Refund Policy

DRAFT — not legal advice. This document is an AI-prepared draft. It must be reviewed and finalised by a qualified lawyer (Czech consumer law + EU Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights) before public use. Placeholders in {{double braces}} must be filled in.

Effective date: 23rd May 2026 Last updated: 23rd May 2026

This policy describes when and how you can request a refund. It is part of our Terms of Service and our compliance with EU Directive 2011/83/EU (the Consumer Rights Directive). If anything here conflicts with mandatory consumer law in your country of residence, the law applies.

1. Summary

What you bought	What you can get back
Your first subscription charge (monthly or yearly)	Full refund within 14 days of the charge — no questions asked
Renewal of an existing subscription	Not refundable, except where required by law (see §3)
An alt chapter that has been unlocked	Not refundable — you expressly waive the 14-day withdrawal right at checkout (§4)
An alt chapter credit pack with credits not yet redeemed	Refundable within 14 days of purchase, prorated to unredeemed credits (§4)
Your account is terminated by us without cause	Pro-rata refund of the unused portion of any prepaid period
A technical failure on our side prevents access to content you paid for	Pro-rata refund or credit, at your choice

2. First subscription charge — 14-day money-back

We offer a 14-day money-back guarantee on the first charge of any subscription (Premium or Patron, monthly or yearly), whether or not you used the Service in that period. This is more generous than the statutory withdrawal right for ongoing services — we voluntarily waive the "deduction for use" that EU law would otherwise allow.

How to request it:

Email {{REFUND_EMAIL}} from the address on your account.
State that you want to cancel and refund your first subscription charge.
We will confirm receipt within 2 business days and refund the original payment method within 14 days of receipt.

Refunds are issued in the original currency to the original payment method.

3. Renewals and subsequent periods

Renewal charges are not refundable because the service is continuous and provided immediately. You can cancel a subscription at any time from Account → Manage subscription, which opens Stripe's Customer Portal. Cancellation stops further renewals; access continues to the end of the already-paid period.

We will, however, refund a renewal charge if any of the following apply:

You cancelled before the renewal date but the cancellation did not register because of a fault on our side.
Mandatory consumer law in your country of residence requires us to refund (for example, in some jurisdictions consumers must be given an extra reminder before renewal — where that applies and we missed it).
A material part of the service was unavailable for an extended period during the renewed term.

Email {{REFUND_EMAIL}} with details and we will investigate.

4. Alt chapters and credit packs

Alt chapters are one-off digital content delivered immediately on purchase. Under Article 16(m) of Directive 2011/83/EU, the 14-day right of withdrawal does not apply to such content where the consumer has expressly consented to immediate performance and acknowledged the loss of the withdrawal right.

At checkout you will see and must confirm the following before payment:

"I consent to immediate delivery of this alt chapter and acknowledge that I lose my 14-day right of withdrawal as soon as the chapter is unlocked on my account. (Required by EU Directive 2011/83/EU, Art. 16(m).)"

Already-unlocked alts are not refundable except where the chapter file itself was substantively broken (missing content, unreadable file) and we cannot fix it within 7 days.

Credit packs

When you buy a credit pack (6× or 18×), the credits sit on your account until you spend them. Unredeemed credits remain refundable:

Within 14 days of the pack purchase, you may request a refund for any credits you have not yet redeemed. We will refund the prorated portion (e.g. 4 unspent of 6 credits = 4/6 of the pack price), in line with Czech consumer-protection guidance on bundled digital goods.
Credits expire never under current policy, but we may introduce expiry in future with at least 90 days' notice.

To request a credit-pack refund, email {{REFUND_EMAIL}} from the account address.

5. Failed payments and double charges

If you are charged twice in error, contact us within 30 days and we will refund the duplicate immediately.

If your card was charged but your account was not activated, this is almost always a webhook race condition. Visit the Account page once while signed in — the page automatically reconciles your subscription state from Stripe on load, and access typically appears within seconds. If it doesn't, email {{REFUND_EMAIL}}.

6. Chargebacks

A chargeback against a Branchwriter charge can result in account suspension while the dispute is open. We always prefer that you contact us first — most refund situations can be resolved in a single email faster than the chargeback process.

7. How long refunds take

We aim to process every eligible refund within 14 days of receiving the request, but the actual time your bank takes to post the credit varies (typically 1–10 business days for cards). For SEPA refunds, please allow up to 5 business days.

8. Termination by us

If we close your account for a reason other than a material breach of our Terms (for example, if we discontinue the Service), we will refund the unused, prepaid portion of any active subscription period on a pro-rata basis. We will not refund alt-chapter credits that have already been redeemed, but unredeemed credits will be refunded.

9. Disputes about a refund decision

If we decline a refund and you disagree, you may:

Reply to our email to ask us to reconsider (we will route the request to the operator, currently Marek).
File a complaint with the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (Česká obchodní inspekce) at https://www.coi.cz/.
Use the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/.
Bring the matter before the competent court (Czech courts under our Terms, subject to mandatory consumer protections in your country).

10. Contact

All refund requests and questions: {{REFUND_EMAIL}} (typically the same inbox as {{CONTACT_EMAIL}} for a small operation).