سياسة الاسترداد

Whatever fails through us or through a provider is credited back to you automatically, without your having to ask. Whatever was properly delivered is not refundable.

The rest of this page sets out what that means, service by service, and what to do in the cases that fall outside it. Refunds are paid to your ELK Balance, which is the platform's means of payment.

You need do nothing in these situations: the amount returns to your balance, and the operation appears in your history with its reason.

• An SMS the carrier refused or could not deliver.
• A call that did not connect, or the unused portion of a call cut short by a technical incident.
• A number purchase whose activation failed at the carrier.
• An eSIM plan ordered but not delivered by the provider.
• A mobile top-up refused or not credited by the receiving carrier.
• A double charge caused by a technical error on our side.

A number is rented monthly. The current period, already paid for, is not refunded pro rata if you release the number before the due date: the cost is committed to the carrier for the whole month.

Two exceptions, in which you are refunded in full:

• the number never worked — it was not activated, or it receives neither calls nor messages because of a fault attributable to us;
• the number is withdrawn by the carrier or the regulator during a period you have paid for, with no breach on your part. The refund then covers the unused fraction.

Calls are billed on the duration measured by the carrier. A call that does not connect is not billed. If a charge looks wrong to you, write to us: we check the duration with the carrier and correct it where the discrepancy is real.

An SMS actually delivered is not refundable, including one sent to the wrong number: we cannot recall it.

This is the service whose rules surprise people most, because the technology imposes them. An eSIM profile is consumed at the provider the moment it is issued to you: it cannot be returned to stock.

As a result:

• A plan whose profile was never delivered is refunded in full.
• A plan delivered but never installed can be cancelled and refunded if you ask us within seven days of purchase and the provider accepts the cancellation. We always pass the request on; we cannot guarantee the provider's agreement.
• An installed profile is no longer refundable, even if the data has not been used: installation triggers final allocation at the carrier.
• A device incompatibility gives no right to a refund once the profile has been delivered. That is why compatibility is flagged before purchase: check it, it takes thirty seconds.
• Data not used by the plan's expiry is not refunded and does not carry over.
• A lack of coverage in an area where the plan is advertised as available is examined case by case, with the provider.

An ELK Balance top-up is not refundable in cash: the balance is prepaid credit for buying our services, not a deposit.

Two situations are exceptions:

• A payment collected without the balance being credited, or credited twice, is corrected as soon as we see it — and you can report it to us at any time with the payment reference.
• On closure of an account at your request, a remaining balance above the equivalent of ten US dollars can be returned to you, through the same payment method as the original top-up where technically possible, after deduction of the fees actually charged by the provider. Below that threshold the processing fees exceed the amount and the balance is lost; we encourage you to spend it before closing the account.

Cryptocurrency is irreversible: once the transaction is confirmed by the network, nobody — not you, not us, not our provider — can undo it. The rules below follow from that.

• Underpayment — if you send less than the amount requested, your balance is credited with what actually arrived, converted at the displayed collection rate. Nothing is lost and nothing is withheld.
• Overpayment — if you send more, the difference is credited to your balance as well.
• Wrong network or wrong currency — a transaction sent on a network the address does not support is, in most cases, permanently lost. We pass the request to our provider without being able to promise recovery.
• Payment arriving after the invoice expires — the provider tells us and the amount is credited to you at the rate applicable when it is recorded.

A Mobile Money payment collected but not credited is corrected as soon as it is reported to us, with the transaction reference supplied by your operator.

A transfer or a cash deposit is credited after checking by our team. If a deposit matches no identifiable top-up request — missing or wrong reference — we contact you; the funds remain at your disposal and are never kept without reason.

A refund to a Mobile Money account or a bank account is made to the account the payment came from, never to a third-party account.

If a charge results from an error attributable to us — a mispriced item, an operation run twice, a service billed and not delivered — we correct it in full, with no time limit, as soon as the error is established. We tell you about the correction and it appears in your history.

Write to the contact address shown on the Legal notice page, from your account's email address, stating:

• the date and amount of the operation concerned;
• the service concerned — number, call, SMS, eSIM, top-up;
• the reference visible in your history, or the transaction reference from your payment method;
• what you are asking for and why, in a few lines.

• Acknowledgement of receipt: two business days.
• Reasoned answer: fifteen days at most, and usually well before.
• Credit to your ELK Balance where a refund is granted: immediate.
• Payout to an external payment method, where possible: up to ten business days, depending on the provider.
• Where the decision depends on a provider — cancelling an eSIM profile, tracing a crypto transaction — we keep you posted on progress rather than leaving you without news.

• A service properly delivered: a connected call, a delivered SMS, an installed eSIM profile, a rental month already run.
• The unused fraction of a subscription you cancel before its due date.
• eSIM data not used by expiry.
• A purchase made to the wrong recipient — wrong number called, wrong number topped up — where the operation was carried out exactly as requested.
• A balance built from fraudulent top-ups, or an account closed for proven fraud.

If you start a dispute with your bank, your Mobile Money operator or your card issuer, write to us in parallel: we can almost always resolve the situation faster and at no cost to you.

While a dispute is being examined, the account concerned may be suspended and the corresponding funds frozen until the outcome is known. A plainly unfounded dispute may lead to closure of the account.