Refund Policy

This Refund Policy explains when and how you can obtain a refund for purchases made on Inoue AI, how cancellations and the EU/EEA statutory right of withdrawal apply, and how a refund is reflected in your account credit balance. It forms part of, and should be read together with, our Terms of Service. Capitalised terms not defined here have the meaning given to them in the Terms of Service.

1. Scope of this policy

Inoue AI offers two kinds of paid purchase, and this policy covers both:

• Subscriptions — recurring monthly plans (for example Starter, Creator, Professional and Enterprise) that grant a monthly allotment of credits and access to plan features.
• One-off credit bundles — a single, non-recurring purchase of a fixed quantity of credits that are added to your wallet immediately on payment.

Credits are the unit of value you spend to generate images, video, voice, transcripts, captions and other outputs. Prices, plan inclusions and the credit cost of each operation are shown at the point of purchase and on our pricing page. All amounts are charged in the currency shown at checkout (USD) and are processed by our payment provider, Stripe. We never receive or store your full card details.

2. EU/EEA right of withdrawal (14 days)

If you are a consumer resident in the European Union or the European Economic Area, you have a statutory right to withdraw from a purchase of digital content or services within 14 days of the date of purchase, without giving any reason. This section explains how that right applies to Inoue AI and when it ends.

In practice, this means:

• If you purchase and have not yet spent any credits and have not consumed any paid plan feature, you may withdraw within 14 days for a full refund.
• If you have started generating content (spent credits) within the 14 days, your right of withdrawal no longer applies to the credits already consumed; any refund is limited to the unused, unconsumed portion, calculated as set out in Section 5.
• These statutory rights are in addition to, and do not limit, any discretionary refund we may offer under Sections 3 and 4.

Consumers outside the EU/EEA do not have a statutory right of withdrawal but may request a refund under the discretionary terms below. Business customers (non-consumer purchases) are not entitled to the consumer right of withdrawal.

3. Subscriptions

Subscriptions are billed monthly in advance and renew automatically until you cancel. You can cancel at any time from your account billing settings or through the Stripe billing portal.

• Cancelling — when you cancel, your plan remains active until the end of the billing period you have already paid for, and it does not renew afterwards. Cancellation stops future charges; it is not, by itself, a refund of the current period.
• 14-day withdrawal — EU/EEA consumers may withdraw from a new subscription within 14 days as described in Section 2; the immediate-performance waiver applies once you begin using the plan.
• Renewals — automatic renewal charges are not generally refundable once the new period has begun, because the credits and access for that period are made available immediately. If you believe a renewal was charged in error, contact us promptly and we will review it.
• Discretionary refunds — outside the statutory window, we may, at our discretion, issue a full or pro-rata refund of an unused or substantially unused period, for example where you cancelled immediately after an unintended renewal and have not used the plan.

Any credits granted as part of a subscription period that is refunded may be reversed from your balance as described in Section 5.

4. One-off credit bundles

Credit bundles are a single purchase of a fixed quantity of credits, added to your wallet immediately. Because they are consumable digital content, the following rules apply:

• Unused credits — a bundle whose credits remain entirely unspent is refundable within 14 days of purchase. EU/EEA consumers may also rely on the statutory right of withdrawal in Section 2 for the same period.
• Partially used bundles — if you have spent some of the credits from a bundle, only the unused, unconsumed credits are eligible for a refund, calculated proportionally as set out in Section 5.
• Consumed credits — credits that have already been spent to generate content are non-refundable, because the corresponding service has been performed and the provider costs have been incurred.

Credit expiry

Granted credits expire 12 months after the date they are granted, whether granted through a subscription period or a one-off bundle. Expired credits are removed from your balance, are not redeemable, and are not refundable. We do not refund credits solely because they have expired; we encourage you to use credits before their expiry date, which is visible in your account.

5. How a refund affects your credit balance

When we issue a refund, we reverse the corresponding credits from your wallet so that you are not left holding paid-for credits you have been reimbursed for. This keeps your refund and your balance consistent.

How the reversal is applied depends on what you have already spent:

• If your balance is greater than or equal to the credits to be reversed, the full proportional amount is deducted from your available balance.
• If you have already spent more than the refunded portion, the reversal is capped at your remaining balance — we do not drive your balance negative, and we do not retroactively invoice you for content you have already generated.
• Each reversal is recorded in an append-only ledger on your account for transparency and reconciliation.

6. Chargebacks and payment disputes

If you believe you have been charged incorrectly, please contact us first at [email protected] — we can almost always resolve billing issues faster and more flexibly than a formal dispute. Initiating a chargeback or payment dispute with your bank or card issuer before contacting us may delay resolution.

Where a chargeback or dispute is raised, we treat it the same way as a refund for the purpose of your credit balance: the credits associated with the disputed charge are reversed in proportion to the disputed amount, on the same decimal-exact, idempotent basis described in Section 5. We may suspend access to paid features or pause an account while a dispute is open and until it is resolved. Raising a chargeback for charges that were validly incurred (for example, for credits you have already spent) is a breach of our Terms of Service and may result in suspension or termination of your account.

7. How to request a refund

To request a refund or exercise your right of withdrawal, email [email protected] from the address associated with your account. You do not need to use a specific form, and EU/EEA consumers do not need to give a reason to withdraw within the 14-day window. To help us process your request quickly, please include:

• The email address on your Inoue AI account.
• What you are requesting a refund for (a subscription, a specific renewal, or a credit bundle) and the approximate purchase date.
• Any relevant order, invoice or payment reference (visible in your billing settings or your Stripe email receipt).
• Optionally, a short note on the reason — helpful for us, but not required for an EU/EEA withdrawal.

We will confirm receipt, review eligibility under this policy, and let you know the outcome. Approved refunds are issued to the original payment method via Stripe; we cannot refund to a different card or account.

8. Processing times

Once a refund is approved, we submit it to Stripe promptly — typically within a few business days, and for valid EU/EEA withdrawals without undue delay and no later than 14 days after we are informed of your decision. After we submit a refund, the time for the funds to appear depends on your bank or card issuer.

Refunds are made in the original currency and to the original payment method. We do not charge a fee for processing a refund.

9. Non-refundable items

Except where a statutory right requires otherwise, the following are not refundable:

• Credits that have already been spent to generate content (the service has been performed).
• Credits that have expired (12 months after grant).
• Charges incurred in breach of our Acceptable Use Policy, or where an account is terminated for cause.
• Amounts charged by third parties you connect or pay directly (for example, your own provider API keys), which are governed by that third party's terms.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Refund Policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes to our plans or to legal requirements. We will post the updated policy here with a new effective date and version. The policy in force at the time of your purchase applies to that purchase; material changes do not retroactively reduce rights for purchases already made.

11. Your statutory rights

Nothing in this policy limits or excludes any mandatory consumer-protection rights you have under the law of your country of residence, including, for EU/EEA consumers, the rights under the Consumer Rights Directive and applicable Italian implementing law. Where this policy and your mandatory statutory rights conflict, your statutory rights prevail. For more on how we handle your personal data when processing a refund, see our Privacy Policy.

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