Refund & Cancellation Policy

Every new workspace gets a 14-day trial with no payment details required, so you can try Hlela before paying anything. Nothing is charged during the trial.

• Prices are in South African Rand (ZAR). We are not currently VAT registered, so no VAT is added.
• Monthly plans are charged to your card every month. Annual plans are charged once for 12 months.
• Every paid plan has a 12-month commitment.
• Card payments are processed by Paystack. You receive an invoice for every successful payment.

The workspace owner or an administrator can cancel from the Billing page at any time. You do not need to contact us.

• Annual plan: automatic renewal is switched off straight away. You keep full access until the end of the 12 months you paid for.
• Monthly plan: because of the 12-month commitment, your monthly payments continue until the commitment ends and then stop. You keep full access until then. If your commitment has already ended, cancelling stops the next payment and you keep access until the end of the month you have paid for.
• Once a cancellation has taken effect we take no further payments.
• After access ends, your workspace becomes read-only for 90 days so you can come back or take what you need. After 90 days the workspace data is permanently deleted, except records we must keep by law. You can ask us to delete it sooner.

We refund, to the card you paid with:

• A payment taken in error, or taken twice
• A payment taken after a cancellation had already taken effect
• Any amount we are required to refund by law

Otherwise we do not refund the part of a billing period that has already started, including unused months of an annual plan or of a monthly commitment. This does not limit your rights under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 or the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002.

To ask for a refund, email billing@hlela.app with your workspace name and the payment reference or invoice number. We reply promptly, and approved refunds go back to the card you paid with through Paystack. Your bank may take a few days to show the money.

• Upgrade: takes effect immediately. You pay the new plan price less a credit for the unused part of your current paid period, and your new billing period starts the day you upgrade.
• Downgrade: takes effect at the end of your current paid period. No refund is given for the difference.
• Changing plan does not restart your 12-month commitment.

If a payment fails we show a notice in Hlela and notify you, and you have a few days to pay. After that the workspace is suspended and becomes read-only until payment is made. Paying restores full access.

Please write to billing@hlela.app first so we can fix it quickly. If you want to raise a formal dispute, email disputes@hlela.app.