Refund and Cancellation Policy

1. How Hashorn engagements work

Hashorn delivers in short, defined units of work. Most engagements take one of four shapes:

• Strategy audit: one paid week with a fixed deliverable (for example, the AI strategy audit on Agentic AI Workflows).
• Fast MVP or fixed-scope sprint: 5 to 10 working days, fixed scope and fixed fee.
• Multi-week project: 4 to 10 weeks against an agreed scope and milestone plan.
• Retainer or dedicated pod: monthly subscription for ongoing engineering, QA, security, or MLOps capacity.

The refund rules differ by shape. Sections 2 and 3 walk through each.

2. Refund eligibility by engagement type

2.1 Strategy audits and one-week paid assessments

• Before kickoff: full refund if you cancel before the kickoff call and before we have started any pre-work.
• After kickoff, before delivery: a partial refund may be available if Hashorn has not been able to start material work, at our discretion. The minimum non-refundable portion is 25% of the fee, which covers calendar reservation and preparation.
• After delivery: no refund once the written deliverable (the audit document or ranked backlog) has been shared with you.

2.2 Fast MVPs and fixed-scope sprints

• Before sprint start: full refund if you cancel before day one of the sprint and before we have started any preparatory work (research, account provisioning, environment setup).
• Mid-sprint, less than 25% of scope completed: a partial refund of the remaining unworked portion may be available if Hashorn has materially failed to deliver against the agreed scope or has missed an agreed checkpoint without remedy.
• Mid-sprint, 25% or more of scope completed: no refund. We will instead work with you to re-scope the remaining time toward an outcome you value.
• After delivery and acceptance: no refund once the agreed deliverables are shared or merged and you have signalled acceptance (in writing, via merge to your default branch, or by use in production).

2.3 Multi-week projects

• Before each milestone: a milestone that has not yet started can be cancelled with at least 7 days written notice; any unspent portion of the milestone fee is refundable.
• Inside a milestone: refunds are limited to the unworked portion, calculated against the milestone plan in the Statement of Work. Hours already spent on engineering, QA, security review, or program management are non-refundable.
• Material failure by Hashorn: if a milestone is materially missed and we cannot remedy it within 10 business days of written notice, you may cancel the remaining milestones and receive a refund of any unspent fees, less actual costs incurred.

2.4 Retainers and dedicated pods

• Pre-paid month, not yet started: full refund if cancelled at least 7 days before the month begins.
• Mid-month cancellation: no refund for the current month, which is treated as a notice period. The pod stops at the end of the current month.
• Future months: cancel future months with at least 14 days written notice before the next billing date.
• Underutilisation: retainers are capacity, not hours. Unused capacity inside a month is not refundable.

3. How to request a refund or cancellation

Send a single email to sales@hashorn.net with:

• Subject: Refund or cancellation request, [your company name], [engagement name or sprint number].
• The engagement type (audit, sprint, project, or retainer) and start date.
• The reason for the request, in one or two short paragraphs.
• The original invoice number and payment date.
• The bank account or card to refund to. Refunds are made to the original payment method by default; we will only use a different account where the original method is no longer available.

We acknowledge every request within 2 business days. We respond with a decision, including any partial-refund calculation, within 5 business days of acknowledgement. Approved refunds are issued within 5 to 7 business days of decision and you will receive a written confirmation with a refund reference.

4. Cancellation notice

Sprint and audit cancellations must reach us at least 48 hours before the agreed start date. Multi-week project milestones require 7 days written notice. Retainer pods require 14 days written notice before the next billing date. Notice runs from the time the email lands in our inbox, not the date written on the message.

5. Exclusions

The following are not eligible for a refund:

• Delays or rework caused by changes in your scope, requirements, or stakeholders.
• Delays caused by third parties you control (cloud providers, vendor APIs, design partners).
• Engagement fees already invoiced and worked against under a signed Statement of Work.
• Pass-through costs we have already incurred on your behalf (cloud spend, paid APIs, hardware, licensed tooling) unless we can recover them from the upstream vendor.
• Work delivered and accepted that you later decide not to use.

6. Disputes and escalation

If you disagree with a refund decision, reply on the same email thread with the specific points of disagreement. A Hashorn partner reviews escalations within 5 business daysand gives a final written response. Any further dispute is governed by the law and jurisdiction set out in our Terms of Use.

7. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top changes when we do. For engagements that started before a change, the policy in force on the date of your invoice applies.

8. Contact

Hashorn, attention: Engagement Operations
Email: sales@hashorn.net

See also our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.