Refund & Dispute Policy

1. Every Refund Request is Reviewed by AdviceLine

To protect both clients and experts from fraud and abuse, all refund requests are reviewed by our admin team — no refund is issued automatically. We aim to respond within 48 hours.

During review, expert payouts on the disputed consultation are held until the decision is final. We may ask both parties for additional context (chat logs, screenshots, time-stamped evidence). Outcomes can be a full refund, a partial refund, or a denial with reasoning.

2. Common Reasons We Approve

• Confirmed technical failure on the platform side that prevented the consultation.
• Expert no-show verified by platform logs.
• Serious behavior or quality breach backed by evidence.

When approved, funds typically return to your original payment method within 5-10 business days.

3. How to Request a Refund

1. Open the consultation from My Consultations in your dashboard.
2. Tap Request Refund.
3. Pick a reason (technical, no-show, behavior, quality, other).
4. Describe what happened in detail (minimum 10 characters; max 2,000 characters). Include any evidence — the more specific you are, the faster we can decide.
5. Submit. You'll see the status update on the same consultation card and receive a notification once a decision is made.

4. What is NOT Eligible

• Requests submitted more than 30 days after the consultation.
• Disputes about general dissatisfaction with the outcome of advice that was reasonably delivered. (AdviceLine is a platform — experts are independent contractors; per the Terms of Service, AdviceLine does not guarantee outcomes.)
• Refunds on the AdviceLine subscription itself (these are governed by your subscription terms).
• Multiple refund requests on the same consultation.
• Requests where the user has clearly used the full consultation and is seeking a refund post-completion without substantive cause.

5. Fair Use & Anti-Abuse

Repeatedly filing unsubstantiated refund requests is grounds for account suspension. Likewise, experts found to have caused legitimate refunds (e.g. confirmed no-shows) are subject to platform action including suspension of their Founding Expert status, removal of badges, or removal from the platform.

6. Disputes and Arbitration

This Refund Policy operates alongside (and is subject to) the binding individual arbitration and class-action waiver in our Terms of Service. Filing a refund request does not waive AdviceLine's right to arbitrate, nor does it create any fiduciary relationship.

7. Contact

Questions about a specific dispute? Reply to the email notification you received, or open the Report Issue button on the consultation page. Our admin team is notified immediately.