Before Employer/Buyer cancels a Service/Project, we recommend them to communicate with the Seller in the WorkStream and express his concerns so that the Freelancer has an opportunity to address them. Most issues can be sorted out efficiently with simple communication and Freelancers on AlmostFree Freelance care about keeping their clients happy. If the Buyer/Employer is not able to communicate with the Freelancer or communication with the Freelancer is not working and the Buyer/Employer feels that the Freelancer is not adhering to the Rules of engagement then the Buyer can also contact AlmostFree Freelance Customer Support for assistance to get the Service/Project back on track.
1.1 Cancellation of a Service/Project
After the Commencement of a Service/Project, the Buyer or Seller may request a cancellation:
Once notified of a cancellation:
The Freelancer should stop working on the Service/Project immediately;
The parties should agree in the WorkStream what payment is necessary for any work completed (or time spent, if it is a per hour Custom Project). If the cause of the cancellation was not due to the circumstances defined in Section 1.2 the Seller/Employer is entitled to request payment at minimum equal to the value of the deposit funds held in the Safe Deposit Account.
1.2 Refund Policy
A Buyer is entitled to receive a refund of funds held in the Safe Deposit Account under the following circumstances:
no response: the Seller/Freelancer has not responded in the WorkStream within 1 day of proposal acceptance by the Buyer/Employer;
non-delivery:
for Services, the Seller/Freelancer of the Service did not deliver the scope of work within the delivery timescale indicated in the Service or as agreed with the Buyer/Employer within the scope of AlmostFree Freelance platform (WorkStream).
for fixed price or price per item Custom Projects, non-delivery means agreed scope of work was not delivered within the agreed timescale;
for per hour rate Custom Projects no time has been spent.
poor quality: with the exception of per hour rate Custom Projects, the deliverables provided by the Seller do not meet the terms defined after at least two revisions have been provided by the Seller/Freelancer in response to detailed feedback from the Buyer/Employer; or
the Seller/Freelancer lost a dispute.
Buyer/Employer and Seller/Freelancer may mutually agree to a refund for reasons other than the previous clause however authorization of such refunds will be subject to a review by AlmostFree Freelance team, as defined in Section 1.3
Refunds are only applicable to funds held in the Safe Deposit Account. Funds should only be paid out of the Safe Deposit Account once the Buyer is satisfied that the Service/Project (or any agreed milestone deliverables) has been completed. By releasing funds from the Safe Deposit Account the Buyer accepts that this money is non-refundable.
Buyers/Employers should NEVER file a dispute or reverse a payment through their Credit card company or Bank. Attempts to seek refunds in this way will lead to the Buyer's account being permanently suspended and may attract legal actions.
In case of refund to PayPal the transaction fee charged by PayPal will not be returned as PayPal has stopped returning transaction fee effective from 11 Oct 2019.
1.3 Requesting a Refund
The Buyers/Employers can request a refund of the funds held in the Safe Deposit Account using the “Request Refund” action in the WorkStream by specifying a reason for their request:
the Seller must either approve or reject the Refund Request. Rejected Refund Requests are raised automatically to AlmostFree Freelance for Dispute assistance
if the Seller does not respond to a Refund Request within three (3) working days (a “non-actioned” Refund Request) then AlmostFree Freelance may release the funds automatically back to the Buyer subject to the following clause.
poor quality: with the exception of per hour rate Custom Projects, the deliverables provided by the Seller do not meet the terms defined after at least two revisions have been provided by the Seller in response to detailed feedback from the Buyer; or
the Seller lost a Dispute.
AlmostFree Freelance will process approved (or non-actioned) refund requests back to the Buyer's AlmostFree Freelance Wallet subject to a review of the refund reason and circumstances to ensure that both parties have complied with these terms and conditions, and that the purpose of the refund is not to avoid any of the parties' obligations under these terms and conditions. If AlmostFree Freelance reasonably believes that the parties have not complied with these terms and conditions or are seeking to avoid any such obligations AlmostFree Freelance shall not be obliged to make the refund.
1.4 Refund & Cancellation Penalities
Users are strictly discouraged from causing cancellations and refunds. Refunds will impact Users standing in the AlmostFree Freelance marketplace as follows:
where the Seller is at fault for the refund (for example, due to no response, poor quality of work or they have cancelled the Project), it will negatively impact their Seller status and rankings;
where the Buyer is found to be the cause for the refund (for example, an early cancellation due to a change in their business need) it will negatively impact their Buyer status;
multiple refunds attributed to a User will lead to temporary and/ or permanent restrictions on their account depending upon the severity.
AlmostFree Freelance will process approved (or non-actioned) refund requests back to the Buyer's AlmostFree Freelance Wallet subject to a review of the refund reason and circumstances to ensure that both parties have complied with these terms and conditions, and that the purpose of the refund is not to avoid any of the parties' obligations under these terms and conditions. If AlmostFree Freelance reasonably believes that the parties have not complied with these terms and conditions or are seeking to avoid any such obligations AlmostFree Freelance shall not be obliged to make the refund.
1.5 Chargeback
A chargeback (being a challenge to a payment that a buyer files directly with their credit card issuer) and a reversal instruction is made by the payment product issuer or third parties (such as payment processors) and not by us. We are bound to follow their instructions.
You acknowledge and agree that we will be entitled to recover chargebacks and reversals that may be imposed on us by a payment product issuer or third parties (such as payment processors) on funds paid to you by Buyers through the Website.
You agree that we may reverse any such payments made to you, which are subject to chargeback or reversal instruction via your payment product issuer or third parties (such as payment processors).