If the client cancels
You have 15 minutes after scheduling to cancel and be refunded, less the payment processing cost, for any reason and with no question asked. The window is shown on the session and it is the same for everyone.
When you cancel, the payment processing cost (the part of the service fee that the payment provider keeps once a payment is made) is not refunded. Everything else is refunded as described here. A safety cancellation that a review upholds is refunded in full, less the payment processing cost.
You can also cancel up to 24 hours before the session starts and be refunded in full, less the payment processing cost, which the payment provider keeps. Inside those 24 hours, once the 15 minutes have passed, the session is non-refundable, unless your expert has not answered within 15 minutes, in which case it is cancelled and refunded in full without you having to ask. If you cancel, or do not attend, the full amount is charged and the expert is paid their share for the reserved time. Approved expenses are reimbursed to the expert in full. Local consumer law may give you additional rights that this policy does not remove.
Exceptions where you are refunded in full: your expert declines the session or lets the 15 minute confirmation window pass; the expert cancels or does not attend; a Folk you added could not be assigned; or Timefolk cancels the session. In those cases the Timefolk fee is reversed, the expert payout is cancelled and any expenses are reversed.
Refunds, where they apply, are calculated with the Timefolk fee rate frozen in the session, at the exchange rate frozen in the session, never today's.
Where a charge applies, the expert receives their normal share of it.
If the expert cancels
The client is refunded in full, including any fees, whatever the notice.
When a refund is the expert's doing (declining, cancelling, not attending, not answering in time, or requiring a Folk who could not be found), the payment processing cost the payment provider keeps is taken from the expert's earnings and shown as its own line.
Repeated late cancellation affects an expert's standing, and a disclosed fee may apply above a stated threshold. It is never taken silently.
No-shows
The wait depends on how long the session is: 7 minutes on a 30 minute session, 10 minutes up to 45 minutes, and 15 minutes for an hour or more. The timer runs from the scheduled start, so lateness shortens the session rather than extending it.
A no-show charge is never applied automatically. A person reviews the check-in records, the conversation and the history first, and an unclear case is resolved in favour of no charge.
Safety cancellations
Either person can cancel because they feel unsafe, at any time. The session stops straight away, so nobody is ever made to meet someone they feel unsafe with.
A person or our safety review then looks at what happened, usually within a few hours. When the review upholds it, the client is refunded in full, less the payment processing cost, and neither side is penalised. You can add screenshots or other proof to the case to help the review.
Stopping the session never waits for the review: your safety comes first, the refund follows the review.
Disputes
The dispute window is 72 hours after a session completes. Expert payouts are held throughout it.
Any cancellation charge, refund refusal or no-show finding can be appealed once, and is reviewed by someone other than the person who decided it.
This policy is in force from 2026-11-07 (version 2026-11-07.1). The version you accepted is recorded against your account. Nothing here is legal advice, and it does not remove rights given to you by the consumer law of the country you live in. Questions: legal@timefolk.com.
