This policy explains how refund requests are reviewed for professional services, project deposits, consulting work, milestone payments, digital deliverables, and custom technical engagements.
Applies to
Paid services, consulting, project deposits, and digital deliverables
Review basis
Refund requests are reviewed against written scope and completed work
Contact
shanto@shantopaul.com
This Refund Policy explains how refund requests are handled for paid services, consulting, custom development work, technical audits, SEO services, software architecture reviews, and other professional engagements connected to ShantoPaul.com. All commercial arrangements are also governed by individual written agreements, proposals, or statements of work.
Most services offered are custom, time-based, knowledge-intensive, or milestone-driven. Because these services involve dedicated technical planning, architectural research, communication, system design, development, or code deployment, refunds are not automatically available once meaningful work has started or deliverables have been delivered.
Deposits, booking fees, discovery payments, and upfront retainers reserve scheduled engineering availability, fund preliminary research, initiate architectural scoping, and compensate early project preparation. Deposits and retainers are non-refundable once engineering capacity has been reserved and kickoff planning has begun, unless otherwise agreed upon in writing.
For milestone-based projects, payments are connected to specific project phases, deliverables, or inspection intervals. Completed and approved milestones are strictly non-refundable. If a project is paused or terminated before an in-progress milestone is completed, any unallocated balance will be reviewed fairly against actual hours spent, work delivered, and incurred technical expenses.
A refund or billing adjustment may be considered if no substantial discovery or engineering work has commenced, a verifiable duplicate payment was made, an inadvertent clerical billing error occurred, or a mutually signed written agreement includes a specific refund condition. All refund requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis with payment records and project tracking logs.
Completed deliverables, approved milestones, delivered consultation sessions, technical research time, architecture audits, custom source code, design drafts, SEO audit documents, configuration scripts, and transferred digital files are non-refundable once delivered, accessed, or approved.
If you need to cancel or reschedule a project, notify me as early as possible in writing. Cancellation does not eliminate responsibility for work already performed, reserved time slots, or approved milestones. Any potential remaining balance or partial credit will be calculated strictly based on work delivered and contractual terms.
To request a refund review, email shanto@shantopaul.com with your full name, project title, invoice or transaction reference, clear rationale for the request, and any supporting documentation. Each request is evaluated against project milestones, repository commits, communication logs, and written agreement terms.
This Refund Policy may be updated periodically to reflect evolving service offerings, payment workflows, or legal standards. The latest version is always published here with an updated effective date. In case of any conflict between this general policy and an individually executed written contract, the written contract will take precedence.
Before engaging services, submitting project retainers, or authorizing milestone invoices, please review these core rules that govern all professional client relationships on ShantoPaul.com:
All commercial projects require a mutually agreed written proposal or contract. Specific payment milestones and terms in your written agreement supersede general website policies.
Due to the custom and knowledge-based nature of software engineering, hours spent, technical audits conducted, and approved milestone deliverables are non-refundable once initiated.
Initial deposits and retainers commit reserved engineering calendar capacity and preliminary discovery work; they are non-refundable once project onboarding begins.
Accidental overpayments, duplicate transaction charges, or clerical billing errors will be promptly investigated and refunded in full upon verification.
Refund and adjustment inquiries must be submitted in writing to shanto@shantopaul.com with the relevant invoice reference, project title, and verifiable rationale.
Acknowledgement: Initiating an inquiry, signing a project agreement, or making an upfront payment constitutes your confirmation and acceptance of these terms and any accompanying project-specific specifications.
Include your project name, invoice or payment reference, request reason, and supporting context so the payment record and project status can be reviewed.