Home Hub Refund Policy

Last Updated: [Insert date of first publication]

1. Introduction and Purpose of This Policy

This Refund Policy governs all requests for refunds, credits, adjustments, and billing disputes relating to Buyer subscription fees charged by Home Hub. It forms part of Home Hub's Terms and Conditions of Use and should be read alongside those Terms. Capitalised terms used in this Policy that are not defined here have the meanings assigned to them in the Terms and Conditions.

Home Hub sells listing visibility and directory advertising services to Buyers — that is, home-based and small-scale service providers who pay a monthly subscription fee to maintain an active, discoverable Listing on the Platform. Subscription fees are charged for access to the Platform's listing and search functionality, and for exposure to Users who search the Platform for relevant services. Home Hub does not sell, broker, guarantee, or intermediate the underlying Third-Party Services advertised by Buyers, and it does not guarantee any particular number of leads, enquiries, customer contacts, bookings, sales, or revenue outcomes in exchange for the subscription fee.

This Policy is designed to be fair, transparent, and compliant with all applicable South African law, including the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 ("CPA"), the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 ("ECTA"), and all regulations promulgated thereunder. Nothing in this Policy excludes, limits, or modifies any right, remedy, or protection that you are entitled to under the CPA, ECTA, or any other applicable South African statute that cannot lawfully be excluded by agreement.

2. What This Policy Applies To

This Policy applies exclusively to subscription fees charged by Home Hub to Buyers for listing visibility on the Platform. It does not apply to any payment, deposit, fee, or financial transaction made between a User and a Buyer for Third-Party Services arranged through or following contact made via the Platform. Home Hub is not involved in those transactions and has no authority to issue refunds in respect of them.

3. What Your Subscription Fee Covers

Your monthly subscription fee covers:

The right to maintain an active, publicly discoverable Listing on the Platform during the subscription period;
Inclusion of your Listing in the Platform's search results and category-based discovery features during the subscription period;
Access to your Buyer dashboard, including the ability to edit your Listing, manage your profile, view subscription status, and download invoices;
The technical infrastructure and features of the Platform to the extent available during the subscription period.

Your subscription fee does not cover, guarantee, or promise any specific number of profile views, User enquiries, customer contacts, leads, bookings, sales conversions, or any other measurable commercial outcome. The Platform provides listing access and visibility — not guaranteed results. Dissatisfaction with commercial outcomes, absence of leads, or failure to generate business through the Platform does not, in itself, entitle a Buyer to a refund.

4. Your Statutory Rights — Please Read Carefully

South African law gives you certain rights in relation to this subscription that cannot be excluded by this Policy. This section sets out the most important of those statutory rights. In the event of any conflict between the contractual terms of this Policy and your non-excludable statutory rights, your statutory rights prevail.

4.1 ECTA 7-Day Cooling-Off Right

If you are a natural person who purchased this subscription through an electronic transaction (which includes all subscriptions purchased through the Platform), section 44 of ECTA gives you the right to cancel the subscription within seven (7) days of the date of purchase, without reason and without penalty, and to receive a full refund — except where you have expressly requested and consented to immediate activation of the subscription before the expiry of the cooling-off period.

At the time of checkout, Home Hub requests your express consent to the immediate activation of your Listing upon payment. If you gave that consent and your Listing was activated before the end of the 7-day cooling-off window, the ECTA cooling-off right may not apply. If no consent to immediate activation was given, or if activation had not yet occurred, the 7-day cooling-off right applies in full and you are entitled to a full refund upon cancellation within that period.

4.2 CPA Section 14 — Fixed-Term Agreement Cancellation

If you are a natural person (or in some circumstances a small juristic person to whom section 14 applies), and if your subscription constitutes a fixed-term consumer agreement under section 14 of the CPA, you have the right to cancel that agreement at any time by giving Home Hub twenty (20) business days' written notice. Home Hub may charge a reasonable cancellation penalty as permitted by section 14 and applicable regulations, but may not charge a penalty that negates the value of the right to cancel. Home Hub will not impose a cancellation penalty that exceeds what is reasonable having regard to the duration of the agreement, the fees paid, and the service delivered.

Note: Home Hub's default subscription model is a rolling month-to-month subscription, which is generally not a "fixed-term agreement" for the purposes of section 14. However, where a specific fixed-term subscription product is offered in future, this provision will apply.

4.3 CPA Section 54 — Right to Quality Services

Where Home Hub has undertaken to perform the subscription service and has materially failed to do so, you have the right under section 54 of the CPA to require Home Hub to remedy the defect within a reasonable time, or to receive a refund of a reasonable portion of the subscription price having regard to the extent of the failure. This right applies where Home Hub itself has failed to deliver the service substantially as described — it does not apply to dissatisfaction with leads or commercial results.

4.4 CPA Section 64 — Prepaid Services

Where you have prepaid for subscription services more than 25 business days in advance (for example, under an annual prepaid plan), the amount paid in advance remains your property until Home Hub makes monthly pro-rata charges against it. If Home Hub ceases to offer the Platform service without providing a reasonably accessible alternative, it must refund your unused prepaid balance within five (5) business days of the closure.

4.5 CPA Section 16 — Direct Marketing Rescission

Where a subscription was concluded as a result of direct marketing (as defined in the CPA), you may rescind the agreement within five (5) business days of conclusion by notice to Home Hub, and Home Hub must refund the subscription fee within fifteen (15) business days of receiving your valid rescission notice. Note that where ECTA section 44 applies to the same transaction, section 16 of the CPA does not apply.

4.6 ECTA Section 43 — Non-Disclosure Right to Cancel

If Home Hub fails to make the disclosures required by section 43 of ECTA before or at the time of your subscription purchase (including disclosure of the recurring nature of the subscription, the applicable fee, the minimum subscription duration, and the refund policy), you may cancel the subscription within fourteen (14) days of receiving the subscribed service and receive a full refund.

5. Full Refunds — When You Are Entitled to One

You are entitled to a full refund in the following circumstances:

5.1 ECTA Cooling-Off Cancellation (Where Applicable)

Where you cancel within seven (7) days of the date of purchase and did not consent to immediate activation of your Listing, you are entitled to a full refund of the subscription fee paid, with no deduction or penalty. See Section 4.1 above.

5.2 Billing Errors and Incorrect Charges

If you have been charged an incorrect amount (for example, a different fee than the one displayed at checkout, a charge at the wrong subscription tier, or a mathematical error in the billing calculation), you are entitled to a full refund of the excess amount charged, or to a correction of the billing error and a refund of the difference.

5.3 Duplicate Charges

If you have been charged twice for the same subscription period through no fault of your own (a duplicate billing error), you are entitled to a full refund of the duplicate charge.

5.4 Charge After Valid Cancellation

If your account has been charged for a subscription period after you submitted a valid cancellation through your Buyer dashboard before the renewal date, you are entitled to a full refund of the post-cancellation charge.

5.5 Unauthorised or Fraudulent Charge

If a subscription charge was made to your payment method without your authorisation — for example, because your payment details were used fraudulently — you are entitled to a full refund of the unauthorised charge, subject to investigation and verification.

5.6 Service Never Activated or Delivered

If you paid for a subscription and Home Hub failed to activate your Listing or otherwise failed to make the subscription service available to you at all (through no fault of your own), you are entitled to a full refund of the subscription fee for the affected period.

5.7 Material Misrepresentation by Home Hub

If Home Hub made a materially false, misleading, or deceptive representation about the nature of the subscription service that induced you to subscribe — and that representation was not remedied after being brought to Home Hub's attention — you are entitled to a full refund. This refers to misrepresentations by Home Hub itself, not to Buyer misrepresentations about their own services.

5.8 Negative-Option or Invalid Auto-Renewal

If a subscription renewal was processed through a negative-option mechanism (where silence or inactivity was treated as consent to renewal) or without valid prior consent to recurring billing, the renewal charge must be refunded in full.

5.9 ECTA Non-Disclosure Cancellation (Where Applicable)

Where Home Hub failed to make the disclosures required by section 43 of ECTA and you cancel within the fourteen (14) day window provided by ECTA, you are entitled to a full refund.

5.10 CPA Direct-Marketing Rescission (Where Applicable)

Where a subscription was concluded as a result of direct marketing and you rescind within five (5) business days in accordance with section 16 of the CPA, you are entitled to a full refund within fifteen (15) business days of your rescission notice.

5.11 Platform Closure

If Home Hub permanently ceases to provide the Platform service without providing a reasonably accessible alternative, Home Hub will refund the unused prepaid balance of any prepaid subscription period in accordance with section 64 of the CPA.

6. Partial Refunds and Service Credits — When They Apply

A partial refund or service credit (rather than a full cash refund) may apply in the following circumstances:

6.1 Late Activation Due to Home Hub's Fault

If your Listing was activated materially later than the subscription start date due to a technical fault, administrative error, or operational delay attributable to Home Hub, you may be entitled to a partial refund or service credit proportionate to the period of unavailability. Alternatively, Home Hub may at its discretion extend your subscription term by an equivalent period.

6.2 Significant Platform Downtime

If the Platform experiences material, unplanned downtime that causes your Listing to be inaccessible or invisible to Users for a significant and measurable period during a subscription cycle, Home Hub may, in its reasonable discretion, offer a partial service credit or subscription extension proportionate to the affected period. Isolated, short-duration technical issues that are promptly resolved do not typically warrant refunds.

6.3 Category or Placement Error

If Home Hub published your Listing in the wrong service category, the wrong geographic area, or an incorrect feature tier due to a Home Hub error, and this materially reduced the value of your Listing visibility, you may be entitled to a partial refund or credit for the affected period.

6.4 Material Reduction in Service During a Paid Term

If Home Hub materially reduces the scope, features, or quality of the subscription service during a paid subscription term in a way that substantially diminishes its value to you, you may request a partial refund for the diminished portion of the term, or you may cancel the subscription and receive a prorated refund for the remaining unused portion of any prepaid period.

6.5 CPA Section 54 Quality-of-Service Remedy

Where Home Hub's delivery of the subscription service fell materially below the standard you were reasonably entitled to expect, and Home Hub was unable to remedy the defect within a reasonable time, you may be entitled under section 54 of the CPA to a partial refund of a reasonable proportion of the subscription fee, having regard to the extent of the failure.

7. No Refund — Situations Where Refunds Are Not Available

The following situations do not entitle a Buyer to a refund, except where a statutory exception overrides this position:

7.1 Ordinary Dissatisfaction After Activation

Dissatisfaction with the subscription service after your Listing has been published and made fully available on the Platform does not entitle you to a refund. Subjective dissatisfaction with the user experience, the visual presentation of your Listing, or the general feel of the Platform is not grounds for a refund.

7.2 No Leads, No Enquiries, or Poor Commercial Results

Failure to generate leads, enquiries, customer contacts, bookings, or sales through the Platform does not entitle you to a refund. Home Hub's subscription fee is charged for listing visibility and exposure — not for guaranteed commercial outcomes. The absence of enquiries may be attributable to many factors entirely outside Home Hub's control, including market conditions, pricing, competition, listing quality, and the nature of the services offered.

7.3 You Did Not Use the Service

If your Listing was published and made available on the Platform but you chose not to log in, did not actively manage your Listing, did not complete all optional profile fields, or otherwise did not actively use the Platform, you are not entitled to a refund on the basis of non-use. Access to and visibility on the Platform was available to you during the subscription period.

7.4 Early Cancellation During a Monthly Billing Period

If you cancel your subscription partway through a monthly billing period, you will retain access to your Listing for the remainder of that billing period, but you will not receive a pro-rata cash refund for the unused days. Monthly subscriptions are billed and delivered in full monthly cycles.

7.5 Suspension or Removal for Breach of Terms

If your Listing is suspended, removed, or your subscription terminated because you have breached the Terms and Conditions (including by publishing false, misleading, or unlawful content, by engaging in prohibited conduct, or by violating any platform rule), you are not entitled to a refund for any subscription fees paid. However, if the suspension or termination is later determined to have been incorrect or unjustified, Home Hub will review your refund entitlement in good faith.

7.6 Declined or Rejected Listing at Onboarding

If your Listing is rejected after payment because it fails to meet eligibility requirements, is in a prohibited category, or violates the Terms and Conditions, and those eligibility requirements were clearly disclosed before payment, you will receive a full refund of the subscription fee paid (as this is a pre-activation scenario). Where screening and eligibility checks were disclosed at checkout, post-rejection refunds will be issued promptly.

7.7 Change in Personal Circumstances

A change in your personal circumstances — such as a change of career, moving house, illness, business closure, or any other personal reason — is not, in itself, a statutory or contractual ground for a refund of fees paid for a period during which the service was available to you. Home Hub acknowledges the difficulty that personal circumstances can create, and in cases of genuine hardship or extraordinary circumstances, you may contact Home Hub to request a goodwill review. Any relief granted in such cases is entirely at Home Hub's discretion and does not create a general entitlement.

8. Billing Disputes — Process and Time Limits

If you believe that a charge to your account was incorrect, unauthorised, duplicated, or otherwise erroneous, you must notify Home Hub as soon as possible after becoming aware of the issue, and in any event within thirty (30) days of the date of the disputed charge. Disputes raised after thirty (30) days may be more difficult to investigate due to records limitations, but Home Hub will use reasonable efforts to assist with disputes raised later where the merits are clear.

To raise a billing dispute, please contact Home Hub using the contact details provided on the Platform, providing the following information: your account email address; the date and amount of the disputed charge; the reason for the dispute; and any supporting evidence you have (such as screenshots of error messages or checkout confirmations).

Home Hub will acknowledge your billing dispute within five (5) business days and will investigate and respond within fourteen (14) business days of receiving all necessary information.

9. How to Request a Refund

To request a refund under any of the applicable circumstances described in this Policy, please follow this process:

Step 1 — Submit Your Request: Contact Home Hub at the support contact details provided on the Platform. Include in your request: your registered account email address; a clear description of the reason for your refund request; the specific subscription period and amount to which the request relates; and any relevant supporting information (such as evidence of a billing error, a screenshot of an error condition, or details of a specific failure).

Step 2 — Acknowledgement: Home Hub will acknowledge receipt of your refund request within five (5) business days.

Step 3 — Review and Investigation: Home Hub will review your request against the applicable criteria in this Policy, investigate the relevant circumstances, and reach a decision.

Step 4 — Decision and Communication: Home Hub will communicate its decision to you within fourteen (14) business days of receiving all information necessary to process your request. Where a refund is approved, Home Hub will specify the amount, the method of refund, and the expected processing time.

Step 5 — Processing of Approved Refunds: Approved refunds will be processed to your original payment method or as otherwise agreed within ten (10) business days of the decision. Processing times may vary depending on your bank or payment provider.

10. Disputes and Escalation

If you are dissatisfied with Home Hub's decision on your refund request, you may:

Request a review of the decision by contacting Home Hub's management team and providing the reasons for your dissatisfaction;
Lodge a complaint with the National Consumer Commission (NCC) in respect of any matter relating to the Consumer Protection Act;
Lodge a complaint with your payment card issuer or bank if you believe a charge was unauthorised or erroneous (chargeback process);
Approach the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud or any other relevant consumer dispute body with jurisdiction; or
Approach a court of competent jurisdiction in the Republic of South Africa.

Home Hub asks that you contact us directly before initiating a chargeback, as most billing issues can be resolved faster through direct engagement. However, nothing in this Policy prevents you from exercising your rights through your bank or card issuer.

11. Changes to This Policy

Home Hub may update this Refund Policy from time to time to reflect changes in applicable law, our subscription model, or our refund practices. The current version will always be published on the Platform. For changes that affect the refund rights of existing Buyers, Home Hub will provide reasonable advance notice before the changes take effect.

12. Contact Details

For all refund requests, billing disputes, and queries relating to this Policy, please contact Home Hub using the contact details available on the Platform or in the Terms and Conditions.

For regulatory complaints relating to the CPA: National Consumer Commission — www.thencc.org.za

For regulatory complaints relating to POPIA: Information Regulator of South Africa — www.inforegulator.org.za

Last Updated: [Date to be inserted upon first publication]