Refund Policy

The 7-day money-back guarantee is real and load-bearing. Here’s how it works:

• Within 7 days of delivery, ask for a full refund and you get one. No questions asked.
• We’ll ask whyso we can do better next time — but answering is optional, and it doesn’t affect whether you get the refund.
• Refunds are returned to your original payment method via Stripe, typically within 5–10 business days depending on your bank.
• After day 7, the site is yours and the engagement is closed. No further refund eligibility — but you keep the code, the files, and the ability to take it anywhere.
• Domain registration is non-refundable.Once we’ve registered your .com (within the $20 cap, or with your authorized pass-through difference for premium names), that fee is paid to the registrar and cannot be reversed. The domain stays in your name regardless of whether you keep the site.
• Renewal after year one is your responsibility. The registrar emails you directly before expiration. We do not auto-renew, do not monitor renewal dates, and are not responsible if the domain lapses — including the site going dark, the domain being lost to someone else, or any recovery costs. See the Terms of Service for the full renewal terms.

Custom work is fixed-price and scoped per project, with no retainer. Refunds follow the milestone structure agreed in your proposal.

• Pre-kickoff — if you cancel before work begins, any deposit is refunded in full.
• During build — refund of the unbilled portion only. Completed milestones (design approved, build shipped, etc.) are non-refundable because the work has already happened.
• Post-launch— there’s a 30-day defect window. Bugs and broken features get fixed for free. That’s a quality commitment, not a satisfaction refund.
• Anything specified in your individual proposal supersedes this default.

AI engagements have three components, each refunded differently.

• Build fee ($5K–$15K) — same milestone-based logic as Custom above. Unbilled work refundable, completed milestones not.
• AI Care subscription ($199 / $399 / $899 per month) — cancel anytime by emailing us. Service continues to the end of the paid month. No proration of partial months.
• API costs— pass-through from the model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.), billed at-cost with no markup. Once spent on your behalf, never refundable. We couldn’t refund them if we wanted to — the money is already gone.
• You can resume Care anytime after cancelling. The rate at signup may differ from your original rate.

• Google Business Profile setup ($250 one-time) — non-refundable once profile work begins. Once a profile is published, edited, or claimed on your behalf, we can’t un-publish it.
• Reputation management ($149/mo) — cancel anytime, runs to the end of the billing period. No partial- month refunds.
• If we screw up — wrong information published, missed response window, etc. — refunds are handled case-by-case. Email us.

• Cancellable anytime. Service runs to the end of the current billing period.
• No partial-month refunds.
• Site export and migration support is included on cancellation — you leave with the working site, not a hostage situation.

1. Email business@stratus-creative.com with your reference ID — that’s the ID at the end of your project tracker URL (stratus-creative.com/quote/{id}).
2. We reply within 24 business hours.
3. Approved refunds are processed via Stripe back to your original payment method.
4. We don’t ghost. If a refund is denied under the terms above, we’ll tell you why in plain English.

Talk to us first. Almost every dispute we’ve seen resolves faster by email than through a chargeback or your bank’s dispute process.

Chargebacks initiated without contacting us first may forfeit the money-back guarantee. Not a punishment — just that the guarantee assumes a conversation happened.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, USA.

Questions, refund requests, or just want to flag a concern: business@stratus-creative.com.