Refunds & Cancellations

01Summary

The short version, before the detail:

• The 14-day free trial is the evaluation period. It needs no payment card, and gives access to every feature.
• Once an annual subscription is paid, Subscription Fees are non-refundable. A school that cancels keeps full access until the end of the paid term.
• There are defined exceptions — duplicate payments, billing errors, and our failure to provide the Service. These are refunded.
• School fees paid by parents are not ours to refund. That money settles into the school's own bank account, and only the school can refund it.

02What this policy covers

Two different kinds of payment happen on this platform. They are treated separately.

03Free trial

Every school begins with a 14-day free trial with access to all features. No payment card is required to start it, and no charge is made when it ends. The trial exists so a school can evaluate the platform with its own real data before paying anything.

We consider the trial to be the appropriate point at which to decide. Because of it, we do not operate a separate money-back period after a subscription is purchased.

04Subscription refunds

Subscription Fees are billed annually in advance and are non-refundable once paid, in whole or in part. This includes:

• cancellation part-way through a paid subscription term;
• periods during which a school chooses not to use the platform, or uses only some modules;
• a fall in student strength during the term;
• a school's decision to move to a different provider before its term ends.

We do not charge a setup, migration or training fee, and the price is not increased mid-term. In exchange, the annual commitment is firm. A school that cancels retains full access for the whole period it has paid for — nothing is switched off early.

05When we do refund

We will refund Subscription Fees in these circumstances:

• Duplicate payment. The same invoice paid more than once — we refund the surplus in full.
• Billing error on our side. An incorrect amount, a charge for the wrong student band, or an invoice raised after a cancellation was already accepted — we refund the difference in full.
• Failure to provide the Service. If we are unable to make the platform available to a school for a sustained period for reasons within our control, and cannot remedy it after written notice, we refund the unused portion of the term on a pro-rata basis.
• Service withdrawn by us. If we discontinue the Service or terminate a subscription without cause, we refund the unused portion pro-rata.
• Where Indian law requires it. Nothing in this policy limits a right you have under applicable consumer or contract law.

06Cancelling a subscription

• A school may cancel at any time by writing to erp@strivebit.io from an email address registered on its account, or through our Contact page.
• We acknowledge cancellation requests within 48 hours and confirm the date on which the subscription will end.
• Cancellation stops the subscription from renewing. It does not end the current paid term or trigger a refund of it.
• To avoid renewal, tell us before the renewal date on your invoice. If a renewal invoice has already been raised but not paid, it will be withdrawn.
• There is no cancellation charge or exit fee.

07What happens to your data

Cancelling does not mean losing your records.

• Full access continues until the end of the paid term.
• After that, the account moves to a read-only export window of 30 days, during which staff can sign in and export student records, fee ledgers, attendance and results.
• We will also provide a one-time structured export on written request during that window, at no charge.
• School data is deleted within 90 days of the export window closing, except records we are required to retain by law — for example payment records under applicable tax law. Deletion is described further in our Privacy Policy.

08School fees paid by parents

When a parent pays school fees through the platform, the payment is processed by the payment aggregator the school has connected (Cashfree Payments, Razorpay, PhonePe, Paytm) using the school's own merchant account. The money settles directly into the school's bank account on that aggregator's normal settlement cycle. It does not pass through any StriveBit Technologies Private Limited account, and we take no commission from it.

Consequently:

• Whether a fee is refundable, and on what terms, is set by the school's own fee rules — not by this policy.
• A parent seeking a refund, a concession, a fee adjustment or a correction should contact their school's office directly. Our support team cannot authorise or issue such a refund.
• Where a school approves a refund, the school issues it from its merchant account, and the aggregator credits the original payment method.
• We will help a school locate a transaction, produce a receipt, or reconcile its ledger, and will assist a parent in identifying which school to contact.

09Failed and duplicate payments

If money leaves a parent's account but the payment shows as failed or pending, it is almost always an authorisation that was never captured. In that case the amount is reversed automatically by the bank or aggregator, typically within 5 to 10 business days, without anyone needing to raise a request.

• If a payment is debited twice for the same fee, the school can refund the duplicate from its merchant account. Report it to the school office with the transaction reference.
• If a payment succeeded but is not reflected against the student's dues, contact the school office — we will help the school reconcile it against the aggregator's records.
• For duplicate payments of a StriveBit subscription invoice, write to erp@strivebit.io and we will refund the surplus under section 5.

10How to request a refund

For Subscription Fees, write to us with:

• your school name and the email address registered on the account;
• the invoice number and payment date;
• the amount you believe is refundable, and the reason;
• the transaction or reference number, where you have it.

Never send card numbers, UPI PINs, passwords or other payment credentials by email. We will never ask you for them.

11Refund timelines

• We acknowledge every refund request within 48 hours of receiving it.
• We decide and communicate the outcome within 7 business days.
• Approved refunds are initiated to the original payment method within 7 business days of approval.
• Once initiated, the credit typically appears in 5 to 10 business days, depending on your bank or card issuer. That final step is controlled by the bank, not by us.
• Refunds are made in Indian Rupees to the original payment method. We do not refund to a different account or by cash.
• Where a refund is declined, we explain why in writing, and you may escalate to the Grievance Officer below.

12Grievance Officer

If you are not satisfied with how a refund or cancellation request was handled, you may escalate to our Grievance Officer:

We aim to acknowledge grievances within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days, consistent with the timelines Indian IT Rules expect.

13Governing law

This policy is governed by the laws of India. Any dispute arising from it is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts at Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh.

14Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the Service or applicable law changes. The updated version will be posted here with a revised effective date. A change will not be applied retrospectively to a refund request already submitted.