Refund & Cancellation Policy

This Policy explains how cancellations, refunds, and no-shows are handled on the ChaloSaath Platform. Because ChaloSaath is an intermediary between travelers and independent vendors / trip managers, each listing, trip, rental, or hire carries its own cancellation rules set by the vendor. Those vendor rules apply in addition to the baseline rules below.

1. Booking Lifecycle

• Pending approval — you've raised a request; no payment has been captured yet.
• Awaiting payment — the booking is waiting for you to complete payment via Razorpay.
• Confirmed / Reserved — payment received and booking finalised.
• Cancelled — by the traveler, by the vendor, or by ChaloSaath.
• Refunded / Partially refunded — money returned to the original payment method.

2. Cancellation Policy (Pay Now bookings)

For Pay Now bookings, refunds are calculated against the time remaining until the booking start date:

• ≥48 hours before start — 100% refund minus the platform booking fee (₹20 or 2%, whichever is higher).
• 24 to 48 hours before start — 70% refund.
• Less than 24 hours before start — 50% refund.
• After the booking has started or ended — no refund.

The Platform Booking Fee covers verified vendor access, customer support, dispute handling and refund operations. It is non-refundable on customer-initiated cancellations.

3. Cancellation Policy (Pay Later bookings)

Pay Later bookings carry a small Reservation Fee (10% of the base amount, minimum ₹49) that secures your slot with the vendor. The Reservation Fee is non-refundable on cancellation — that is the entire purpose of the fee. The remainder of the booking is settled directly with the vendor on arrival, so nothing else is deducted from your card.

4. Cancellation by the Vendor or Trip Manager

• If a vendor or trip manager cancels a confirmed booking, you are entitled to a full refund of any amount paid through ChaloSaath, including platform / reservation fees.
• Where possible, ChaloSaath will assist you in finding a comparable alternative, but we are not obliged to substitute the service.
• Vendor cancellation requests for confirmed bookings are routed through ChaloSaath admin review to protect customers from arbitrary cancellations.

5. Cancellation by ChaloSaath

We may cancel a booking if we detect fraud, failed payment verification, a safety concern, a vendor licence / insurance issue, or a breach of our Terms or Community Guidelines. If we cancel through no fault of yours, you will receive a full refund of all amounts paid to ChaloSaath.

6. No-Shows

• Traveler no-show: no refund is payable; the full booking amount is treated as consumed.
• Vendor / trip manager no-show: full refund, and we will take appropriate action against the vendor under our Community Guidelines.

7. Refund Processing

• Refunds are processed via Razorpay back to the original payment method (card / UPI / netbanking) used for the booking. The Razorpay Refund ID is logged in your booking history.
• Refunds are initiated immediately on cancellation and credited within 5-7 working days, depending on your bank's processing speed.
• If a refund is delayed beyond 10 working days, write to support@chalosaath.in with your booking ID and Razorpay Refund ID.

8. Force Majeure

If a booking cannot be delivered due to events beyond reasonable control — natural calamities, civil unrest, pandemic restrictions, extreme weather, government orders, transport shutdowns, or similar — ChaloSaath and the vendor will attempt to reschedule the booking. If rescheduling is not possible, we will process a fair refund after deducting any non-recoverable costs incurred by the vendor.

9. AI Trip Planner

The AI Trip Planner is a free, pre-booking assistive tool and does not itself generate any payment. No charges, reservation tokens, or platform fees apply to plan generation. If a plan you created leads to a booking with a vendor or trip manager, the cancellation and refund rules of that specific booking apply. ChaloSaath is not liable for any loss arising solely from acting on AI-generated suggestions.

10. Rentals-Specific Rules

• Security deposits are held by the rental vendor and refunded directly by them after vehicle return and damage check.
• Late-return fees, fuel shortfalls, traffic fines, and damage charges are the traveler's responsibility and are not refundable.

11. Group Trip Rules

• Group trips may have a minimum-participant threshold. If a trip is cancelled for not meeting the threshold, full refund is given.
• Once the trip is confirmed and paid, the organiser's cancellation window applies.

12. Contact for Refund Issues

For refund questions, include your booking ID and write to support@chalosaath.in. Vendors can reach vendors@chalosaath.in.