Refund and Cancellation Policy

Our Approach to Refunds and Cancellations

Communities OS is a flat-rate private community platform built specifically for churches, nonprofits, professional associations, alumni organizations, and mission-driven businesses across the United States. We charge three straightforward subscription plans — Foundation at $97 per month, Growth at $297 per month, and Authority at $497 per month — with no per-member fees, no hidden charges, and no long-term contracts on monthly billing.

Our refund and cancellation policy reflects this straightforward approach:

• Monthly subscriptions cancel anytime with no fees or penalties — you keep access through the end of the paid billing period
• Annual subscriptions cancel anytime to stop automatic renewal — you keep access through the end of the paid annual term — annual fees are non-refundable
• Done-for-you services are non-refundable once work has commenced — see Section 4 for full details
• Billing disputes are handled directly and fairly — contact us within 30 days of any disputed charge

We do not make it difficult to cancel. We do not impose exit penalties on your subscription. Your data is always yours to export at any time — before, during, or after cancellation.

Subscription Cancellation — How It Works

2.1 — Monthly Subscription Cancellation

You can cancel your monthly Communities OS subscription at any time.

When you cancel a monthly subscription:

• Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period
• You retain full access to the Service through the end of your paid billing period
• No additional charges are made after cancellation
• No cancellation fees or exit penalties are charged
• Your subscription does not automatically renew after the cancellation date

Example: If your monthly subscription renews on the 15th of each month and you cancel on the 8th, you retain full access through the 14th — the end of your current billing period. No charge is made on the 15th.

2.2 — Annual Subscription Cancellation

You can cancel your annual Communities OS subscription at any time.

When you cancel an annual subscription:

• Cancellation prevents automatic renewal at your next annual renewal date
• You retain full access to the Service through the end of your paid annual term
• Annual subscription fees are non-refundable — including unused months remaining in the annual term
• No cancellation fees or exit penalties are charged beyond the non-refundable annual fee already paid

Example: If you purchased an annual subscription and cancel after 4 months, you retain full access for the remaining 8 months of your annual term. No refund is issued for the remaining months. No additional charge is made at your annual renewal date.

Why annual fees are non-refundable: Annual subscribers receive a significant discount — equivalent to two months free — in exchange for an annual commitment. This discount is applied at the time of purchase and cannot be reversed on cancellation.

2.3 — How to Cancel

To cancel your Communities OS subscription, contact us through any of the following channels:

We process all cancellation requests within one business day of receipt and send a cancellation confirmation to the email address associated with your account.

2.4 — What Happens to Your Data After Cancellation

Your community data belongs to your organization — not to Communities OS. After cancellation:

• You retain full access to your community and all data through the end of your paid access period
• You can export your complete community data — member lists, content, course materials, channels, analytics, and configuration — at any time through your admin dashboard
• Communities OS does not impose data export fees, data withholding practices, or exit penalties on your organizational data
• After your paid access period ends, your community data is retained for a reasonable period to allow for account reactivation or dispute resolution — after which it is deleted in accordance with the Communities OS Privacy Policy at communitiesos.app/privacy-policy

We strongly recommend exporting your community data before your paid access period ends if you do not plan to reactivate your account.

2.5 — Reactivating a Cancelled Account

If you cancel your Communities OS subscription and later want to reactivate, contact us at [email protected] or (855) 599-0659. Reactivation is subject to data availability — if your community data has been deleted following the post-cancellation retention period, it may not be recoverable. Contact us promptly if you wish to reactivate.

Subscription Refund Policy

3.1 — General Position

Communities OS subscription fees are non-refundable except in the specific circumstances described in this section.

This means:

• We do not provide refunds for partial months of access on monthly subscriptions
• We do not provide refunds for unused months on annual subscriptions
• We do not provide refunds for plan downgrades mid-billing-period
• We do not provide refunds if you decide you no longer need the platform after your billing period has started

This is consistent with standard practice for SaaS platforms — your subscription fee purchases access to the platform for the entire billing period, regardless of how much of that period you actively use the platform.

3.2 — Exceptions — When Refunds Are Considered

While our general position is that subscription fees are non-refundable, Communities OS will consider refund requests in the following specific circumstances:

Duplicate Charges

If you were charged twice for the same subscription period due to a technical error, contact us within 30 days at [email protected]. We will investigate and issue a refund for the duplicate charge if confirmed.

Unauthorized Charges

If a charge was made to your payment method without your authorization, contact us within 30 days at [email protected]. We will investigate and issue a refund if the charge is confirmed as unauthorized.

Material Service Failure

If the Communities OS platform was completely inaccessible to your organization for an extended, uninterrupted period due to a failure on our part — and we were unable to restore access within a reasonable timeframe — contact us to discuss appropriate remediation. This exception applies only to extended platform outages caused by Communities OS and does not apply to brief interruptions, scheduled maintenance, or outages caused by third-party infrastructure failures.

Legal Requirements

In jurisdictions where applicable consumer protection law requires a refund right that cannot be waived by contract, Communities OS will honor those rights. Contact us at [email protected] to discuss jurisdiction-specific refund rights.

3.3 — Free Demo — No Billing Obligation

The Communities OS free demo community at communitiesos.app/demo creates no billing obligation and no subscription commitment. No credit card is required to access the demo. Demo access cannot result in an accidental charge. If you receive an unexpected charge you believe is related to demo access, contact us immediately at [email protected] — this would represent a billing error that we will resolve promptly.

Done-For-You Services — Refund Policy

4.1 — Overview of Done-For-You Services

Communities OS offers five one-time done-for-you professional services — community setup and build, automation architecture, course creation and content structuring, white label branding, and monetization build — described in detail at communitiesos.app/services. All done-for-you services are charged as one-time fees, not recurring subscriptions.

4.2 — Non-Refundable Once Work Commences

Done-for-you services are non-refundable once work has commenced.

Work is considered to have commenced when Communities OS has:

• Received and acknowledged your service intake form or project brief
• Begun any configuration, build, content structuring, or setup work on your behalf
• Assigned a team member to your project

This non-refundable position reflects the nature of professional service work — our team invests time, expertise, and resources into your project from the moment work begins, and that investment cannot be reversed once committed.

4.3 — Before Work Commences

If you purchase a done-for-you service and need to cancel before work has commenced, contact us immediately at [email protected] or (855) 599-0659. Cancellation requests received before work commences are handled on a case-by-case basis. Contact us as soon as possible — the sooner you contact us, the more likely we are to accommodate a pre-commencement cancellation.

4.4 — Scope and Deliverable Disputes

If you believe a done-for-you service deliverable does not match the agreed-upon scope — as documented in your service intake form or written project brief — contact us within 14 days of deliverable receipt at [email protected]. We will review the agreed scope and work with you to resolve any legitimate scope discrepancy.

Scope disputes are not grounds for a full refund unless Communities OS is unable to deliver the agreed scope entirely. Scope disputes are grounds for revision work to bring the deliverable into alignment with the agreed scope.

4.5 — Service Delivery Timelines

Done-for-you service delivery timelines — community setup in 24 to 48 hours, automation architecture in 3 to 5 business days, course creation in 5 to 7 business days — are estimates based on standard project complexity and timely receipt of required materials from your organization. Delivery delays caused by late intake form submission, delayed asset delivery, or scope changes requested by your organization do not constitute grounds for a refund.

Billing Disputes — How We Handle Them

5.1 — Contact Us First

If you have a question about a charge on your statement from Communities OS, contact us directly before initiating a chargeback or dispute through your bank or credit card company:

We respond to all billing inquiries within one business day. Most billing questions are resolved in the first exchange without requiring formal dispute proceedings.

5.2 — Dispute Window

Contact us within 30 days of any charge you believe was made in error. After 30 days, Communities OS may not be able to investigate or remedy billing issues that were not reported promptly.

5.3 — Chargeback Policy

We ask that you contact us directly before initiating a chargeback through your bank or credit card company. Initiating a chargeback without first contacting Communities OS:

• Delays resolution — a direct billing inquiry with Communities OS is typically resolved within one business day, while a chargeback process through your bank may take 30 to 90 days
• May result in suspension of your Communities OS account during the dispute investigation period
• May result in permanent account closure if the chargeback is found to be unwarranted

If you have already initiated a chargeback and want to resolve the matter directly, contact us at [email protected] and we will work with you to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

5.4 — Stripe Payment Disputes

All Communities OS payments are processed through Stripe. If a billing issue cannot be resolved directly with Communities OS, you may also contact Stripe directly. However, we strongly encourage you to contact Communities OS first — we are better positioned to resolve billing questions quickly and accurately than a payment processor investigating from a distance.

Plan Upgrades and Downgrades

6.1 — Upgrades

You may upgrade your Communities OS subscription plan at any time. Upgrades take effect immediately. You will be charged a prorated amount for the upgrade for the remainder of your current billing period — meaning you pay only for the additional value from the upgrade date through the end of the billing period, not for the full period.

6.2 — Downgrades

You may downgrade your Communities OS subscription plan at any time. Downgrades take effect at the start of your next billing period. No refund is issued for the difference in plan pricing for the current billing period — you retain access to your current plan's features through the end of the current billing period.

Important note on downgrades: Downgrading from a higher-tier plan to a lower-tier plan may result in loss of access to features available only on the higher-tier plan — including white label branding and custom domain on Authority, and automation and native courses on Growth. It is your responsibility to export or migrate any content or configuration associated with features that will no longer be available after a downgrade takes effect.

Annual Billing — What You Need to Know

7.1 — Annual Billing Savings

Annual subscriptions are billed at a discounted rate equivalent to 10 months of the monthly price — providing two months of access at no additional charge. This discount is applied at the time of purchase.

7.2 — Annual Renewal Reminder

Communities OS will send a renewal reminder to the email address associated with your account before your annual subscription renewal date. If you do not wish to renew for another annual term, cancel your subscription before the renewal date using the cancellation process described in Section 2.3.

7.3 — Annual to Monthly Switch

If you wish to switch from annual billing to monthly billing, contact us at [email protected] before your annual renewal date. We will configure your account to renew on a monthly basis at the start of your next billing period. No refund is issued for the remaining portion of your current annual term — you retain access through the end of your paid annual period.

What This Policy Does Not Cover

This Refund and Cancellation Policy applies specifically to Communities OS subscription plans and done-for-you services purchased directly through communitiesos.app.

This policy does not cover:

Third-Party Payment Processing Fees

Stripe processing fees are charged by Stripe — not by Communities OS — and are not refundable by Communities OS. Any payment processing fee disputes should be directed to Stripe at stripe.com/contact.

Third-Party Integration Costs

Any costs associated with third-party tools, integrations, or services connected to your Communities OS community are governed by those third parties' own refund and cancellation policies — not by this policy.

Domain Registration Costs

If you purchased a custom domain for white label configuration through a third-party domain registrar, those domain registration fees are governed by the registrar's own policies — not by Communities OS.

Losses From Community Operations

Communities OS is not responsible for any revenue, member, or organizational losses resulting from community downtime, feature changes, or account suspension.

Questions About Billing, Refunds, or Cancellations?

We are here to help. Contact the Communities OS team for any question about your subscription, billing, cancellation, or done-for-you service:

Our commitment: We respond to every billing inquiry within one business day. We treat every billing question — no matter how small — with the same seriousness and respect we bring to every organizational relationship. We built Communities OS for mission-driven organizations and we handle billing questions the same way — with straightforward, honest answers and a genuine commitment to resolving issues fairly.