Refund & Dispute Policy

1. Purpose of this policy

This Refund & Dispute Policy explains how refunds, lead disputes, credit reversals, and lead-quality complaints work on QuoteLink.

QuoteLink is a lead marketplace. Professionals pay for access to customer lead information. They do not pay for a guaranteed job, appointment, sale, quote acceptance, or customer response.

2. What professionals are buying

When a professional buys a lead, the professional is buying access to customer request information. A purchased lead may include the service category, job description, location, timing, budget indicator, and customer contact details.

3. Refund method

Unless required by law or expressly approved by QuoteLink in writing, approved refunds are issued as QuoteLink credits only.

Credits returned after an approved dispute may be used to buy future leads on QuoteLink.

4. Dispute window

A professional must submit a dispute within 7 calendar days after purchasing a standard lead. QuoteLink may allow up to 14 calendar days for selected high-value categories or exceptional cases.

QuoteLink may reject late disputes unless there is a clear technical, fraud, or platform error.

5. Valid dispute reasons

QuoteLink may approve a dispute where the professional provides reasonable evidence and QuoteLink confirms that the lead was clearly defective.

• Invalid phone number and invalid email address.
• Customer confirms that they did not submit the request.
• Duplicate lead already bought by the same professional.
• Clearly fake, abusive, spam, fraudulent, or bot-generated request.
• Lead was materially placed in the wrong category.
• Lead was materially outside the advertised location or service area.
• Request is unlawful, unsafe, or clearly not a genuine service request.

6. Invalid dispute reasons

A dispute will usually not be approved where the lead was genuine and the issue is part of normal sales risk.

• The customer does not answer.
• The customer chooses another professional.
• The customer rejects the professional's price.
• The customer changes their mind.
• The customer is only shopping around.
• The job is smaller than expected.
• The professional responded too late.
• The professional bought a lead outside their service area or skill set.

7. Evidence required

A professional must provide enough evidence for QuoteLink to assess the dispute fairly.

• Screenshot of failed WhatsApp, SMS, or email delivery.
• Call log showing reasonable contact attempts.
• Customer message confirming the issue.
• Proof that the location or category was materially incorrect.
• Proof that the request is fake, spam, abusive, or duplicate.

Professionals must not upload unnecessary sensitive personal information such as ID documents, banking details, passwords, private security codes, or confidential customer information unless specifically requested and legally appropriate.

8. Minimum contact attempt rule

Before submitting a dispute based on customer non-contactability, the professional should make reasonable contact attempts, including at least two calls at different times and at least one WhatsApp, SMS, or email where those contact methods are available.

This rule does not apply where the number is clearly invalid, the email bounces immediately, or the lead is obviously fake.

9. How to submit a dispute

Professionals should submit disputes from the Professional Dashboard by opening the purchased lead and selecting Request Review.

The dispute form may require the lead ID, dispute reason, short explanation, contact attempts, evidence, and confirmation that the dispute is submitted in good faith.

10. Review process

QuoteLink may review the original customer request, customer contact details, platform logs, duplicate detection results, AI-assisted lead quality indicators, professional contact attempts, uploaded evidence, customer feedback, and professional dispute history.

QuoteLink may contact the customer or professional for more information.

11. Possible outcomes

12. Cash refunds

Cash refunds are not the standard remedy for lead disputes. QuoteLink may consider a cash refund where required by law, where a duplicate payment occurred, where credits were not allocated after payment, where a technical billing error occurred, or where QuoteLink approves a cash refund in writing.

13. Chargebacks and payment reversals

If a professional starts a chargeback, bank reversal, PayFast dispute or payment-provider complaint without first using QuoteLink's dispute process, QuoteLink may suspend the account while the matter is investigated.

QuoteLink may reverse credits, restrict lead access, or recover amounts where a payment is reversed after credits or leads were used.

14. Abuse prevention

QuoteLink may limit, reject, or manually review disputes where a professional disputes an unusually high percentage of leads, submits false evidence, repeatedly disputes valid leads, buys unsuitable leads, harasses customers, misuses customer information, or attempts to bypass platform rules.

15. AI-assisted dispute review

QuoteLink may use automated tools, including AI-assisted systems, to help identify duplicate leads, spam, lead-quality problems, contactability issues, suspicious behaviour, and dispute patterns.

AI-assisted outputs are support tools and may be wrong. Professionals may contact QuoteLink if they believe a dispute decision is incorrect.

16. Personal information in disputes

Dispute evidence may include personal information. Professionals must only submit information that is relevant to the dispute. QuoteLink processes dispute evidence according to its Privacy Policy.

17. Final decision

QuoteLink will make a reasonable decision based on available evidence, platform data, customer information, professional information, and marketplace rules.

QuoteLink may reopen a dispute where new material evidence becomes available, where QuoteLink agrees to reconsider the matter, or where the law requires a different process or remedy.