Cancellation and refund policy.

This policy explains how you can cancel your subscription, when you may be entitled to a refund, and how we protect our platform against refund abuse.

Our order, payment, and subscription processes are conducted entirely by our authorized reseller and online Merchant of Record, Paddle.com. Paddle manages payment processing, billing data security, local tax compliance, and handles customer returns and refunds on our behalf in accordance with their Buyer Terms and Conditions. All charges for Hangout FCwill appear on your bank or credit card statement under the name "PADDLE.COM" or "PADDLE".

• Automatic renewal: All membership plans (Press Pass, Press Pass Plus) auto-renew on their scheduled calendar intervals until you choose to cancel.
• How to cancel: You can cancel your recurring subscription at any time via your in-app account page dashboard, or through the dedicated customer portal provided by Paddle.
• Effect of cancellation: Upon cancellation, you retain full access to your plan features and Play allowances until the end of your current paid billing period. Cancellation stops future renewals but does not trigger an automatic refund.

Finality of sales

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, all transactions, standalone add-on payments, and top-up packages are final, definitive, and non-refundable. We do not offer voluntary refunds or credit balances for partial billing months or unused days.

Except as required by mandatory consumer protection laws or Paddle's platform rules, refunds are governed by the following strict anti-abuse terms:

A. The "first subscription only" rule

To prevent systemic abuse, eligibility for any discretionary refund applies strictly to your first subscription purchase on the platform.

• Definition of "first subscription":A "first subscription" is the very first transaction completed by a unique customer. We link and track this using matching account registry data, email addresses, device footprints, billing details, and payment method tokens.
• Prior refund exclusion: If a customer account or individual has previously received a refund for any Hangout FC transaction, all future subscription purchases, upgrades, or renewals on any associated account are strictly ineligible for further refunds, except where mandatory consumer protection laws require otherwise.

B. Prevention of refund abuse & fraud

In alignment with Paddle's Global Refund Policy, refunds will not be issued under any circumstances where there is evidence of fraud, refund abuse, chargeback manipulation, or other bad-faith behaviour. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Creating multiple accounts to bypass the "first subscription only" limit.
• Requesting a refund after heavily utilizing the platform's features or allowances during the trial or statutory window.
• Initiating bad-faith payment disputes or chargebacks.

Under local consumer protection laws, consumers (individuals buying for personal use outside a business) have an unconditional statutory right to withdraw from digital contracts and receive a full refund.

Immediate delivery & your statutory waiver

During checkout, you explicitly acknowledge and consent that product access commences immediately. Under UK, EU, and EEA laws, your right to withdraw and claim a refund expires the moment you begin consuming the digital product (for example downloading data, streaming, or actively using your Play allowances or platform features), provided you gave express consent to waive these rights at checkout.

Applicable statutory windows

If you have not yet consumed or used the product, the following unconditional withdrawal windows apply from your transaction date:

• UK, EU, EEA, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel: 14 calendar days.
  • Note on UK renewals: If you are a resident of the UK and are on an annual subscription, UK law grants you a new 14-day statutory withdrawal window starting the day the subscription auto-renews for another year. This renewal window does not apply to monthly subscriptions.
  • Note on free trials: A Hangout FC Press Pass trial does not start a paid subscription and is not a Paddle checkout trial. Statutory cooling-off or withdrawal windows for a paid membership begin when you first pay — at your first paid checkout — not when the complimentary week starts or ends.
• Canada, South Korea, Brazil, China: 7 calendar days after delivery.
• Singapore: 5 calendar days after delivery or first access.

To exercise these rights, requests must be submitted through your Paddle email receipt, your account billing dashboard, or directly via Paddle's Buyer support site at paddle.net.

We strive to ensure our system runs smoothly. If you experience a persistent technical issue, access bug, or material defect that prevents you from accessing the platform features as described:

1. Mandatory investigation period: You must first contact Hangout FC support by signing in and navigating to Account help to open an "Account or billing help" ticket . You must allow our technical team a reasonable opportunity (up to 3 business days) to investigate, troubleshoot, and resolve the issue before a refund will be considered, except where mandatory local consumer laws dictate otherwise.
2. Paddle escalation: If we are unable to resolve a material defect within a reasonable timeframe, Paddle will issue a refund in accordance with applicable consumer protection laws.
3. Chargebacks and disputes:Please contact our support team or Paddle's support team before raising a chargeback or dispute with your bank. Raising a chargeback bypasses our support systems and will result in the immediate suspension of your account and platform access while the dispute is investigated.

Cancelling your subscription and shifting to a lower, free/basic plan tier function differently under our billing logic:

Note on system rules & refunds

• Frozen top-ups: A downgrade does not freeze anything. The freeze follows creator access: if you cancel, if your subscription is paused, or if it goes past due, your unused Extra Time and any leftover trial Plays are held rather than deleted. They unlock if creator access returns before their original 6-month purchase expiry passes.
• Billing credits: Plan changes take effect straight away, and Paddle settles the money differently in each direction. An upgrade is charged now, for the time left in the period. A downgrade is not paid back now — Paddle applies the credit to your next bill. If a refund is issued for a transaction that previously generated a system or billing credit balance, Paddle will automatically reduce your available credit balance by the corresponding refunded amount.
• Refund access termination: Unlike cancellation, if you receive a refund for a transaction, your access to the relevant tier, Plays, and premium creator features will cease immediately.

For upgrade and full plan-change detail, see our terms of service.

• Extra Time top-ups: Purchases of standalone 25-Play or 100-Play packs are completely non-refundable and expire 6 months from purchase. They require an active creator membership to buy or spend. Refund eligibility for top-up packs follows the same statutory criteria as main transactions, subject to local consumer protection laws.

Approved reversals are processed by Paddle and returned strictly to the original payment instrument used at checkout.

• Credit/debit card refunds: Typically take 3 to 5 business days to be credited back to your account.
• PayPal refunds: Typically appear within 48 hours.

If you are entirely locked out of your account, you can submit your billing inquiry using our public contact form.