Refund and cancellation policy

This policy explains how paid Tideward plans are billed, how to change or cancel a plan, what happens when a payment fails, when we give refunds and how we pay them. It also explains the right of seafarers who buy a plan as consumers to withdraw within 14 days, and it ends with the model withdrawal form.

1. About this policy

1.1 Who we are

Tideward is provided by Rogue Star Marine Software Ltd, trading as RSM Software (company HE496769, registered office Pavlou Aggelinide 21, 3110 Limassol, Cyprus), referred to here as we, us and our. Full company details are on the Legal page.

1.2 How this policy fits with the Terms

This policy forms part of our Terms of Service (the Terms). Words defined in the Terms have the same meaning here. On payments, plan changes, cancellation and refunds, this policy gives the detail.

1.3 Words we use

• Plan: a subscription to Tideward for one tenant, as offered on the Pricing page.
• Company plan: a Plan for a manning agency, maritime operator, port agent or fleet owner tenant.
• Seafarer plan: a paid Plan for a seafarer's own tenant, such as Seafarer Pro.
• Free plan: a Plan with a price of zero.
• Billing period: one month of a paid Plan. It runs from the day of the month your subscription started to the same day of the next month (for example, 12 March to 12 April).
• Paid-through date: the date and time up to which your Plan has been paid. It is shown on the Account page of your portal.
• Billing portal: the page hosted by our payment provider, Stripe, where you manage your card, see your invoices and cancel your subscription. You open it with Manage billing on the Account page of your portal.
• Consumer: an individual who buys for purposes outside their trade, business, craft or profession.

1.4 Signed agreements

If your organisation has signed an order form or a master services agreement with us, its payment and refund terms prevail over this policy where the two differ. A Plan that we grant to a tenant directly, rather than one bought through checkout, follows whatever we agreed with that tenant.

2. The short version

• You can cancel at any time. Your Plan stays active until the paid-through date, and we do not refund part of a month.
• An upgrade takes effect straight away and is charged at once for the rest of the Billing period, pro rata.
• A downgrade takes effect at the paid-through date. There is no refund or credit for the difference.
• A seafarer who buys a Seafarer plan as a consumer can withdraw within 14 days. If they asked for the service to start straight away, we refund what they paid less the value of the days they have already had.
• If we charge you in error, we refund it.
• Free plans cost nothing and need no card.
• Your consumer rights under the law of the country where you live are not affected (section 11).

3. How billing works

3.1 Monthly billing in euro

Paid Plans are billed monthly in advance, in euro (EUR). You pay through Stripe's hosted checkout, and your subscription renews automatically at the start of each Billing period until you cancel it or change it. Your card is charged by Stripe; we do not receive or store your full card number.

3.2 Free plans

Where a tenant type has a Free plan, you choose it through the same checkout at a price of zero. No card is collected and nothing is charged.

3.3 The price you pay

The price you pay is the price shown at checkout. The price of Seafarer Pro depends on rank: the price for the rank on your profile is the one shown before you pay.

3.4 VAT and other taxes

• VAT and other taxes are calculated and charged at checkout by Stripe, our payment provider, where we are registered to collect them, from the billing address given at checkout and, for a business, the VAT identification number given there. Renewals and upgrade charges are taxed the same way.
• Company plan prices are shown excluding VAT: the tax is added at checkout. If you are a business established in another EU country and give a valid VAT identification number at checkout, the reverse-charge mechanism applies: no VAT is charged and you account for it yourself.
• Seafarer plan prices are shown including VAT: the tax is part of the price shown, which is the price you pay.
• The checkout shows the tax before you pay. An upgrade made on the Account page is charged at once, without a checkout, and its tax appears on its invoice. Each invoice shows the tax charged.

3.5 Invoices

Stripe issues an invoice for each payment. You can see and download your invoices in the Billing portal.

4. Cancelling a plan

4.1 How to cancel

1. Sign in to your portal and open the Account page.
2. In the subscription panel, choose Manage billing. This opens the Billing portal.
3. Cancel the subscription there and confirm.

In a company tenant, cancellation is made by a user who can manage the tenant's subscription, normally the tenant's administrator. If you cannot use the Billing portal, email info@rsm-software.com from the email address registered for your account or tenant, and we will cancel the subscription for you.

4.2 What happens when you cancel

• Your Plan stays active until the paid-through date, and you keep full use of it until then.
• No further payments are taken.
• We do not refund the rest of the Billing period. The only exceptions are the cases in section 8.2 and the consumer right of withdrawal in section 9.
• After the paid-through date, the Plan's modules close. You can still sign in, and the Account page lets you choose a Plan again, free or paid.
• Cancelling does not delete your tenant, your users or your data. Records stay on Tideward as our Privacy Policy and, for company customers, our Data Processing Addendum describe. The Privacy Policy explains how to ask for deletion.

4.3 Moving to a free plan instead

If you want to stop paying but keep using Tideward, choose the Free plan for your tenant type on the Account page instead of cancelling. This is a downgrade: it takes effect at the paid-through date, as section 5.2 describes, and your tenant then continues on the Free plan without a gap.

4.4 Deactivating your account does not cancel your plan

Deleting (deactivating) your login on the Account page does not cancel a paid Plan, and payments continue until the subscription is cancelled. Cancel the Plan first, as section 4.1 describes. If your login has already been deactivated and payments are still being taken, email info@rsm-software.com: we will cancel the subscription and refund any payment taken after the date your login was deactivated.

4.5 A plan we stop selling

If we stop selling a Plan, you keep it for as long as your subscription to it continues. Retiring a Plan only changes whether it is offered on the Pricing page. If you move to another Plan, you may not be able to move back to a retired one. Changes to the price of a Plan you hold are governed by the Terms of Service.

5. Changing plans

5.1 Upgrades

An upgrade is a move to a Plan with a higher monthly price. It takes effect straight away and is charged at once for the rest of the current Billing period: the unused time on your old Plan is credited, and the new Plan's price is charged for the same remaining time. From the next Billing period you pay the new Plan's full monthly price. Your billing date does not change.

If you have no active paid subscription, for example because your paid period has ended or you are on a Free plan, choosing a paid Plan is a new purchase through checkout: you pay the Plan's monthly price, and a new Billing period starts on the day you pay. While a paid subscription is active, change your Plan on the Account page rather than buying another Plan from the Pricing page; the checkout sends you there.

5.2 Downgrades

A downgrade is a move to a Plan with a lower monthly price, including a Free plan. It takes effect at the paid-through date, and you keep your current Plan until then. There is no refund or credit for the difference. The Account page shows the scheduled change, and choosing your current Plan again before that date cancels it.

5.3 Summary

6. Seat add-ons on company plans

6.1 Included seats

Each Company plan includes a number of seats of three kinds: users, seafarers and vessels. The seats included and the monthly rate for each additional seat are part of the Plan's terms, and are shown with each Plan on the Pricing page, at checkout and on the Account page of your portal.

6.2 Going over

When your tenant uses more seats of a kind than the Plan includes, a seat add-on for each additional seat is attached to your subscription automatically and straight away, and your tenant's administrators are notified. You consented to this when you registered your company or bought its Plan (Terms of Service 1.7 and 7.5), so we do not ask you again each time. The Plan's terms provide for a monthly charge for each additional seat at the add-on rate for that Plan.

6.3 Coming back under

When your usage comes back within the seats the Plan includes, the add-on is reduced or removed at the start of the next Billing period. An add-on is not refunded for the part of a Billing period after your usage fell.

7. Failed payments

7.1 Retries

If a renewal payment fails, Stripe tries it again over the following days and may ask you to update your card. While the payment is being retried, your Plan stays active. You can update your card in the Billing portal at any time.

7.2 When the retries run out

If the payment has still not succeeded when Stripe stops retrying, the subscription is cancelled or marked unpaid, and the Plan's modules close at that point. Your tenant and your data are not deleted.

7.3 Getting access back

Choose a Plan again on the Account page. A new Billing period starts when the payment succeeds.

7.4 Amounts left unpaid

We do not charge for any time after your access closed for non-payment. If an invoice for the time before that remains unpaid, we will write to you before taking any further step to collect it.

8. Refunds on company plans

8.1 No refunds for part of a month

Company plan fees and seat add-ons are not refundable for part of a Billing period, for seats or modules you did not use, or for a period in which you did not use Tideward, except in the cases in section 8.2.

8.2 When we do refund

We refund, in full or in part as the case requires:

• a payment we took twice for the same period, or for the wrong amount;
• a payment we took after your cancellation or downgrade had taken effect;
• the unused part of a Billing period, pro rata by days, if we end your Plan or stop providing Tideward for a reason that is not your fault;
• the days affected, if we suspended your tenant by mistake;
• any amount the law or a signed agreement requires us to refund.

8.3 Suspension

If we suspend a tenant because of a breach of the Terms of Service or the Acceptable Use Policy, fees for the time the tenant is suspended are not refunded.

9. Seafarer plans: your right to withdraw

9.1 Who has this right

If you buy a Seafarer plan as a consumer, you have the right to withdraw from the contract within 14 days without giving any reason. We give this right to every consumer who buys a Seafarer plan, wherever they live. Company plans are sold to businesses and do not carry this right.

9.2 How long you have

The withdrawal period ends 14 days after the day the contract is concluded, which is the day your purchase of the Seafarer plan completes, whether through checkout or by upgrading from a Free plan on the Account page. To meet the deadline, it is enough to send your notice before the 14 days have ended.

The right applies to each new purchase of a Seafarer plan. It does not start again when an existing subscription renews at the start of a new Billing period.

9.3 Starting the service straight away

Your Seafarer plan starts as soon as the purchase completes. Before you pay, we ask you to request expressly that the service starts during the withdrawal period, and to acknowledge that if you then withdraw, you pay for the days you have already had.

• If you made that request and then withdraw, we keep an amount in proportion to the service you received before you told us, as section 9.5 explains.
• If your Seafarer plan started without that request being recorded, we refund everything you paid.

9.4 How to withdraw

Tell us of your decision to withdraw with a clear statement, by email to info@rsm-software.com or by letter to Rogue Star Marine Software Ltd, Pavlou Aggelinide 21, 3110 Limassol, Cyprus. A notice sent to any of the addresses on our Legal page is also valid. You can use the model withdrawal form in section 14, but you do not have to.

It helps us to find your subscription quickly if you include the email address of your Tideward account and the date of your purchase. We confirm receipt of your notice by email.

Cancelling in the Billing portal stops the renewal, but on its own it does not tell us that you want to withdraw. To withdraw and receive the refund in section 9.5, send us your notice as described here.

9.5 What we refund

We refund all payments you made for the Seafarer plan, less the value of the service you received before you told us you were withdrawing, if you made the request in section 9.3. We work out that value by days, for each payment:

1. Take the amount of the payment, including any VAT, and the number of days it paid for.
2. Count the days of that period on which you had the service before the day we received your notice. The day the service started counts as a full day; the day we receive your notice does not count.
3. We keep the amount of the payment multiplied by the days of service and divided by the days it paid for, and we refund the rest.

We make no other deduction and charge no fee for the withdrawal.

9.6 An example

The figures here are an example only. You buy Seafarer Pro for €15.00 for a Billing period of 30 days, and your notice reaches us on the seventh day. You have had 6 days of service. We keep 6 ÷ 30 × €15.00 = €3.00 and refund €12.00.

9.7 When and how we pay the refund

We refund without undue delay, and in any event no later than 14 days after the day we receive your notice. We use the same payment method you used for the purchase, unless you expressly agree to something else, and you do not pay any fee for the refund.

9.8 What happens to your account

Your Seafarer plan ends when we process your notice, and its paid features close at that point. Your account and your profile stay. To keep using Tideward, choose the Free plan on the Account page.

9.9 After the 14 days

Once the withdrawal period has ended, the ordinary rules apply: you can cancel at any time, you keep access until the paid-through date, and part-months are not refunded (sections 4 and 8).

10. How refunds are requested and paid

10.1 Asking for a refund

Email info@rsm-software.com from the email address registered for your account or tenant, and give:

• the tenant or account name;
• the date and amount of the payment, or the invoice number;
• why you are asking for a refund.

We aim to reply within 10 working days. A withdrawal by a consumer follows section 9 and its deadlines.

10.2 How we pay

• Refunds are paid through Stripe to the card or other payment method used for the payment, in euro, the currency you paid in. Your bank or card issuer may take several working days to show the refund, and may apply its own exchange rate if your account is in another currency.
• A refund includes the VAT charged on the amount refunded. We issue a credit note where the law requires one.
• If the refund cannot reach the original payment method, for example because the card has been closed, we agree another way to pay it with you.
• We do not pay refunds in cash or to anyone other than the person or company that paid.

10.3 Disputes with your bank

If you think a payment is wrong, please contact us first: it is usually the quickest way to put it right. You keep any rights your bank or card issuer gives you.

11. Your statutory rights

If you are a consumer, nothing in this policy takes away the rights you have under the law of the country where you live, including your rights if the service is not supplied or is not as described. Those rights apply in addition to this policy. This policy is governed by the law of Cyprus, as the Terms of Service set out, without depriving consumers of the mandatory protection of the law of their country of residence.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The version and date at the top show which version applies. A change does not affect a payment made, or a withdrawal notice sent, before it takes effect. We tell you about material changes before they take effect, as the Terms of Service describe.

13. Contact

• Billing, refunds and withdrawals: info@rsm-software.com
• Plans, seats and order forms for companies: sales@rsm-software.com
• Legal notices and complaints: legal@rsm-software.com
• By post: Rogue Star Marine Software Ltd, Pavlou Aggelinide 21, 3110 Limassol, Cyprus

14. Model withdrawal form

Complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract.

• To: Rogue Star Marine Software Ltd, trading as RSM Software, Pavlou Aggelinide 21, 3110 Limassol, Cyprus. Email: info@rsm-software.com
• I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract for the provision of the following service: Tideward Seafarer plan (name of plan: ................................)
• Ordered on: ................................
• Name of consumer(s): ................................
• Address of consumer(s): ................................
• Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper): ................................
• Date: ................................

(*) Delete as appropriate.