Refunds

These refunds happen without you having to do anything:

• Cancellation before capture. The hold is released. Most banks remove it within 1–3 business days; some wait until the next statement cycle.
• Auto-cancelled escrow hold. If the helper does not respond or you don't complete the booking flow within 48 hours, our system cancels the hold for you.
• Stripe-initiated reversal. If our payment processor flags a fraud signal or the connected helper account is closed, Stripe reverses the charge automatically and our records reflect the refund.
• Borrow deposit released on a clean return. When both parties confirm a clean return, the deposit hold is cancelled — no charge ever appears on your statement.

If your card was charged and the work isn't acceptable, the path is the dispute system:

• Open a dispute within 7 days of task completion (or 14 days of return for borrow rentals).
• Upload evidence — photos, messages, anything relevant.
• The helper has 48 hours to respond. If they don't, an admin reviews.
• An admin issues one of: full refund, partial refund, no refund, or split (for damage cases).

Stripe processes any approved refund automatically once the dispute resolves; the platform commission is refunded along with the helper's share.

Tips are voluntary and captured the moment you confirm them — there is no escrow. Once captured, a tip cannot be refunded through the app. Only tip after the work meets your standard. If your bank reverses a tip charge as a chargeback, our team will handle it manually.

Under the EU Consumer Rights Directive (Directive 2011/83/EU, transposed in Romania as OUG 34/2014), consumers have a 14-day right of withdrawal from distance contracts.

For HandIt's matching service: when you confirm a paid booking you are asked to expressly request that we begin providing the matching service immediately. Under Article 16(a) of the Directive, the right of withdrawal is lost once the service has been fully performed — i.e. once the helper completes the task or the borrow rental period starts.

For the contract between you and a helper: most helpers on HandIt are non-traders (private individuals, not businesses). EU consumer-protection rules — including the 14-day withdrawal right — apply between traders and consumers. They do not apply to a contract between two consumers. HandIt's platform protections (escrow, dispute, photo evidence) apply regardless.

If you want to exercise withdrawal before the helper has begun work, cancel from the booking screen — your hold is released.

When a refund is issued (as opposed to a hold being released), the typical card timing is 5 to 10 business days for the money to post back to your statement. SEPA / bank-account refunds can take a few days longer.

If you don't see the refund after 10 business days, contact contact@handit.me with your receipt number and we'll investigate with Stripe.

If our internal dispute resolution doesn't work for you, you can escalate to ANPC SAL — Romania's out-of-court alternative dispute resolution body. Submitting a complaint there is free for consumers.