms part of our Terms & Conditions. Last updated: October 14, 2026.

Our principles#

Our approach to refunds is built on three simple principles:

1. You pay for work that has been done. If you cancel, we charge for the work completed and any third-party costs incurred on your behalf, and refund the rest.
2. No surprises. Milestones and payment stages are set out in your proposal or on the product page, so you always know where a project stands financially.
3. Talk to us first. If something is not working, tell us early. Many concerns can be resolved by adjusting the scope, the timeline or the approach, and we will always try to do that before anyone reaches for a refund.

Refunds at a glance#

Service	Cancellation before work starts	Cancellation after work starts	After delivery
Landing Page Development and WordPress Website Development	Full refund of the deposit	Charged for completed milestones and work in progress; balance refunded	Non-refundable; covered by the 30-day bug-fix window
WooCommerce Store Development and Custom Web Application Development	Full refund of the deposit	Charged for completed milestones and work in progress; balance refunded	Non-refundable; covered by the 30-day bug-fix window
Performance & Technical SEO Audit	Full refund	Partial refund depending on progress	Non-refundable once the report is delivered
Website Care & Maintenance Plan	Full refund of the first payment if no work has been done	Cancel any time; effective at the end of the current billing month	Past months are non-refundable
Third-party costs (licences, domains, stock media)	Refunded if not yet purchased	Non-refundable once purchased, unless the vendor refunds us	Non-refundable

“Work starts” means the date we begin discovery, planning, design, development or audit activity on your project, which we confirm in writing, usually in a kick-off email.

Deposits#

Most projects begin with a deposit, as set out in our payment terms: typically 50% for projects up to $5,000 and 40% for larger projects, unless your proposal states otherwise. The deposit reserves time in our schedule and funds the first stage of work, usually discovery, planning and initial design.

If you cancel before work starts#

If you cancel before work starts, we will refund your deposit in full. If we have already purchased third-party items at your request, such as a premium plugin licence or stock images, we will deduct their cost unless we can obtain a refund from the vendor, and we will pass those items on to you.

If you cancel after work starts#

Once work has started, the deposit is applied to the work completed. If the value of work completed at the time of cancellation is less than the deposit, we will refund the difference. Work completed is calculated by reference to the milestones in your proposal or, where a milestone is partly complete, on a time-spent basis at our standard hourly rate, never exceeding the value of that milestone.

Rescheduling instead of cancelling#

If you simply need more time, for example because content is not ready, we are usually happy to pause a project and move it to a later slot instead. Your deposit stays credited to the project. If a project remains paused for more than 90 days, we may ask you to confirm whether you want to continue, and we may invoice for work completed to date as described in our Terms.

Milestone-based refunds#

Larger projects are divided into milestones, such as discovery and planning, design, development, testing and launch. Each milestone has a defined output and a share of the total fee.

• Approved milestones are non-refundable. Once you approve a milestone, in writing or by asking us to proceed, the work has been delivered and accepted.
• The milestone in progress is charged for the work done so far, on a time-spent basis, capped at that milestone’s value.
• Future milestones that have not started are not charged. Any amount you have prepaid for them is refunded.

On cancellation, we will send you a short statement showing the milestones completed, the work in progress, any third-party costs and the resulting refund or balance due. You will receive all completed Deliverables that have been paid for, so the work you paid for is yours to keep and use.

An illustrative example#

Suppose a project has a total fee of $8,000 under the default schedule for larger projects: a 40% deposit ($3,200), 30% on design approval ($2,400) and 30% before launch ($2,400). You have paid the deposit, the designs have been approved, and you cancel during development after $1,000 of development work has been done. You would owe the value of the completed discovery and design milestones plus $1,000 for development in progress. If the payments already made exceed that amount, we refund the difference; if they fall short, we invoice the balance. This example is purely illustrative; the actual figures depend on the milestones in your proposal.

Performance & Technical SEO Audits#

Our Performance & Technical SEO Audit is paid in full when ordered.

• Before the audit begins: full refund.
• During the audit: if you cancel after we have started collecting data and testing, we will refund 50% of the fee, or more if little work has been done.
• After the report is delivered: non-refundable, because the value of an audit lies in the findings and recommendations, which cannot be returned once shared.

If we cannot complete an audit for reasons on our side, we will refund the fee in full. If an audit cannot be completed because we do not receive the access or information needed within 30 days of ordering, despite reminders, we may close the order and refund the fee less a reasonable charge for work already done.

An audit identifies issues and recommends improvements. It does not guarantee improvements in rankings, traffic or Core Web Vitals, and dissatisfaction with the findings themselves is not a ground for a refund. If you believe the report misses something within the agreed scope, tell us and we will review and supplement it at no charge.

Care-plan cancellation#

Our Website Care & Maintenance Plan is billed monthly in advance and has no minimum term unless your proposal specifies one.

• Cancel any time. You can cancel from your customer account, where available, or by emailing us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing month, and no further payments will be taken.
• The current month. Services continue until the end of the month you have paid for. We do not give partial refunds for unused days or unused support time.
• First month. If you cancel within 7 days of your first payment and we have not yet carried out any work, such as onboarding, backups or updates, we will refund the first payment in full.
• Handover. When a care plan ends, we will provide a recent backup on request, return or revoke our access, and share any information you need to manage the site yourself or with another provider.
• Price changes. If we change the price of your plan, we will give you at least 30 days’ notice, and you may cancel before the new price applies.

If we end a care plan ourselves for reasons other than your breach of our Terms, we will refund any prepaid amount for the period after the plan ends.

Statutory cancellation rights for consumers#

Most of our clients are businesses. If you are a consumer in the European Union or the United Kingdom, buying for purposes outside your trade, business or profession, you have a legal right to cancel a distance contract within 14 days of the date the contract is formed, without giving a reason.

• If you ask us to start work during the 14-day cancellation period and then cancel, you must pay a proportionate amount for the services provided up to the time you tell us you are cancelling.
• If the service is fully performed within the 14-day period at your express request, and you acknowledged that you would lose your right to cancel once the service is complete, the right to cancel no longer applies. This may be relevant to audits delivered quickly.
• To cancel, send us a clear statement by email to hello@hiddlins.com. You may use any wording, for example: “I wish to cancel my contract for the Performance & Technical SEO Audit ordered on 2 March.”
• We will refund any amount due within 14 days of receiving your cancellation, using the same payment method you used, unless you agree otherwise.

Consumers in other countries may have similar rights under local law. Nothing in this policy limits any rights you have by law.

If you are not happy with our work#

We work in stages with approvals precisely so that problems surface early. If you are unhappy with a Deliverable:

1. Let us know as soon as possible, with specific feedback.
2. We will use the revision rounds included in your proposal to address it.
3. If the work does not meet the agreed specification, we will correct it at no extra cost.
4. If we cannot resolve the issue and the work genuinely fails to meet the agreed specification, we will discuss a fair outcome, which may include a partial refund for the affected milestone.

Defects reported within 30 days of launch are fixed free of charge under the bug-fix window in our Terms & Conditions. A change of mind about design direction after approval, or a request for new features, is handled as a change request rather than a refund.

What is not refundable#

• Milestones you have approved, and Deliverables that have been delivered and accepted.
• Completed audit reports.
• Past billing months of a care plan.
• Third-party costs already purchased on your behalf, such as domains, premium licences, stock media or paid API credits, unless the vendor refunds us.
• Out-of-scope work you approved and we completed.
• Payment processing fees charged by payment providers, where those providers do not return them to us. We absorb these fees ourselves when we cancel a project.

Chargebacks and payment disputes#

If you have a concern about a charge, please contact us first. We can usually resolve billing questions within a few business days, and a direct refund is faster for you than a chargeback.

Filing a chargeback or payment dispute without first contacting us creates delays and fees for both sides. If a chargeback is filed:

• we may pause all work on related projects and care plans until the dispute is resolved;
• we will provide the payment provider with relevant evidence, such as the order, proposal, approvals and delivery records; and
• if the dispute is decided in our favour, the original amount remains payable, and for business clients we may also recover reasonable dispute fees charged to us.

This does not affect your right to dispute a charge that is unauthorised or fraudulent. If you see a charge from us that you do not recognise, tell us and your card issuer immediately.

How to request a cancellation or refund#

1. Contact us at hello@hiddlins.com or through our contact page. Please include your name, order number or invoice number, the service concerned and, if you wish, the reason for your request. Reasons help us improve but are not required for a cancellation.
2. Acknowledgement. We will acknowledge your request within 2 business days.
3. Statement. For projects already under way, we will send a statement of work completed, any third-party costs and the amount to be refunded or invoiced, normally within 5 business days.
4. Refund. Once the amount is agreed, we will issue the refund within 14 days, to the original payment method wherever possible.

Refunds to cards normally appear within 5 to 10 business days of being issued, depending on your bank or payment provider. Refunds are made in the currency of the original payment. We are not responsible for exchange-rate differences or fees charged by your bank.

Changes to this policy#

We may update this policy from time to time. The version in effect when you placed your order or accepted your proposal applies to that project. For care plans, changes apply from the next billing period after at least 30 days’ notice. The “last updated” date at the top of this page shows when this policy was last revised.

Contact us#

If you have questions about this Refund & Cancellation Policy, or if you are considering cancelling and would like to talk through the options first, we are glad to help.

Email: hello@hiddlins.com

Hiddlins

You can also use the form on our contact page, or read more about how we work in our FAQ.