Refund and Cancellation Policy
What happens if an engagement is postponed, cut short, or cancelled — by you or by us.
1. Scope of this policy
This policy explains how cancellation, rescheduling, and refunds are generally handled. It applies to professional services engagements, which are booked as reserved capacity rather than sold as products.
The specific terms for your engagement are those in your signed engagement documents. Where they differ from this page, they prevail.
2. Why reserved capacity matters
We are a small team and we schedule a limited number of engagements at a time. When we accept your engagement for particular dates, we hold that capacity for you and decline other work for the same period. A late cancellation therefore has a real cost that cannot be recovered by filling the slot at short notice.
That is the reasoning behind the notice periods below. They are not a penalty; they reflect capacity that has already been committed.
3. Cancellation by you before testing begins
Notice is measured in working days before the agreed start date, and must be given in writing.
| Notice given | Position |
|---|---|
| More than 15 working days | No cancellation charge. Any advance payment is refunded in full, less any preparatory work already performed and agreed as chargeable. |
| 6 to 15 working days | A cancellation charge of up to 50% of the engagement fee may apply, reflecting capacity that can no longer be reallocated. |
| 5 working days or fewer | A cancellation charge of up to 100% of the engagement fee may apply, as the reserved capacity cannot realistically be filled. |
We would always rather reschedule than charge for a cancellation. Where we can move your engagement to another slot without displacing other work, we will do so without a cancellation charge.
4. Rescheduling
A single reschedule requested more than five working days before the start date is normally accommodated at no charge, subject to availability. Later or repeated rescheduling may attract a charge, because at that point the capacity has usually been lost.
If your environment is not ready when testing is due to begin — access not provisioned, test accounts unavailable, a release not yet deployed — tell us as soon as you know. Discovering it on day one is the most expensive outcome for both of us.
5. Cancellation or termination once testing has begun
If you terminate an engagement after testing has started, fees are payable for work performed up to the point of termination, and for any irrecoverable committed costs.
You will receive whatever we have produced by that point, including any findings already identified, with the limitations of an incomplete assessment stated plainly. A partial assessment must not be presented as a completed one.
6. Cancellation by us
We may suspend or terminate an engagement if authorization is withdrawn, if it becomes apparent that authorization was not validly given, if we are asked to act outside the agreed scope or rules of engagement, if we are asked to act unlawfully, or if continuing would present an unacceptable risk to you or to a third party.
Where we cancel for our own reasons — capacity, illness, or a conflict of interest we identify — you are refunded in full for work not performed, and we will help you find an alternative provider if you would like us to.
Where an engagement is terminated because authorization was invalid or because we were asked to exceed agreed boundaries, fees for work performed remain payable.
7. Retainers
Retainers run for a minimum term stated in the engagement documents, and after that term either party may end the arrangement with the agreed notice, normally 30 days in writing.
Retainer fees pay for reserved availability as well as work performed. Unused capacity in a period is not automatically refunded and does not automatically roll forward, unless the engagement documents say so.
8. Success-based engagements
Under a success-based engagement, the testing fee becomes payable only if the agreed security objective is demonstrated within the agreed scope and timeframe. If it is not, no testing fee is due and there is nothing to refund.
Any preparatory or scoping fee, if one applies, is stated in the proposal before you commit. Where the objective is met and the fee becomes payable, that fee is not refundable on the basis that you would have preferred a different result.
9. Deliverables already provided
We do not offer refunds on delivered reports on the grounds that fewer findings were identified than expected, or that findings were less severe than anticipated. The work is the assessment, and a clean result is a legitimate outcome of it.
If you believe a deliverable does not reflect the agreed scope, or that our work fell below the standard of reasonable skill and care, raise it with us. Our first response will be to re-examine the work rather than to argue about it.
10. Refund processing
Approved refunds are issued to the original payment method within 14 days of agreement. Bank charges and currency movements are outside our control and are not reimbursed.
11. Concerns and disputes
If you are dissatisfied, write to info@cybercache.cc setting out the issue. We will acknowledge it promptly and aim to respond substantively within ten working days. We would much rather resolve a concern directly than have it escalate.
12. Changes
We may update this policy. The version in force when your engagement documents are signed applies to that engagement.