Engagement and refund terms

Every stage is fixed price and separately scoped. You approve a scope and a price before that stage begins, and you are never committed to the next stage by starting the one before it. No stage is gated behind another. These terms form part of our Terms of Service.

The audit is a fixed price engineering and design for manufacture review of the files you provide. You receive a written report with a clear verdict, the problems we found, what drives your cost, and what has to change. If the verdict is that the product cannot be built as designed, the report tells you what would make it buildable. Both outcomes are a delivered audit.

The audit fee is credited in full against your prototype program if you continue with us within twelve months of delivery.

The audit fee is payable in full before work starts. We schedule the engineer once it is paid.

Before we start work, meaning before an engineer has been assigned and any file review has begun, you may cancel for a full refund.

Once work has started, the fee is non-refundable. What you are buying is an engineer's time and judgement, and that is spent whether or not you like the answer.

If we cannot deliver a usable audit because the files you gave us are not sufficient and you cannot supply what is missing, we refund fifty percent and keep the rest for work already done.

If we fail to deliver the report within the agreed time for reasons that are ours, and you no longer want it, you get a full refund.

Each stage is quoted separately. Fifty percent is payable on approval of the scope and the balance on delivery of that stage. Once a stage has started, amounts covering work already performed and third party costs already committed, such as tooling, materials, certification bookings and factory slots, are non-refundable. We will always tell you what is already committed before you decide.

Tooling, certification, testing, samples, shipping and duties are quoted separately and passed through at cost. These are paid to third parties and are not refundable once committed, whatever happens to the rest of the project.

Timelines assume you respond to questions and approvals within the agreed windows. Chinese public holidays, in particular Chinese New Year and Golden Week, shift factory schedules, and we will tell you in advance when a stage crosses one. We are not liable for delay caused by your late input, by a change you request, or by events outside our reasonable control.

A change to an approved scope is priced before it is done, and we will not do it without your written approval. Where a change makes earlier work redundant, that earlier work is still payable.

If, after reading your intake, we do not think we are the right partner, we will tell you within the seventy two hour response and there is no charge. We would rather say no early than take a fee for work we cannot do well.

The following are not refundable once the relevant point has passed: the audit fee once work has started, work already performed on any stage that has begun, third party costs already committed such as tooling, materials, certification bookings, testing and factory slots, and payment processing fees charged by our payment provider.

Email contact@equilinq.eu with the subject line "Refund request" followed by your project name. Tell us which stage you are at, why you are asking, and anything that supports the request. We acknowledge every request within two business days and come back with a clear next step and a timeline.

Approved refunds are issued to the original payment method, normally within five to ten business days for a bank transfer and five to fourteen business days for a card payment, plus whatever time your bank or card issuer needs. Refunds are issued in the currency you paid in. Where a currency conversion is involved, the refund reflects the rate at the time of the refund, and we are not responsible for exchange rate movement between your original payment and the refund.

Reply to us in writing explaining why. We will review it and respond within ten business days. If we still cannot agree, the dispute is handled under the dispute resolution section of our Terms of Service, which means good faith negotiation first and then Hong Kong seated arbitration. If you are considering a chargeback with your bank or card issuer, please talk to us first. We can almost always resolve things faster directly.