Refund Policy

This Refund Policy explains when refunds are available for Kapsule Cloud Services. It forms part of our Terms of Service. Capitalised terms used but not defined here have the meanings given in the Terms of Service.

Nothing in this Refund Policy limits or excludes any right you may have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, the Fair Trading Act 1986, or any other law that cannot be contracted out of.

#1.1 If you are a new customer and not satisfied with the Services, you may request a full refund of your first hosting Plan payment by cancelling and submitting a refund request within thirty (30) days of the date of your first paid invoice for that Plan ("Guarantee Period").

#1.2 The guarantee applies to monthly and annual subscriptions to: (a) Cloud Start; (b) Cloud Pro; (c) Cloud Scale; and (d) Cloud Power.

#1.3 The guarantee does not apply to: (a) renewal payments (only the first payment for a new Plan is covered); (b) Customers who have previously had a Kapsule Cloud Account or have previously received a refund under this Policy; (c) domain registration, renewal, transfer, or restoration Fees (see clause 4); (d) SSL certificates that have been issued (where charged separately); (e) one-off setup, migration, professional services, or consulting Fees that have been substantively delivered; (f) usage-based add-on Fees that have already been consumed; (g) Accounts terminated by us for breach of the Terms of Service or AUP (see clause 5); (h) third-party fees passed through by us (for example, Registry fees, payment processor fees, or government taxes we cannot recover); (i) free Trials, which incur no charge in the first place; (j) Beta Services, which are provided "AS IS" without refund commitment; or (k) any refund request submitted after the Guarantee Period has expired.

#1.4 To request a refund under this clause, contact [email protected] or open a billing ticket in KPanel within the Guarantee Period.

#1.5 We may, in our discretion, refuse the guarantee where we reasonably believe the Account has been used in breach of the Terms of Service or AUP, or where the guarantee is being claimed in bad faith (for example, repeated sign-ups by the same person to obtain repeated refunds).

#2.1 You may cancel any Service at any time via KPanel.

#2.2 Monthly subscriptions. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current monthly billing cycle. No refund is payable for the unused portion of the current month.

#2.3 Annual subscriptions. Where you cancel an annual subscription after the Guarantee Period, you may request a pro rata refund calculated as: Refund = (Annual Fee × Full unused months ÷ 12) − Annual discount applied − Non-refundable items. Where: (a) "Full unused months" means the number of complete months remaining in the annual billing cycle at the date the cancellation takes effect, rounded down; (b) "Annual discount applied" means the value of any discount applied because you chose annual billing, calculated as the difference between the equivalent monthly rate × months used and the amount you actually paid prorated across the months used; and (c) "Non-refundable items" means any domain Fee, SSL Fee, setup Fee, or other item identified as non-refundable in clauses 1.3 and 4.

#2.4 Where the calculation in clause 2.3 yields a negative amount (because you have effectively used the Service at a higher rate than the annual rate you paid), no refund is payable and no further amount is owed.

#3.1 The Cloud Start free Trial does not require a payment method and incurs no Fee.

#3.2 If you upgrade or convert to a paid Plan during the Trial, the Guarantee Period in clause 1 begins on the date of your first paid invoice on the upgraded or converted Plan.

#3.3 If you do not upgrade and do not cancel before the Trial ends, the Service will continue at the then-current Cloud Start price. The Guarantee Period in clause 1 then begins on the date of your first paid invoice.

#4.1 Domain registration, renewal, transfer, and restoration Fees are paid by us to the relevant Registry on your behalf. These Fees are non-refundable once the registration or other action has been submitted to the Registry, regardless of whether you continue to use other Kapsule Cloud Services and regardless of whether you cancel within the Guarantee Period.

#4.2 The non-refundability in clause 4.1 reflects the fact that we incur an irrecoverable cost to the Registry on your behalf at the time of registration or renewal.

#4.3 If a domain registration fails through no fault of yours (for example, the domain becomes unavailable, is rejected by the Registry through no act or omission of yours, or there is a system error on our side), we will refund the relevant Fee in full.

#4.4 Where a domain is transferred away from us at your request, we will not refund any portion of the registration term.

#5.1 Where we suspend or terminate the Services because you have breached the Terms of Service, AUP, or any other policy forming part of the Terms of Service: (a) you are not entitled to a refund of any Fees, including prepaid annual Fees and prepaid add-on Fees; (b) Customer Content may be retained, deleted, or preserved as set out in the Terms of Service; and (c) we may set off any amount owed to you against any amount you owe to us, including legal costs and any third-party claims.

#5.2 Clause 5.1 does not apply where a refund is required by law (for example, where a consumer guarantee under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 has not been met).

#6.1 Approved refunds are returned to the original payment method used for the transaction. Where the original payment method is no longer available, we may arrange an alternative method (for example, bank transfer to a verified bank account in your name) on a case-by-case basis.

#6.2 We will use commercially reasonable efforts to process approved refunds within five (5) business days of approval. Your bank or card issuer may take additional time to credit the funds to your account; this is outside our control.

#6.3 Refunds are issued in New Zealand dollars (NZD). Where you paid in a different currency, the conversion rate at the time of the refund may differ from the rate at the time of payment, and we are not responsible for the difference.

#6.4 GST included in your original payment is refunded proportionately. We will issue a credit note where required by the Goods and Services Tax Act 1985.

#7.1 Before initiating a chargeback, please contact us at [email protected]. We will work with you in good faith to resolve any genuine billing concern.

#7.2 A chargeback initiated for an amount that is genuinely owed and not the subject of a legitimate billing error may be treated as a material breach of the Terms of Service. We may: (a) recover the disputed amount, together with any bank or card-scheme fees we incur in defending the chargeback; (b) suspend or terminate the Account immediately; (c) refuse to provide further Services to you, including refusing future Accounts; and (d) report the chargeback to fraud-prevention services and payment processors.

#7.3 Clause 7.2 does not apply where the chargeback is a result of unauthorised use of your payment method by another person (and you have notified us promptly), or where it relates to a genuine billing error that we have not resolved within a reasonable time.

#8.1 Where we fail to meet the availability targets in the Service Level Agreement, your remedy is the service credit set out in the SLA.

#8.2 SLA service credits are applied to your next invoice. They are not paid as cash and are not transferable, except where a cash refund is required by law.

#9.1 Nothing in this Refund Policy excludes, restricts, or modifies any consumer guarantee, right, or remedy that you have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, the Fair Trading Act 1986, or any other law that cannot be excluded.

#9.2 If you are a consumer (within the meaning of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993) and you consider that a Service has failed to meet a consumer guarantee, contact us at [email protected]. We will work with you to resolve the issue, which may include remedying the failure, providing a refund, or providing a credit, depending on the nature of the failure.

#10.1 If you disagree with our refund decision, you may escalate the matter to [email protected] for review by a senior member of our team.

#10.2 If the matter is not resolved by escalation, the dispute resolution process in clause 19 of the Terms of Service applies.

We may update this Refund Policy from time to time. Material changes apply only to Plans purchased or renewed on or after the effective date of the change. Existing Plans purchased before the change remain subject to the version of this Refund Policy in effect at the time of purchase, until the next renewal.

Kapsule Group Limited, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Billing: [email protected]

Escalation: [email protected]