Refund and Account Credit Policy

Effective date: October 4, 2026 · Version 1.3

1. How account credit works

• Your account holds a balance in US dollars (“account credit”). You add to it by topping up in the Portal by card or cryptocurrency; see our payment methods page. The minimum top-up is $5.
• You can use account credit to pay invoices in the Portal, including the initial credit and top-up invoices for your servers. The Portal shows each top-up, each charge and your balances.
• Account credit is a prepayment for our Services. It is not a deposit and not electronic money, it cannot be transferred to another account, and it does not expire while your account is open.

This policy is part of our Terms of Service. Current prices are on our pricing page.

2. Initial credit and server balances

• Each server has its own prepaid balance (the “server balance”). Its hourly charges are deducted from it every hour.
• When you order a server, you pay an initial credit into its server balance. The initial credit is prepaid credit, not a fee: the server’s hourly charges are deducted from it, and when it runs out you top up. It does not buy a fixed period, such as a month. The amount for each plan is shown at checkout; today it is $5 for Quartz plans and for Chrono C8 and C16, $9 for Chrono C32 and $16 for Chrono C64. Until the checkout label is updated, it may appear there as a “Setup Fee”; it is the same prepaid amount.
• When the server balance falls to about 24 hours of usage, we issue a top-up invoice for that server. Paying it adds to the server balance.
• If the server balance reaches zero, the server is suspended. If it is not paid within 7 days, the server and its data are deleted, as set out in section 6 of the Terms of Service.

3. Hourly charges and the monthly cap

• A server is charged its plan’s hourly rate for every hour from creation to deletion. Charges are deducted from the server balance every hour.
• Whole cents. Every charge is deducted from the server balance in whole cents. A full hour is charged at exactly the plan’s hourly rate. A charge for part of an hour, such as a server’s first or last hour, is rounded to the nearest cent and is never more than the hourly rate.
• A stopped (powered-off) server is charged the same as a running one, because its resources stay reserved for you. Delete the server to stop the charges.
• Billing period. A server’s billing period is one month long and starts on the date you order the server; it is not the calendar month. The Portal shows the current billing period of each server.
• Monthly cap. Each plan’s monthly price is 500 times its hourly rate. In each billing period, once a server’s charges reach its plan’s monthly price, which happens after 500 hours, the server is not charged for the rest of that billing period. The cap starts again at the beginning of every billing period.
• There are no prepaid daily or monthly cycles. Keeping a server for a day costs 24 hourly charges and for a week 168; keeping it for a whole billing period costs no more than the monthly price.

In one line, for each server and billing period:

charge = min(hours × hourly rate, monthly price)

Situation	Hours charged	Charge
Server deleted after 6 hours	6	6 × $0.06 = $0.36
Server kept for 3 days, then deleted	72	72 × $0.06 = $4.32
Server stopped for 2 days, then deleted	48 (stopped hours count)	48 × $0.06 = $2.88
Server kept for a whole 30-day billing period	720	720 × $0.06 = $43.20, capped at $30.00

4. No refunds of metered usage

You pay only for the hours a server exists, up to the monthly cap, so there is no unused prepaid period to refund when you delete a server. The following are not refunded:

• hours already charged, including a last partial hour before you delete a server and hours a server spent stopped;
• time a server spent restricted or suspended under the Acceptable Use Policy;
• credit that came from a payment later reversed or charged back, or that was obtained by fraud or through an error in your favor;
• service credits under the Service Level Agreement and any goodwill credit we grant. They have no cash value and can be used only for our Services;
• fees charged by your bank, your card issuer or a blockchain network.

5. Deleting a server

• You can delete a server at any time in the Portal. Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone, and billing for that server stops.
• Any unused balance of a deleted server is handled as the Portal shows for that server. It is not paid out to a card, bank account or crypto wallet, except in the cases listed in section 6 or where the law requires it.
• Copy anything you need before you delete a server. Its data cannot be recovered, by you or by us.

6. When money is paid back

Account credit cannot be withdrawn: it is not paid out to a card, bank account or crypto wallet, except:

• for billing errors and duplicate payments (section 7);
• when we decline or close an account, or stop providing the Services, for reasons that are not your fault (section 8);
• when you exercise a statutory right of withdrawal (section 9);
• where the law otherwise requires it.

When we pay money back to your original payment method, we pay back no more than you paid with it. For cryptocurrency, we pay back the US-dollar amount that was credited, converted into the same cryptocurrency at the payment processor’s rate on the day we send it, minus the network fee, to a wallet address you confirm in writing.

7. Billing errors and duplicate payments

• If we charged you incorrectly, for example for time after you deleted a server, above the monthly cap or at the wrong rate, tell us within 60 days of the charge at [email protected] or in a ticket. We investigate and correct confirmed errors, as account credit or, if you prefer, to your original payment method where the payment processor allows it.
• If the same payment was processed twice, we return the duplicate to your original payment method where the payment processor allows it. Otherwise, with your agreement, we keep it as account credit.

8. Accounts we decline or close

• If we decline an order or close an account before any Service has been used, for example after a failed verification, we return unused payments to the original payment method, unless the law requires us to hold them, for example under sanctions rules or during a fraud investigation.
• If we stop providing the Services to you for reasons that are not your fault, such as discontinuing a product or location, or if you close your account because a change to our terms works against you, we refund your remaining account credit, and the unused balance of the servers concerned, to your original payment method where the payment processor allows it. See the Terms of Service.

9. Statutory right of withdrawal

If you are a consumer and the law of your country gives you a right to withdraw from a distance contract, such as the 14-day right in the European Union and the United Kingdom, nothing in this policy limits it.

• When you order a server, you ask us to start providing it immediately.
• If you withdraw within the statutory period, you pay for the service provided until you tell us, calculated as in section 3, and we refund the rest of that payment to your original payment method within 14 days, as that law requires.
• To withdraw, email [email protected] from the address on your account, name the order and state that you are withdrawing. Any other clear statement also counts.

10. Chargebacks and payment disputes

• Please contact [email protected] before disputing a charge with your bank or card issuer. We can usually solve billing questions faster directly.
• If you start a chargeback, we may suspend the account while the dispute is open and remove credit that came from the disputed payment. If that leaves a negative balance, the amount is due. Charges for hours already used remain due.
• If the dispute is decided in our favor, we restore access once the balance is settled. Repeated or unfounded chargebacks may lead to the account being closed.

11. Closing your account

You can close your account at any time: delete your servers, then ask us in a ticket to close the account. Remaining account credit is not paid out, except in the cases listed in section 6. Use or plan your remaining credit before you close the account.

12. How to ask for a correction or a refund

Open a ticket in the billing department of the Portal, or email [email protected] from the address on your account. Include the invoice or transaction ID and a short description. We aim to reply within 2 business days.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. If a change is material and works against you, we will email you at least 30 days before it takes effect, and it will not apply to charges made before that date. The version number and effective date are at the top of this page.