Refund Policy
Trials, billing, auto-renewal, cancellation and refunds — described exactly as the system actually behaves.
The short version. You get a free 5-day trial with no card. Paid plans renew automatically until you cancel. Cancelling stops the next charge and you keep access to the end of the period you already paid for — we do not pro-rate part-months. We have no automatic refund process, but if something went wrong, email us and we will sort it out fairly.
1. The free trial
- Signing up creates a free trial workspace that lasts 5 days. No credit card is required and none is collected.
- After 5 days the trial workspace locks. Nothing is charged, because we never took a payment method. You subscribe when you are ready to continue.
- Because the trial takes no payment details, it cannot roll over into a paid subscription by itself. There is no surprise charge at the end of the trial.
2. Paid subscriptions
- Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
- You are charged in advance for each billing period, on the cycle and at the price shown on the Stripe checkout page before you confirm.
- Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each period, at the same price, until you cancel. You will have seen and agreed to this at checkout.
- Prices exclude taxes unless stated. We may change pricing with at least 30 days' notice before it affects your next renewal.
3. How to cancel
You can cancel at any time, online, without phoning or emailing anyone:
- In the app, open Settings → Billing and choose to cancel, or
- Open the Stripe customer portal from the same screen and cancel there.
What cancelling does:
- It stops the next charge. You are not billed again.
- You keep full access until the end of the period you have already paid for. Your subscription is set to end at the period boundary rather than terminating immediately — so you do not lose the time you paid for.
- When that period lapses, the workspace is archived. Export anything you want to keep before then; most tools export to PDF or CSV, and an account data export is available on request.
- There is no automatic pro-rated refund for the unused part of a period, because you keep using the service for that time.
4. Refunds
Being straight with you: CivilsTools has no automated refund mechanism. Refunds are handled by hand, case by case, and they are discretionary. That said, here is how we will actually treat them:
| Situation | What we will normally do |
|---|---|
| You were charged after cancelling, or charged twice | Full refund. This is our error — tell us and we will fix it. |
| The service was materially broken or unavailable for a sustained period and we could not fix it | Refund or credit for the affected period. |
| You subscribed by mistake and have not meaningfully used the service, and you tell us within 14 days of the charge | Full refund of that charge. |
| You simply stopped using it, or forgot to cancel before renewal | Normally no refund — but ask. If you have not used the service at all in the new period, we will usually make it right. |
| Unused time after you cancel mid-period | No refund; you keep access for the rest of that period instead (see §3). |
| An estimate or AI output was wrong and cost you money | No refund on that basis. §6 and §13 of the Terms explain why — every figure must be checked by a qualified person before you rely on it. |
How to request one: email [email protected] from your account email, with the charge date and what happened. We aim to reply within 5 business days. Approved refunds go back to the original payment method via Stripe and typically appear in 5–10 business days.
5. Failed payments
If a payment fails, Stripe retries it on its normal schedule. If it keeps failing, the subscription lapses and the workspace is archived. Your data is not deleted immediately — contact us and we will help you recover access.
6. Your statutory rights
Nothing in this policy limits any right you have under law that cannot be limited by agreement, including under California's automatic-renewal law, which requires that auto-renewal terms be disclosed clearly before you buy, that you affirmatively agree to them, and that you be able to cancel online. If anything on this page appears to conflict with a right you hold by law, the law wins.
7. Chargebacks
Please talk to us before disputing a charge with your bank — it is almost always faster. A chargeback may suspend the account while the dispute is resolved.
8. Changes
If we change this policy we will update the version and effective date above and notify subscribers before it affects them. The policy in force when you were charged is the one that applies to that charge.
9. Contact
CivilsTools
[email protected]