# DRAFT — FOR LEGAL REVIEW — NOT APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION

# Proposed PLOCAL Evaluation Refund Policy

PLOCAL charges $250.00 USD plus applicable taxes for the PLOCAL Evaluation service. Businesses pay to be evaluated; they never pay to win.

## Duplicate successful charge

PLOCAL will issue a full refund for a verified duplicate successful charge for the same Evaluation purchase. PLOCAL verifies duplication using the authoritative Submission/payment relationship and Stripe/provider evidence. Similar Business name, email, card, or IP alone does not establish a duplicate.

## Before the Evaluation starts

Before PLOCAL activates the 96-hour Evaluation, PLOCAL may approve a refund when appropriate. Approval is discretionary, case-by-case, and not automatic. Submitting a cancellation or Billing Case does not itself approve or issue a refund.

## After the Evaluation starts

Once the exact 96-hour Evaluation has started, the Evaluation fee and applicable taxes are normally non-refundable except where legally required or where PLOCAL approves a specific service-not-provided or exceptional legal/administrative ground. Business dissatisfaction is not a refund ground.

No score, low score, lack of Honors, no badge, no Business of the Day/Month/Year, no ranking, no placement, no recommendation, no verification outcome, or other Evaluation/Recognition result creates refund entitlement.

## Technical or operational delay

A technical or operational delay does not automatically qualify for refund. PLOCAL must have a reasonable opportunity to investigate, cure the issue and complete the purchased Evaluation. “Reasonable period” has no approved numeric duration and is not defined here. If PLOCAL ultimately determines it cannot provide the purchased Evaluation within a reasonable period, the fee will be refunded subject to applicable law.

## Processing

Only authorized PLOCAL Administrators may approve/process a refund. PLOCAL submits an approved full-refund request to Stripe. Stripe processes the provider transaction, including applicable provider/tax treatment, and signed provider events reconcile PLOCAL’s financial record. PLOCAL does not offer arbitrary partial-refund amounts under this draft.

## Disputes and fraud

Stripe handles the financial dispute/chargeback process. PLOCAL separately controls Profiles, Evaluations, scores, votes, badges and Awards. A dispute, chargeback, or refund does not automatically unpublish/delete a Profile, cancel/delete an Evaluation, change results, invalidate votes, or revoke an Award/history. Separate approved corrective authority is required.

## Requests and notices

A public Billing/refund Support Case is a request for review only and never invokes Stripe. Counsel must finalize required proof, requester verification, decision/processing notices, timelines, legally required rights and accounting/tax disclosures.