1. Overview
This Refund & Cancellation Policy explains when refunds are available on the Worqen Service, how to request one, and the EU consumer rights that apply where you are an individual consumer in the European Union or the European Economic Area. It supplements the Terms of Service and the Fees & Charges Schedule.
2. What this Policy covers
- Sparks (in-app credits) where they have been purchased for real money;
- Subscription and premium-tier fees, when introduced;
- Engagements between Workers and Employers settled through Worqen escrow;
- Disputed transactions and chargebacks.
It does not cover taxes (including VAT) collected by tax authorities, network fees (gas) paid to the Solana blockchain, or charges levied by your bank, card issuer or wallet provider.
3. EU consumer right of withdrawal (14-day cooling-off)
If you are an individual consumer ordinarily resident in the European Union or the EEA, the EU Consumer Rights Directive (Directive 2011/83/EU) gives you the right to withdraw from a contract for digital content or digital services within 14 days, without giving any reason and without penalty.
3.1 How to withdraw
Send a clear, dated statement to billing@worqen.com stating that you are withdrawing from the contract. You may use the model EU withdrawal form. We will refund the amount paid using the same payment method you used, no later than 14 days after receiving your withdrawal notice.
3.2 Loss of the right to withdraw
Under Article 16(m) of the Consumer Rights Directive, you lose the right to withdraw from a contract for digital content or digital services where:
- performance has begun with your prior express consent;
- you have acknowledged that you will lose your right of withdrawal once performance has fully begun;
- (for digital content not on a tangible medium) we have provided confirmation of that consent.
At the moment Worqen begins to offer paid Sparks, the checkout will present a clearly labelled tickbox in which you can either: (a) request immediate access and waive your 14-day cooling-off right with respect to credits actually consumed, or (b) keep the 14-day cooling-off period intact and only consume credits after that period has expired. We will record your choice and only deliver Sparks consistent with it.
3.3 Until paid Sparks ship
Sparks are not currently available for purchase. Section 3 takes effect when the paid Sparks checkout flow is enabled.
4. Escrow, dispute outcomes and refunds
When an Employer funds an escrow, the deposited amount and the 1.5% commission are held in a Solana program vault until released. Refunds out of escrow can occur in three ways:
- Mutual cancellation — both parties agree, before any funds are released, to cancel the engagement. The deposit and the commission are returned in full to the Employer. No additional fee applies.
- Dispute resolution — see the Disputes & Resolution Policy. Where a dispute results in funds being refunded to the Employer (in whole or part), Worqen also refunds the commission attributable to the refunded portion.
- Auto-release reversal — if a 14-day automatic release was issued in error and either party opens a dispute within 7 days of release, Worqen may re-open the escrow review process.
Funds that have actually been released and transferred on-chain to a Worker are not refundable by Worqen, because the underlying Solana transaction is irreversible. In that situation, your remedies lie either in dispute resolution under the Terms of Service or in proceedings against the Worker directly.
5. Re-hire credit guarantee
Where, following the dispute process, we determine on the available evidence that a Worker did not deliver the agreed work and the Employer did not receive value, we may offer the Employer a re-hire credit equal to the affected amount, usable on the Service for 90 days. This credit is offered as a goodwill gesture; it is not a refund of fiat or crypto and it is not a contractual entitlement.
6. Chargebacks and reversed payments
If you initiate a chargeback through your card issuer or bank in respect of a payment for which you have already received the corresponding service or Sparks, we may suspend your account, deduct an equivalent amount from any other balance you hold on the Service, and treat the chargeback as a breach of the Terms of Service. We will not initiate chargebacks on your behalf; please address card disputes through your issuer in the first instance, and contact us in parallel so we can resolve the underlying issue.
7. Items that are not refundable
- Sparks that have already been consumed (subject to Section 3);
- Released escrow funds (subject to Section 4);
- Fees disclosed at the time of purchase as non-refundable, where you have explicitly waived the cooling-off right;
- Solana network fees (gas);
- Card-issuer or bank fees, foreign-exchange spreads.
8. How to request a refund
Email billing@worqen.com with:
- Your account email and User ID;
- The transaction reference (escrow ID, payment ID or Sparks order number);
- The reason for the request;
- Any supporting evidence.
We will acknowledge receipt within 48 hours and provide a substantive response within 14 days. Where the request triggers a dispute under the Disputes & Resolution Policy, those longer SLAs apply.
9. Non-EU consumers
Consumers outside the EU/EEA do not have the statutory 14-day cooling-off right described in Section 3. The escrow, dispute and re-hire credit provisions in Sections 4–5 apply equally. Mandatory consumer-protection laws of your place of residence will apply where they cannot be waived by contract.
10. Contact
Refund and billing questions: billing@worqen.com.