↩️ Refund & Cancellation Policy

At a glance

1. Unpaid bookings

A booking is confirmed and sent to the staff member only after payment succeeds. If you do not complete the Razorpay checkout within 30 minutes, the booking is cancelled automatically and nothing is charged.

If money was debited but the booking had already expired, or you were charged twice for the same booking, the full extra amount is refunded automatically — no request needed.

2. Cancelling a booking

• Before the staff member accepts: cancel in the app (My bookings → booking → Cancel). You get a full refund.
• If the staff member declines your request, or your booking is cancelled because an account was removed, you get a full refund.
• Scheduled bookings (30% advance): once accepted, cancel in the app up to 48 hours before the start (9:00 AM IST on the first booked day) for a full refund of the advance — the booking shows the exact deadline, e.g. “Free cancellation until Tue 6 Oct, 9:00 AM”. After that, cancelling forfeits the advance: it is paid to the staff member as cancellation compensation, minus the platform fee. If you had already paid the balance, the balance is refunded.
• Balance not paid by the start: the remaining 70% must be paid before the first Start. If it is still unpaid at the start time, the booking is cancelled automatically and the advance is forfeited as above (or refunded in full if the staff member had not yet accepted).
• Book now bookings (paid in full) after acceptance: contact us at [email protected] or through the in-app Help with your booking ID and we will help.
• If the staff member cancels or does not show up (no “I’ve arrived” check-in and the work never starts because of them), you get a full refund of everything you paid — Book now or scheduled — and the staff member gets a strike. Report a no-show from the booking screen.

3. Hourly billing and unused hours

You pay the estimate (booked hours × hourly rate) upfront, but you are billed only for the time recorded with Start and End, rounded to the nearest 15 minutes and capped at the booked hours. If the staff member does not turn up on a booked day, you can report a no-show in the app and you are not charged for that time.

When you press Complete job, the unused amount is refunded. It is issued once the 24-hour dispute window (below) has passed.

4. Problems with the work (24-hour window)

If something is wrong — the quality of work, behaviour, photos or recorded hours — raise a dispute in the app within 24 hours of completing the job. The staff payout is held for these 24 hours, and stays on hold while we review a dispute.

We review the timer records, before/after photos and chat, may contact both sides, and normally decide within 7 working days. Depending on the outcome, we issue a full or partial refund or release the payment to the staff member. After 24 hours without a dispute, the job is treated as accepted and the payment is final.

5. Fees

Clients pay no booking or convenience fee, and TatkalStaff bears the payment-gateway charges, so refunds are never reduced by gateway fees. The only amount you can lose is a forfeited advance on a late-cancelled scheduled booking (section 2).

Full-time hire fee: refunded in full if the staff member declines or you cancel before they accept. Once the staff member accepts, the fee is non-refundable.

6. How refunds are paid

• Refunds go back to the original payment method through Razorpay — the same UPI account, card or bank account you paid from. We do not refund in cash.
• We initiate a refund within 2 working days of it becoming due. Banks and card networks usually credit it in 5–7 working days (UPI is often faster).
• You can see the refund status on your booking and on the receipt in the app. If it has not arrived after 7 working days, e-mail us with your booking ID and we will share the Razorpay refund reference so your bank can trace it.

7. Questions

Write to [email protected] with your booking ID (for example TS-1031), or see Contact us.