This policy explains when Topiax gives money back and what our three guarantees cover. It forms part of the Terms of service. Words defined in the terms, such as “engagement”, “signed scope”, “named contact”, “handover” and “business day”, mean the same here.
Summary
- Before work starts
- A full refund, minus card or payment-processing fees.
- After work starts
- Refunds only under the three guarantees below.
- Late Scan, Review or Fix Validation
- 25% of that fee is refunded automatically.
- Review with nothing worth fixing
- A full refund of the Review fee, if you tell us within 14 days of the report.
- A Sprint change breaks
- We fix it at no charge, for 30 days after handover.
- Credits
- Applied to your next invoice. Never paid out as cash.
- To ask for a refund
- Email cyprian@topiax.xyz with your invoice reference.
The summary is a guide. The sections below set out the detail and apply if the two differ.
1. How this policy works
1.1Topiax is the trading name of Cyprian Tinashe Aarons, a sole trader based in Harare, Zimbabwe. “Topiax”, “we” and “us” mean Cyprian Tinashe Aarons trading as Topiax. “You” means the client named in the engagement confirmation or invoice.
1.2As in the terms, work starts when we first access your systems or begin reviewing the materials you sent, after payment and access are both in. For Continuity, work for a month starts on the first day of that billing month. For an Integration discovery, work starts when the discovery week begins.
1.3A refund is always worked out on the amount you actually paid for that engagement. A credit applied to an invoice is not paid out as cash.
1.4Refunds under more than one guarantee never add up to more than you paid for that engagement.
2. Before work starts
2.1You can cancel an engagement by email at any time before work starts.
2.2We refund what you paid for that engagement, minus the card or payment-processing fees that our payment provider or bank charged on your payment and does not return to us.
2.3This applies to every service, including a Sprint deposit, the first month of Continuity and the Integration discovery fee.
3. After work starts
3.1Once work starts, fees are not refunded except under the three guarantees in sections 4 to 6.
3.2You can still stop an engagement at any time. Section 8 of the Terms of service explains what happens, including for a Sprint that is cancelled part-way and for Continuity.
4. On-time guarantee
4.1What it is. If a Scan, a Review or a Fix Validation is delivered late, we refund 25% of the fee you paid for it. You still receive the full report.
4.2Who qualifies. Any client who has paid for a Scan, a Review or a Fix Validation. It does not apply to a Sprint, to Continuity or to an Integration, where dates are set in the signed scope.
4.3How it is measured. The clock starts when payment and access are both in: we have received your payment and all the access listed in the signed scope is working. We confirm the start time to you in writing. If we agreed a later start date in writing, the clock starts on that date, at the time we agreed or at 09:00 Harare time (UTC+2) if we did not agree a time. The clock stops when we send the report to your named contact.
- Scan: within 3 business days.
- Review: within 48 hours, counted as consecutive hours.
- Fix Validation: within 2 business days.
4.4A turnaround stated in business days is counted from the next business day after the clock starts and ends at the end of the last business day, Harare time (UTC+2). The guarantee is measured on the written report. A walkthrough call or recorded walkthrough may follow at a time that suits you.
4.5How to claim. You do not need to claim. If we are late, we tell you and send the refund within 10 business days of the late delivery. If you think we missed one, email us.
4.6What is excluded. The guarantee does not apply to time lost because:
- access was missing, incomplete or withdrawn;
- we were waiting for information, a test account, a decision or a call that the signed scope requires from you;
- you asked us to pause or to change the scope after work started; or
- your app, or a service it depends on, was unavailable so that the testing could not be done.
4.7In those cases the time lost is added to the deadline, and the guarantee applies to the new deadline. If the delay means we lose the time we had set aside for you, we agree new dates with you in writing and the turnaround runs from the new start date.
4.8If the delay is on our side, the guarantee applies whatever the reason. The 25% refund is the full remedy for a late delivery. If we cannot deliver at all, section 9 applies instead.
5. Useful findings guarantee
5.1What it is. If the Review finds nothing that you consider worth fixing, we refund the Review fee in full.
5.2Who qualifies. Any client who has paid for a Review, at the standard price or the founding price. It applies to the Review only.
5.3How it is measured. It is your judgement. If, having read the report, you consider that none of the findings is worth fixing, you qualify.
5.4How to claim. Email us within 14 days of the day we delivered the report. Give your invoice reference and say that none of the findings is worth fixing. We may ask why, so that we can improve, but the refund does not depend on your answer.
5.5What is excluded. The guarantee does not apply if:
- you have booked a Sprint or a Fix Validation that is based on that Review;
- the Review could not be completed because the agreed access was not provided; or
- the claim is made after the 14 days.
5.6Once a Review is refunded under this guarantee, it cannot be used for the $500 Sprint credit or as the Review that a Sprint or a Fix Validation requires. A founding client’s testimonial and case-study obligations fall away. You may keep the report for your own internal use.
6. Sprint fix guarantee
6.1What it is. Anything the Sprint changed that breaks within 30 days of handover is fixed at no charge. This guarantee is a promise to fix. It is not a refund.
6.2Who qualifies. Any client whose Sprint has been handed over and paid in full.
6.3How it is measured. The 30 days run from the handover date, which is the day we deliver the handover document and the final changes. Something has broken if a fix, a test, a guardrail, an alert or a setting that the Sprint delivered stops working as the handover document describes.
6.4How to claim. Tell us in the shared channel or by email within the 30 days. Say what broke and how to see it. We reply within 1 business day and then fix it. We need the same access we had during the Sprint.
6.5What is excluded. The guarantee does not cover:
- breakage caused by changes made after handover to the code or settings the Sprint changed, whether by you, your team, an AI builder or anyone else;
- changes made by third-party platforms, models or providers;
- parts of the app that the Sprint did not change;
- new features or new requests; or
- changes that were not merged or deployed as we delivered them.
7. Notes for each service
AI App Scan
The $400 fee is paid upfront. Before work starts, section 2 applies. After work starts, the on-time guarantee is the only refund.
48-hour Launch Readiness Review
The $1,250 fee (or $750 for founding clients) is paid upfront. Before work starts, section 2 applies. After work starts, the on-time guarantee and the useful findings guarantee apply.
Fix Validation
The fee is paid upfront. Before work starts, section 2 applies. After work starts, the on-time guarantee is the only refund. It applies to the paid validation, not to the free second check of findings that are still open, which you can ask for within 30 days of the validation report. A Fix Validation must be booked within 60 days of the day we delivered the original Scan or Review report. If you pay for one that turns out to be outside that window, we refund it in full.
AI Reliability Sprint
The $4,500 fee is paid 50% to book and 50% on handover. Before work starts, the deposit is refunded under section 2. After work starts, the deposit is not refunded, and section 8.4 of the terms applies if you cancel part-way. The final payment is due on handover. A second week, if you add one for $2,000, is added to the handover payment and is treated as part of the Sprint fee. After handover, the Sprint fix guarantee applies.
Reliability Continuity
Continuity is billed monthly in advance at $1,500 a month, with a 3-month minimum term and then month to month with 30 days’ notice. Before work starts on the first month, section 2 applies. After that, a month that has been billed is not refunded, including the current month, and fees for the minimum term and the notice period remain payable. If we take a payment by mistake after your notice period has ended, we refund it in full.
Custom AI Workflow Integration
The $1,500 discovery fee is paid upfront. Before the discovery week begins, section 2 applies. After it begins, the fee is not refunded, but it is credited in full to the build if you go ahead. Payments and refunds for the build follow the milestones set in the written proposal. Where the proposal says nothing, amounts paid for work that has started are not refunded.
8. Credits
8.1A credit reduces the invoice for your next engagement. The credits are: the $400 Scan fee toward a Review bought within 30 days; $500 of the Review fee toward a Sprint booked within 30 days; a first Continuity month at $1,000 if it starts within 14 days of Sprint handover; and the Integration discovery fee toward the build.
8.2Credits apply once per client, do not stack, cannot be transferred and cannot be exchanged for cash. A credit that is not used within its window lapses.
8.3If an engagement paid partly with a credit is refunded, the refund is the cash you paid for that engagement. The credit is not refunded.
9. If we cancel
9.1If we cancel an engagement or cannot offer a start date that works for you before work starts, we refund everything you paid for that engagement, with no deduction for fees.
9.2If we end an engagement after work starts for a reason other than those listed in section 8.9 of the terms (such as non-payment, an authorisation you had no right to give, or a serious breach), we refund the fees you paid for the part of the work we did not deliver. The same applies if an engagement is cancelled under section 16 of the terms because of an event outside our control. Sections 8.7 to 8.9 and 16 of the terms give the detail.
10. How refunds are paid
10.1Refunds are paid in US dollars to the original payment method: back to the card you paid with, or to the bank account the transfer came from. If that is not possible, we agree another method with you.
10.2We send a refund within 10 business days of confirming it. Your bank or card provider may take longer to show it.
10.3Card or payment-processing fees are deducted only when you cancel before work starts (section 2). Refunds under the guarantees, and refunds when we cancel, are paid without that deduction.
10.4We cannot make up differences caused by exchange rates or by charges your own bank applies to an incoming refund.
11. Chargebacks
11.1If something has gone wrong with a payment or with our work, please contact us first. We reply within 1 business day and most problems can be settled faster by email than through a card dispute.
11.2If a chargeback is opened for work that was delivered as agreed, we will send the card provider the signed authorisation, the engagement confirmation and the delivery record. We may pause work and support while a dispute is open.
11.3This does not affect any right you have under your card provider’s rules or under the law.
12. How to ask for a refund
12.1Email cyprian@topiax.xyz from the address of your named contact. Include your invoice reference, the service, and which part of this policy you are relying on.
12.2We reply within 1 business day. We then confirm the refund or explain why it does not apply.
13. Your legal rights
13.1Nothing in this policy removes any mandatory consumer rights that you have under the law of the country where you live. For example, some countries give consumers who buy online a right to cancel within a set period. Where such a right applies to you, it applies in addition to this policy.
13.2Section 18 of the Terms of service sets out the governing law and how disputes are handled.
14. Changes to this policy
14.1We may update this policy. The date at the top of this page shows when it last changed. The version in force when an engagement is confirmed applies to that engagement.
14.2Questions about this policy can be sent to cyprian@topiax.xyz.
Related documents: Terms of service and Privacy policy.