Overview
This Refund policy explains how Cranesy handles refunds and cancellations for the two paid products we offer: Cranesy Premium memberships (monthly or yearly subscriptions) and Cranesy supporter contributions (one-time or recurring donations).
Cranesy is operated from Romania. As an EU consumer you have a fourteen-day right of withdrawal under the EU Consumer Rights Directive — see "Cooling-off period" below — and your statutory rights are not affected by anything in this policy.
Cooling-off period (first 14 days)
If you are an EU consumer purchasing a Premium membership for the first time, you have fourteen calendar days from the day of purchase to cancel and request a full refund — for any reason or no reason at all.
To exercise the right of withdrawal during this period, send a message via our contact form from the email address linked to your account, with the subject line Withdrawal and your Stripe receipt number. We will refund the full amount paid to the original payment method, typically within five business days; your bank may take longer to credit it back.
The right of withdrawal does not apply where you have already substantially consumed the digital service during the cooling-off period — for example, if you opened more than a handful of Premium-only newsletters or extensively used the archive search. In practice we apply this generously: light use does not affect your refund.
Cancellation (after the cooling-off period)
You may cancel any Cranesy Premium subscription at any time from the account dashboard (Stripe Customer Portal). Cancellation stops future billing — your access continues until the end of the period you have already paid for.
We do not pro-rate or refund the unused portion of an already-paid subscription period after the fourteen-day cooling-off period has passed. For yearly subscribers this is something to keep in mind: cancelling in month four does not produce a refund for the remaining eight months, but you keep access until the renewal date.
Recurring monthly contributions to support Cranesy can be cancelled the same way: any future charge stops, but the most recent month is not refunded.
One-time supporter contributions
One-time supporter payments (the €5 / €15 / €50 buttons on the Support page) are donations to keep Cranesy running. As a rule we do not refund a donation once it has been processed.
That said, if you contributed by mistake (wrong amount, accidentally clicked the button, double-charged) — send a message via our contact form within thirty days of the charge with your Stripe receipt number, and we will refund it without quibbling.
Failed renewals and reactivation
If a recurring charge fails — for example, your card has expired or been replaced — Stripe automatically retries for up to one week. During that grace period your Premium access remains active. You will receive an email from Stripe asking you to update the payment method.
If the payment is not recovered within the retry window, the subscription is cancelled by Stripe and Premium access ends. To reactivate, sign in to your account and start a new subscription.
Fraudulent or unauthorised charges
If you see a Cranesy charge on a card you don't recognise, contact your card issuer to dispute it (a chargeback) and send a message via our contact form so we can reverse the charge directly without a chargeback fee. We never argue with a clear-cut fraud claim.
Repeated chargebacks on subscriptions where service was rendered may be challenged with Stripe and your card issuer, and we may decline to provide service to accounts with a chargeback history.
EU VAT and refunds
Where Cranesy charges EU VAT under the OSS scheme on a digital subscription, refunds include the VAT amount paid. The refunded VAT is reported back to the relevant tax authority by Stripe.
How to request a refund
The fastest path is to send a message via our contact form from the email address on your account, including:
- your full name as on the card;
- the Stripe receipt number (format
ch_…orin_…); - the date and amount of the charge;
- the reason for the request, if you wish to share one.
We acknowledge every request within one business day and process eligible refunds within five business days. Funds typically reach your bank account within five to ten business days from the refund date, depending on your card issuer.
Contact and complaints
If you are not satisfied with how a refund request was handled, send a message via our contact form with the subject line Complaint and we will escalate it. EU consumers may also use the European Online Dispute Resolution platform.