Refund & Cancellation Policy · Updated 2026
The short version
Once-off builds: if we do not deliver your website within 7 working days of the project starting, you can ask for your money back.
Monthly plans: cancel any time with 20 business days’ notice. You are billed for the notice period and nothing after it.
The detail is below, in plain language. If anything is unclear, ask before you pay rather than after.
Once-off website builds
This covers Premium Business Websites, Premium Online Stores and Web Applications — anything bought outright rather than on a monthly plan.
When your project starts
The 7 working day delivery clock starts on the later of these two things:
- Your deposit clears, and
- You have supplied the content we need — business details, service descriptions, contact information, logo and any images you want used.
Both have to be in place. A paid deposit with no content is not a started project, because there is nothing to build with.
When you can claim a refund
If we have not delivered your website for review within 7 working days of the project starting, you may request a refund.
The clock pauses if we are waiting on you
If we ask you for something the build cannot continue without — missing content, a decision, a login, an approval — the 7 working day clock pauses from the moment we ask, and resumes on the working day after we receive it.
We will tell you in writing when the clock pauses and when it restarts, so there is never a dispute about where the deadline sits. Delays caused by waiting on you do not count toward the 7 days.
Why this matters: the seven-day promise is only fair if both sides move. We cannot build your services page while we are waiting three weeks for your logo, and it would not be reasonable to hold us to a deadline that passed while the project sat with you.
What is not covered
- Change of mind. Once the build has started, work has been done and cannot be un-done.
- Requests made before the deadline. If the project is still inside the 7 working days, it is not late.
- Requests made after the 48 hour window. Once it closes, the project continues to completion and the refund route falls away.
- Delays caused by late client input. Covered above.
- Third-party costs already paid. A domain registered in your name has been bought and belongs to you. That cost is not refundable, and the domain stays yours either way.
How to request one
Email info@coldstartdigital.co.za with your name, your business name and the date your project started. You will get a written acknowledgement the same working day.
Approved refunds are paid by EFT to the account the deposit came from, within 10 working days.
Monthly plans
This covers the Standard Business Website and Standard Online Store — the plans billed monthly or annually.
What you are paying for
The monthly fee is a service, not a purchase. It covers the build, the hosting, the security and the ongoing maintenance, and your website stays online for as long as the plan is active.
We say that plainly because it is the thing people most often misunderstand. If owning the website outright matters to you, a once-off Premium build is the right choice, and we will tell you so before you sign up rather than after.
Cancelling
- You may cancel at any time by telling us in writing, by email or WhatsApp.
- We ask for 20 business days’ notice, in line with South African consumer protection law.
- You are billed for the notice period. Nothing is billed after it.
- Your website comes offline at the end of the notice period.
- Your domain remains registered in your name and is unaffected.
Refunds on monthly plans
Months already used are not refunded, because the service was delivered — the site was hosted, maintained and online throughout.
If you paid annually and cancel partway through, we refund the unused full months remaining after your notice period ends.
If you want your content: ask, and we will send you the text and images from your site at no charge, whether you are cancelling or not. We will not hold your own material hostage over a cancellation.
If we suspend a site
If a monthly payment is missed, we will remind you before anything happens. If it stays unpaid, your site is eventually taken offline — the server space costs money whether the site is being paid for or not.
You will always receive written notice with a date before that happens, and settling the arrears brings the site back, usually the same day.
Your rights under South African law
Nothing in this policy limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008.
That Act gives you rights that apply regardless of what a contract says — including the right to services performed with reasonable skill and care, and the right to cancel a fixed-term agreement on 20 business days’ notice. Where this policy and the Act ever conflict, the Act wins.
If you believe something has been handled badly, tell us first — almost everything is solved with a phone call. If it cannot be resolved between us, you may refer the matter to the National Consumer Commission.
Questions
Email info@coldstartdigital.co.za or call 074 004 2807.
We would rather answer a question before you buy than have a disagreement afterwards.
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Tell me what you need
A short conversation costs nothing, and you will leave it knowing what a website would cost you.