Cancellation, Refund and Internal Dispute Review Policy

Core principles

1.1 Independ does not treat every cancellation as either a complete refund or a complete charge. We separately identify Accepted Work, Usable Work in Progress, Defective or Unusable Work, Untouched Future Work, and Approved Non-Recoverable Third-Party Costs.

1.2 Accepted Work means visible deliverables the Client affirmatively accepted against the stated criteria. A later change of mind does not ordinarily make Accepted Work free.

1.3 Usable Work in Progress means unaccepted work that provides objectively verifiable value toward the contracted result. It is valued from evidence rather than automatically treated as worth zero or the full milestone price.

1.4 Defective or Unusable Work means work that materially fails the agreed scope or acceptance criteria and cannot reasonably be cured or used for the contracted purpose. Its affected value may be refunded or otherwise remedied.

1.5 Untouched Future Work means prepaid work that has not started and has produced no usable value. It is ordinarily refundable when the Project validly ends.

1.6 Approved Non-Recoverable Third-Party Costs are external costs that the Client approved, that were incurred for the Project, and that cannot reasonably be cancelled or recovered. They are retained only where the Project Contract and applicable law permit.

1.7 Independ explains the key evidence and financial calculation before settling a disputed Project. There is no automatic cancellation fine, automatic forfeiture, or automatic retention of an Independ fee merely because a Dispute exists.

1.8 Business Day means Monday to Friday, excluding applicable public and bank holidays in Madhya Pradesh, India.

When support is enough and when a Dispute is required

2.1 Duplicate payments, clear payment errors, and clear agreed cancellations before Project kickoff may use the ordinary support or refund route without opening a formal Dispute.

2.2 After kickoff, early Project closure, termination for convenience, Freelancer replacement, abandonment, material default, or a disagreement about Project value must use the formal Dispute process, even when the Client and Freelancer agree to end the work.

2.3 The Dispute process is required after kickoff so Independ can record deliverables, Accepted Work, Usable Work in Progress, defective work, Untouched Future Work, refund treatment, subcontract amount, IP rights, confidentiality, access, and final closure.

2.4 A request to add or materially change work is not a cancellation request. It uses the official Change Request process. Only the Client may submit the structured Change Request; the Freelancer may ask the Client to submit one.

2.5 A Project change becomes binding only after the Freelancer accepts it, Independ approves it, and the platform records the approval event. Work outside the existing scope must not begin before any additional Client payment requirement is satisfied and Independ confirms the change may start.

Cancellation before kickoff

3.1 A Project starts only after both Project Contracts are accepted, the required first Client payment is received, required kickoff dependencies are complete, and Independ confirms kickoff.

3.2 If the Client validly cancels before kickoff and no Approved Non-Recoverable Third-Party Cost or separately disclosed lawful setup cost exists, Independ ordinarily refunds the paid Client amount.

3.3 Signing a Project Contract without funding it does not by itself create a Project-delivery charge. A disclosed setup cost may be payable only if it was actually incurred and the Project Contract and applicable law permit it.

3.4 If Independ stops an unfunded or pre-start Project because of failed verification, illegality, sanctions, prohibited work, security risk, payment risk, or another lawful reason, it records the reason and returns any amount that is no longer due, subject to applicable law and payment verification.

3.5 A failed, reversed, fraudulent, or charged-back payment may delay a refund or kickoff while Independ verifies the underlying transaction and preserves evidence. A temporary review is not a final finding of fault.

Common outcomes after kickoff

4.1 No usable contracted work. If Independ cannot provide usable contracted work and no lawful cure is agreed, the Client ordinarily receives the affected Project amount back, less only a permitted Approved Non-Recoverable Third-Party Cost.

4.2 Some work has value. The Client remains responsible for Accepted Work and objectively verified Usable Work in Progress. Independ refunds the unused balance after the valuation and relevant payment checks are complete.

4.3 Client changes its mind. The Client may seek termination for convenience through a formal Dispute. Accepted Work, Usable Work in Progress, and Approved Non-Recoverable Third-Party Costs remain payable; Untouched Future Work is ordinarily refunded.

4.4 Client dependency failure. If the Client does not provide required feedback, access, files, decisions, payment, or another dependency, affected work pauses. A continuing material failure may lead to termination and evidence-based settlement through the Dispute process.

4.5 Freelancer delay or inability. Independ does not impose an automatic delivery due date at launch. If the Freelancer fails to perform an agreed role or task, stops meaningful progress, or cannot complete the work, Independ may require an explanation, recovery plan, cure, revised working plan, or partial remedy. Early termination still uses the formal Dispute process.

4.6 Abandonment. Repeated failure to respond or perform after notices, without an accepted reason or recovery plan, may be treated as abandonment after review. It does not automatically decide every financial issue.

4.7 Illness or emergency. Genuine illness or emergency is reviewed reasonably. The result may be a pause, revised working plan, cure, or fair termination. It does not create an automatic ban or automatic entitlement to the full Project price.

4.8 Force majeure. An event outside reasonable control that materially prevents performance may justify a pause, revised plan, or termination. Lack of money, ordinary workload, or avoidable staffing problems are not force majeure by themselves.

4.9 Independ termination. If Independ ends a Project for a reason not caused by the Client, it explains the reason, accounts for usable work and any mandatory remedy, and returns any amount that is no longer due.

4.10 Replacement. Independ does not silently substitute a new Freelancer inside the existing signed Project. The existing Project is stopped, reviewed, and settled. A replacement engagement begins through new Project Contracts.

Community Projects below INR 5,000

5.1 Community Projects follow the same legal, payment, acceptance, refund, and Dispute principles even though discovery and later coordination use email, Google Forms, an internal operations register, and WhatsApp.

5.2 The Client pays 50 percent of the Client Service Price to Independ before kickoff. The remaining balance is payable at the stage stated in the Client Project Service Agreement and corresponding payment request.

5.3 Direct WhatsApp coordination begins only after both Project Contracts are accepted and the required 50 percent advance is received.

5.4 WhatsApp is not the sole or controlling Project record. Material scope, price, change, submission, acceptance, refund, and Dispute events must be reported to Independ and preserved against the Community Project ID through the stated email, support, contract, or payment process.

5.5 If a Community Project ends early, the Client and Freelancer must provide the relevant WhatsApp, file, delivery, payment, and other evidence to Independ. An informal message does not by itself override an accepted Project Contract.

Submission review and revisions

6.1 A valid milestone submission must use the designated review action or the documented Community Project equivalent and include the required files, links, version, notes, access, testing information, and known deviations.

6.2 The ordinary Client review period is three Business Days. Silence is not acceptance.

6.3 If the Client does not respond within that period, the milestone becomes Review Overdue, Independ sends an email reminder, and the Freelancer may raise a formal Dispute based on the circumstances. The milestone is not automatically accepted merely because the Client remained silent.

6.4 A Client approving the review request confirms that the visible milestone deliverables materially meet the stated acceptance criteria.

6.5 A rejection or correction request must identify the failed criteria, provide reasonable evidence, and state the required cure. A bare statement such as "I do not like it" is insufficient where objective criteria were met, unless the Project Contract expressly uses a subjective creative standard.

6.6 Two ordinary revision cycles are included for each milestone unless the Project Contract states another rule. One revision means one consolidated Client request cycle within the applicable review window.

6.7 A correction required because the Freelancer missed the agreed scope does not consume an ordinary revision. New work, changed instructions, or a material change uses the Change Request process.

6.8 Using, publishing, deploying, or commercially benefiting from work may be relevant evidence of value or acceptance, but use solely for review or testing is not automatic acceptance.

6.9 A mistaken acceptance cannot be reversed by the Client alone. The Client must contact support promptly and provide evidence.

6.10 Explicit acceptance and final payment close ordinary visible preference, revision, quality, and scope complaints. Acceptance does not erase a supported claim involving fraud, plagiarism, third-party IP infringement, deliberately planted malware or backdoors, serious concealed security defects, confidentiality misuse, deliberate misrepresentation, or a non-waivable legal right.

6.11 A serious post-completion claim requires specific evidence. It does not create an automatic refund or automatic liability for Independ.

Alerts

7.1 An Alert is an optional request to cure a delay, missing input, scope concern, quality concern, communication issue, access problem, or minor conduct issue.

7.2 A Client, Freelancer, or Independ may raise an Alert. A user may instead raise a formal Dispute immediately.

7.3 An Alert does not automatically become a Dispute. If it remains unresolved for 24 hours, the user may choose to convert it through the available interface or stated Community Project process.

7.4 Fraud, threats, harassment, illegal content, chargeback, personal-data breach, malware, IP theft, account compromise, safety risk, or urgent payment risk should be raised directly through the Dispute or urgent support route.

7.5 An Alert is not arbitration, a legal judgment, an automatic admission, or a condition that a consumer must complete before making a statutory complaint.

Opening a formal Dispute

8.1 Only one formal Dispute may remain open for a Project at a time. Connected later allegations are added to the existing case.

8.2 When a formal Dispute opens, the entire Project freezes and ordinary Project work stops. Historical Project messages remain readable, but ordinary Client-Freelancer chat and edit or delete actions are locked. New evidence and case communications use the Dispute channel or stated email process.

8.3 Independ promptly considers immediate safety, access, payment, security, evidence-preservation, and legal needs. Temporary restrictions may remain while the case is reviewed.

8.4 During the initial full freeze, Independ decides within five Business Days whether the Freelancer's one-funded-Project capacity remains occupied or is released. That operational decision does not decide the merits of the Dispute.

8.5 A Dispute should state the requested outcome, affected milestone or work, relevant facts, amount in question, and available supporting evidence.

8.6 A duplicate-payment, payment-error, or clear pre-start refund remains eligible for ordinary support even if another Project concern exists.

Evidence and participation

9.1 Each affected user ordinarily has four days to submit relevant evidence. Independ may allow a justified extension or use a shorter urgent process where necessary and fair.

9.2 Relevant evidence may include the Terms, Project Contracts, contract versions, Change Requests, submissions, deliverables, files, metadata, timestamps, chat, meeting notes, email, WhatsApp records, payment records, technical and access logs, deployment or usage evidence, and credible specialist material.

9.3 Off-platform evidence may be considered if it is relevant and reasonably authenticated. Use of an external tool does not automatically make evidence invalid.

9.4 Each user must preserve relevant material. Deliberately fabricated, altered, concealed, or destroyed evidence may receive reduced weight and may lead to account action. It does not automatically decide the case without review of the remaining evidence.

9.5 An allegation, report count, risk flag, shared device, shared IP address, or automated signal alone is not proof. Independ considers the available evidence, credibility, context, possible retaliation, urgency, and user response.

9.6 If a user refuses to participate, Independ may decide from the available evidence after giving reasonable notice. Non-response is not automatically treated as an admission.

Internal review and decision

10.1 A trained internal reviewer decides whether a claim is more likely than not based on the available evidence, unless applicable law requires another standard.

10.2 A reviewer with a material conflict is replaced where reasonably possible. A serious matter may receive a second internal Independ reviewer.

10.3 Independ may ask for clarification or obtain internal legal, technical, financial, security, or subject-matter input. Independ does not promise to pay for an external lawyer, adviser, or expert for either user. A user may obtain their own adviser.

10.4 Independ provides a reasoned written decision stating the key facts, evidence considered, findings, treatment of affected work, financial calculation, required action, next steps, and appeal period, subject to lawful confidentiality and fraud-control limits.

10.5 A decision may require cure, correction, revision, clarification, a revised working plan, partial acceptance, valuation of usable work, payment adjustment, refund, subcontract settlement, Project closure, account action, or assistance starting a new Project.

10.6 A good-faith user is not penalised merely because the claim fails. A proven deliberately false, abusive, retaliatory, or repetitive claim may lead to proportionate account action after review.

10.7 Internal Dispute Review is not private arbitration and does not make Independ the final legal authority over a claim.

Internal appeal and external rights

11.1 One internal appeal may be submitted within five Business Days after the reasoned decision by replying to the decision or by emailing support@xlancr.com with the subject "DISPUTE APPEAL - Dispute ID".

11.2 An appeal must identify a material factual error, material new evidence that could not reasonably have been provided earlier, reviewer conflict, or serious process failure. Repeating the same disagreement without one of these grounds is not a new appeal.

11.3 Where practical, a founder, senior reviewer, or different reviewer considers the appeal. The appeal decision explains whether the original decision is confirmed, changed, or returned for further review.

11.4 A user may use any consumer commission, MSEFC, court, regulator, police, Data Protection Board, or another competent forum available under law. Nothing in this Policy removes a non-waivable external right.

11.5 A statutory complaint against Independ is different from a Project Dispute. A consumer may submit a statutory grievance directly without first raising an Alert, Dispute, or appeal.

How Project value and refunds are calculated

12.1 Independ begins with the relevant Client Service Price and identifies the price allocated to the affected work under the Client Project Service Agreement, milestone schedule, and approved Change Requests.

12.2 Independ then considers Accepted Work, Usable Work in Progress, defects, cure cost, Untouched Future Work, Approved Non-Recoverable Third-Party Costs, payment already received, lawful tax treatment, and any mandatory remedy.

12.3 A partly completed but unaccepted milestone is not automatically valued at zero or 100 percent. The valuation considers completed tasks, usable deliverables, agreed pricing, stated criteria, defects, dependencies, and reasonable cure cost.

12.4 Client use or commercial benefit may support a finding of usable value. It is weighed with the Project scope, testing purpose, defects, and other evidence.

12.5 A Client change of mind does not make Accepted Work free. Untouched Future Work is ordinarily refundable, subject to Approved Non-Recoverable Third-Party Costs and mandatory law.

12.6 A reduced future service price or goodwill credit is discretionary, subject to its stated conditions and expiry, and is not an admission of legal liability.

12.7 The Client receives the financial calculation relevant to its service contract. The Freelancer or Agency separately receives the calculation relevant to its subcontract. Independ does not disclose its private margin merely because a Dispute occurs.

Refund processing and documents

13.1 After a refund is approved and required destination details are verified, Independ ordinarily initiates it within four to five Business Days. The bank or payment provider may require additional processing time.

13.2 A refund ordinarily returns to the verified original payment source. A different destination requires a documented, verified, and appropriately approved exception.

13.3 Independ provides a refund confirmation showing the amount, initiation date, method, beneficiary or destination reference, and available bank or payment reference once the transfer is made.

13.4 The correct finance document depends on the original transaction. If Independ received a taxable advance and issued a receipt voucher but no supply or tax invoice followed, a GST refund voucher may be appropriate.

13.5 If a tax invoice was issued and the taxable value or tax may lawfully be reduced, a GST credit note may be appropriate. A commercial credit note may adjust the commercial amount without reducing output GST where a GST reduction is unavailable or not intended.

13.6 A bank refund confirmation proves the movement of money but is not a GST document. A Dispute decision records the operational outcome but does not by itself reverse GST, TDS, or another tax entry.

13.7 Independ selects, issues, and reports the finance document appropriate to the actual transaction, applicable tax law, and accounting treatment. The Client must complete any correction required for tax it deducted or reported.

Freelancer and Agency settlement

14.1 Client refund treatment and supplier settlement are related operationally but arise under separate contracts. A Client refund does not automatically prove supplier fault or automatically eliminate an earned subcontract amount.

14.2 Milestone acceptance records Project progress and may trigger the next Client payment. It does not trigger immediate Freelancer or Agency bank payout.

14.3 The ordinary commercial rule is one supplier payout after the whole Project is completed and accepted, subject to tax, refunds, payment reversals, Dispute outcomes, permitted deductions, and an earlier mandatory payment time.

14.4 If a Project ends early, the final undisputed subcontract amount is ordinarily paid within seven Business Days after valuation and required documents are complete, or sooner where law requires.

14.5 If the supplier is an eligible micro or small enterprise, a mandatory statutory payment period overrides a conflicting ordinary whole-Project payout term.

14.6 A supplier payment may include only transparent categories stated in the Project Subcontractor Agreement, such as the Subcontract Price, tax adjustments, agreed price adjustments, refund allocation, valid chargeback recovery, and an Established Contractual Loss.

14.7 An Established Contractual Loss must be a proven, direct, and reasonably calculated loss caused by contractual breach. Independ must state the reason, evidence, and calculation and provide a challenge route. It cannot be an arbitrary fine, speculative estimate, or punishment.

14.8 A payout may be made only to the verified bank account of the contracted legal supplier. A changed destination follows the verification and maker-checker process stated in the Platform Rules.

Failed payments chargebacks and fraud

15.1 A failed, reversed, fraudulent, disputed, or charged-back Client payment may pause unstarted work, handover, refund, or subcontract payout while Independ checks the event and preserves evidence.

15.2 A Client chargeback or bank complaint does not automatically establish that the Project failed. Independ may provide the relevant contract, acceptance, communication, delivery, and payment evidence to the bank or payment provider.

15.3 If a Freelancer performed valid work and the Client raises an unsupported payment dispute, Independ may continue to recognise the supplier's contractual entitlement while defending or recovering the Client payment, subject to the subcontract and applicable law.

15.4 If a payment reversal is valid or resulted from supplier fraud or breach, the financial effect may be allocated through the applicable contracts and reasoned Dispute process. An accusation alone does not authorise confiscation.

15.5 Duplicate payments and clear processing mistakes should be corrected without using the Dispute process where the facts are not contested.

Records privacy and retention

16.1 Independ preserves the Project Contracts, accepted Change Requests, payment references, submissions, acceptance records, relevant evidence, decision, appeal, refund record, and subcontract settlement needed for the case.

16.2 Final Dispute decisions, acceptance records, refund records, contracts, and financial or tax records are ordinarily retained for eight financial years or longer where law or a legal hold requires.

16.3 Dispute and IP evidence is ordinarily retained for three years after final decision or longer under a legal hold. Ordinary Project chat and activity records follow the period stated in the Platform Rules and Privacy Policy.

16.4 Access to case information is limited to the affected users, authorised Independ personnel, service providers, advisers, or authorities who need it for a lawful purpose. Each user receives the information and financial records relevant to that user's contract, subject to privacy, confidentiality, privilege, fraud-control, and legal restrictions.

16.5 Closing or deleting an account during a claim does not decide the claim in another user's favour or erase records that Independ must retain.