Refund & Deposit Policy

Version: 1.0 (pending final legal review before public launch)
Effective Date: 2026-07-22
Last Updated: 2026-07-22
Operator: Vallabh Sakhare, trading as ScatterBrain (“we”, “us”)
Contact: support@pipchat.in

This policy governs the date bond (deposit) you commit when you post or apply to a date, and how it is returned or forfeited. It is read together with the Payment Terms (which govern Date Credits and plan passes), the Terms of Service (§47), and the Safety Guidelines. The operative rules are enforced in code and the same wording is shown before every hold; this document is that wording, expanded. Independent legal review recommended before public launch.
Amounts stated here are current defaults and are configurable by the operator; the exact amount for your date is always shown to you before you commit.

1. What the bond is and why it exists

When you post a date invitation or apply to one, Dinner Date holds a small refundable bond (“deposit”). Its only purpose is to discourage no-shows and abuse and to make commitments meaningful. It is not a fee, a payment to the other person, or a charge for using the app, and it is not intended as a penalty. In the ordinary case — you show up, or the date simply doesn’t happen — you get it back in full.

What the bond is not. The bond is a deterrent and a fixed, limited remedy that operates only by the rules in this policy. It is not compensation or damages, not a genuine pre-estimate of anyone’s loss, not insurance or an indemnity, and not a guarantee that the other person will turn up or honour anything they agreed. It is not a fund from which Dinner Date will settle a bill, a claim, or a dispute between users.

The terms of a date — venue, time, bill split, stated intent, dealbreakers, and attendance — are an agreement between the two users. Dinner Date is not a party to it, cannot compel anyone to perform it, and is not liable if they don’t. An unpaid share of a bill, or any other cost or loss arising between users, is a private matter for them to settle; the bond does not cover it and neither do we. See Terms of Service §§74.6–74.8 and the Safety Guidelines §6a.

Whether a bond is returned or a fee applies is decided solely by the rules below. It is not an assessment by Dinner Date of who was at fault, of whether anyone told the truth, or of the merits of any dispute between users.

2. How the bond is held: Date Credits

The bond is held from your Date Credits balance. Date Credits are a closed-loop in-app unit you buy through Apple/Google in-app purchase (see the Payment Terms). Key points:

Holding a bond is not a charge. The credits move from your balance into a held state. They return

to your balance in full when the date resolves in your favour.

A refund of a bond is an instant credit-balance restore — it is a movement inside the app, not a

money refund, and it is normally immediate.

Date Credits themselves are non-refundable as money. Getting a bond back means the credits return to

your balance for reuse in the app; it does not convert them to cash. Any refund of the purchase of credits is handled by Apple/Google under their policies — see the Payment Terms.

Where a market instead uses the optional real-money gateway (Razorpay), a bond is captured and a refund

is returned to your original payment method, which can take a few working days to appear.

Current bond amounts (defaults, in credits; 1 credit is pegged to ₹1):

Applying to a date: 200 / 200 / 320 / 400 credits, by the venue’s price tier.
Posting a date: an amount you choose within 200–2000 credits.
Flat no-show fee: 200 credits (equal to the minimum bond).

3. When your bond is returned in full

Your bond is returned in full (credited straight back to your balance) in each of these cases:

Your date checked in and you didn’t — but they never reported you as a no-show within 24 hours.
Neither of you checked in. Your bond is returned within 24 hours, or as soon as either of you ends

the date, whichever comes first.

Neither of you checked in and they still reported you as a no-show — someone who didn’t attend can’t

charge you a fee.

You cancelled before the cancellation window for that date closed.
Your date cancelled — whenever they cancelled, and whatever it may have cost them. You did nothing

wrong, so you’re refunded in full.

We cancelled the date because the venue closed, changed its hours, or was reported unsafe.

Verified check-in also releases your own bond immediately.

4. When a fee applies (partial forfeiture)

A fee is taken from your bond in only two situations:

1. Confirmed no-show. Your date checked in, you didn’t, and they reported you as a no-show within 24 hours of the date. A no-show fee is charged only when the person reporting it actually checked in themselves — a no-show cannot bill another no-show just by reporting first. 2. Late cancellation. You cancelled after the cancellation window for that date had already closed.

In both cases the fee is a flat amount (currently 200 credits), not your whole bond — the remainder is always returned to your balance automatically. Cancelling honestly never costs more than silently failing to show up, and the other person is always refunded in full because they did nothing wrong.

5. The cancellation window

Every date has a cancellation window, set by the host and binding on both sides equally. It is fixed when the date is confirmed and is not changed afterwards by later profile edits. It is one of:

Anytime — you can cancel free at any time before the date.
A number of hours before the date (default: 3 hours). Cancelling at or before that point is free;

cancelling after it is a late cancellation (see §4). The boundary is inclusive — exactly 3 hours before is still free.

None — cancellation of a confirmed date is not available; if you don’t attend, the no-show rules in

§4 decide the outcome.

The window that applies to your date is shown to you before you commit.

6. How and when refunds happen

Credit bonds: returned to your Date Credits balance automatically, normally immediately, on the

resolution events above. No action is needed.

Money bonds (where the Razorpay gateway is used): refunded to your original payment method;

processing time depends on your bank/provider and can take a few working days.

You do not need to request a bond refund that this policy says is automatic. If you believe a bond was

settled incorrectly, contact support@pipchat.in with your date details.

7. Purchases of Date Credits and plan passes

This policy covers bonds. The purchase of Date Credits and of Plus/Pro plan passes is covered by the Payment Terms. In short: purchased Date Credits are non-refundable by Dinner Date and any refund runs through Apple/Google; plan passes are 30-day, non-renewing, with a limited 24-hour refund window for credit-purchased passes and store-side refunds for Google Play purchases. Your statutory consumer rights are not affected.

8. Disputes and consumer rights

Nothing in this policy limits mandatory consumer-protection rights you have under Applicable Law (including, in India, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019). If you think a settlement was wrong, raise it at support@pipchat.in; we will review it in good faith. Manipulating attendance verification or falsely reporting a no-show is a violation of the Community Guidelines and may lead to enforcement in addition to reversal of any wrongly-applied fee.

9. Changes

We may adjust bond amounts, fees, and windows, and will show the current values before you commit to any bond. Material changes are notified where required by Applicable Law.