Refund Policy

This Refund Policy sets out when and how QCE Vision issues refunds across the plans, licences, credits, and one-off purchases offered through the QCE Vision ecosystem. It applies to all QCE Vision operating entities, QCE Global, QCE Gateway, QCE Technologies, QCE AI, and QCE 360, and to every product surface where payment is collected, including the sovereign substrate, the Enterprise Intelligence Platform (EIP), OmniPlace, and QaaS offerings.

We hold to a simple principle: if we did not deliver what we said we would, you do not pay for it. Where the delivery was correct and the change of mind is yours, we still refund within a defined window, because our customers should not be penalised for making a considered decision.

Where a signed master services agreement, order form, or statement of work exists between you and QCE Vision, that instrument prevails over this policy to the extent of any conflict. Where local consumer law grants you a stronger right, that right is unaffected.

Four principles govern every refund decision we make. They are published so that you can hold us to them.

• No Hidden Fees. The price you see is the price you pay. We do not charge activation fees, cancellation fees, or restocking fees on standard plans. Zero hidden fees is one of the six operational zeroes that govern the ecosystem.
• No Dark Patterns. Cancellation is no harder than signup. We do not bury the cancel button, do not require a phone call to cancel, and do not use retention scripts that obscure the exit.
• No Dependency Lock-In. If you leave, your data leaves with you in a structured, machine-readable format (JSON/CSV) at no additional cost. No lock-in fees, no data-hostage clauses.
• No Ambiguity. The eligibility windows, processing timelines, and non-refundable categories are stated below in plain language. If any part of this policy is unclear, contact us and we will explain it, and, where the language is genuinely ambiguous, we will resolve the ambiguity in your favour.

The following categories of purchase are eligible for refund, subject to the windows in Section 4:

Refund windows are measured from the date of the transaction, unless otherwise stated in your order form. The table below sets out the standard windows.

Where the window has passed, we may still issue a refund at our discretion, for example where a documented service outage prevented you from using the Service. Contact us; we will assess the request on its merits.

The following categories are not eligible for refund under this policy, except where required by applicable law or where we have failed to deliver the agreed service:

• Consumed Usage. Compute, inference, and bandwidth that has already been drawn down. Once a cycle has run, the underlying capacity has been spent and cannot be recovered.
• Completed Deliverables. Custom development, bespoke integrations, and consulting engagements that have been delivered and accepted.
• Third-Party Pass-Throughs. Fees passed through to third parties on your behalf, for example domain registrations, certificate issuance, and regulated payment-processor charges.
• Node Purchases. The Zero Click Nodes are physical or dedicated-capacity assets. Once a node is provisioned to your account, the capital component is non-refundable; the managed-services component is refundable on the standard subscription windows.
• JV & Equity Instruments. Joint-venture contributions, equity purchases, and capital recycled through the venture lifecycle are governed by their own agreements and are not refundable under this policy.
• Marketplace Transactions. Completed purchases on OmniPlace between a buyer and a seller are governed by the OmniPlace buyer-protection terms, not by this policy.
• Fraudulent Activity. Where the transaction is linked to fraud, chargeback abuse, or a violation of our Terms of Service, no refund is available.

A refund request is a single step. You do not need to fill in a form, argue your case, or wait for an approval queue.

1. Submit the request. Email billing@qcevision.com from the email address associated with your account, or raise a refund request from within the account dashboard. Include the transaction reference if you have it, we can locate the transaction from your account either way.
2. State the reason (optional). We ask for the reason so we can fix what went wrong. It is not a precondition for the refund. If you prefer not to explain, the refund still proceeds.
3. Receive the decision. We acknowledge every request within one business day and issue a decision within three business days. Requests falling clearly within the windows in Section 4 are auto-approved.
4. Confirm the method. Refunds are returned to the original payment method by default. Where the original method is unavailable, for example an expired card, we will agree an alternative with you in writing.

For enterprise agreements with a designated account team, you may route the request through your account contact. The timeline is the same.

Once a refund is approved, we initiate it within one business day. The time for the funds to become visible depends on the payment method and the banking rails:

• Card payments: 5 to 10 business days, depending on the issuing bank. The refund is credited to the card used for the original payment.
• Bank transfer: 3 to 7 business days to the originating account, subject to correspondent-bank processing time.
• Digital wallets & local rails: typically 2 to 5 business days, depending on the provider.
• Web3 rails: on-chain refunds are settled to the originating wallet address at the prevailing network confirmation time. We do not control network congestion and cannot accelerate on-chain settlement.
• Account credit: where you elect credit instead of a cash refund, the credit is applied instantly and does not expire. Credit is always available as an option, never a default.

Currency conversion and any third-party processing fee imposed by the payment network are outside our control. Where those fees are material, we disclose them before issuing the refund.

Where a refund is issued after a subscription has been partially consumed, the refund is calculated pro-rata against the unused portion of the term. Pro-rata is calculated on a daily basis against the number of days remaining in the billing period, discounted for any multi-month or multi-year commitment already applied.

Where you have received a discount in exchange for an annual or multi-year commitment, the pro-rata refund is recalculated at the undiscounted monthly rate for the months already used. This is not a penalty, it simply recovers the discount that was granted on the assumption of the full term.

We ask that you contact us first. A chargeback initiated without prior contact is slower for you, costlier for everyone, and often results in an account suspension while the dispute is investigated.

• Contact us first. Most disputes are resolved within three business days, without ever reaching the card network.
• If a chargeback is filed. We will respond with the transaction record, the delivery evidence, and the applicable policy. Where the chargeback is valid, we refund immediately and withdraw the dispute.
• Account impact. While a chargeback is open, the associated account may be suspended from making new purchases. Access to existing data is not affected.
• Fraudulent chargebacks. A pattern of abusive chargebacks may result in account termination and a referral to the payment network's fraud team.

Enterprise agreements, joint-venture arrangements, node purchases, and bespoke engagements may carry refund terms different from the standard windows in Section 4. Where your signed agreement sets out a specific refund mechanism, that mechanism prevails.

For enterprise engagements, we strongly recommend that the refund and termination terms are agreed in writing at the outset. If you are unsure what applies to your engagement, contact your account team, we will provide the specific terms in writing, and we will not rely on a term that was not disclosed.

This policy supplements, and does not replace, the mandatory consumer protections that apply in your jurisdiction. Where local law grants you a right to cancel, a cooling-off period, or a statutory refund that is stronger than the terms of this policy, that right applies in full.

Nothing in this policy excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, for example liability for fraud, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that applicable law requires us to retain.

We may update this policy as our offerings, our entities, or applicable law evolve. Where a change is material, we will notify affected account holders by email and in-product notice at least 14 days before the change takes effect. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Changes do not apply retroactively to transactions completed before the effective date.

Refund requests, billing questions, and disputes are handled by our Finance, Accounting & Treasury function, one of the nine core business functions that govern the QCE Vision ecosystem.