Refund and cancellation policy

When you give to Vedicology Foundation, your gift is acknowledged straight away with an 80G donation receipt. It is generated and emailed to you for your tax records. Because that receipt is issued at the point of payment, a completed donation is treated as final. We are a registered Section 8 non-profit, and the money you give is put to work for a young woman's education. So once a gift is made and receipted, it is not ordinarily refundable.

This is also why we cannot refund a donation if you simply change your mind after giving. Nor can we refund one because you would like to redirect a completed gift to a different purpose. A donation is a gift, freely made.

We will review your case and, where the facts support it, refund a donation in any of these situations:

• A duplicate or repeated chargeYou were charged more than once for the same donation.
• A wrong amount entered by mistakeThe amount that went through was not the amount you meant to give.
• An unauthorised or fraudulent transactionThe donation was made without your permission. We will ask for supporting details, such as a bank or complaint reference.
• A technical or payment-gateway errorFor example, an amount was debited but the donation did not complete correctly.

If your case is one of these, please notify us within 7 days of the transaction. We will acknowledge your request and review it against our records.

This part matters, so we have kept it plain. An 80G receipt is what a donor uses to claim a tax deduction. You cannot both receive a refund and keep a valid receipt for the same donation. Indian tax rules do not allow it, and nor do we.

So whenever we approve a refund, the 80G receipt for that donation is cancelled. It can no longer be used to claim any tax deduction. If you have already saved or filed it, you must not use it. This is also reflected in the payment provider's own terms. A donation that is later reversed or refunded no longer carries a valid receipt.

To request a refund, please write to us within 7 days of the transaction. Refund requests must be submitted in writing, so that both you and the Foundation hold a clear record of the request.

We may request further information or documentation before reaching a decision.

Once we approve a refund, it is returned to the same method you paid with, wherever that is possible. We aim to process approved refunds within 7 to 10 working days. The final credit can depend on your bank, card network, or the payment provider.

For a duplicate charge, a wrong amount, an unauthorised transaction, or a technical error, we do not deduct any fee. You receive the full amount back. In other, exceptional cases that we agree to refund at our discretion, a payment-gateway charge may not be recoverable. We will tell you clearly if that applies before we proceed.

If you have set up a recurring donation, you may cancel future payments at any time before the next scheduled date. Please write to us, and we will cancel the mandate so that no further amount is taken.

Cancelling a recurring donation stops future payments only. Donations that have already been processed remain subject to this policy. They are refundable only in the cases set out above.

Every refund decision is made after reviewing the facts and our records, and in accordance with the tax and accounting obligations that apply to a registered non-profit. Where a refund is due under this policy, we will process it. Where it is not, we will explain the reason.