Mere Vakil

मेरे वकील

Legal Document

Refund & Cancellation Policy

Fair, transparent rules governing consultation bookings and refunds

Last Updated: August 13, 2026 Effective Date: August 13, 2026 Payment Partner: Razorpay · RBI Compliant

Thank you for choosing Mere Vakil. We strive to provide a technologically seamless, fair, and reliable platform to connect Citizens with independent legal professionals. This policy outlines the exact terms governing consultation bookings, transactional fees, and refund criteria on our Platform.

1. Payment Escrow Structure

When a Citizen schedules a consultation, the fee is collected and held in our secure gateway escrow account (payment_status = 'held'). The payment is resolved based on the following double-handshake criteria:

  1. Successful Payout: The platform releases the consultation fee (minus administrative commissions) to the Advocate's linked bank account only when both parties have joined the virtual WebRTC room and connected for a minimum of 15 minutes.
  2. Failed Consultation: If the connection fails or is disrupted due to technical platform errors before the 15-minute mark, the transaction remains reviewable for a refund or reschedule.

2. Consultation Fees

3. Cancellation Scenarios & Refund Eligibility

✓ Advocate "No-Show" — 100% Automatic Refund

If an Advocate fails to join the virtual consultation room within 10 minutes of the scheduled appointment time, the session is flagged as a "No-Show." The booking is automatically cancelled and a 100% full refund is initiated immediately to your original UPI VPA or bank account.

✓ Technical Connection Failure — Refund Eligible

If the consultation room fails to load or experiences severe disruptions due to verified platform server issues or WebRTC signaling failures, the Citizen can submit a dispute within 24 hours of the scheduled appointment. Upon verification of our system logs, a full refund or free rescheduling will be issued.

✓ Citizen Cancellation (2+ Hours Before) — 100% Refund

A Citizen can cancel their scheduled consultation up to 2 hours before the appointment time through the "My Bookings" screen. A 100% refund will be processed immediately.

✗ Citizen Late Cancellation or No-Show — No Refund

If a Citizen cancels less than 2 hours before the scheduled time, or fails to join the virtual room within 15 minutes of the start time, the Advocate is paid a nominal retention fee. No refund is issued in this case.

4. Refund Timeline & Execution

All eligible refunds are automatically processed through our integrated payment partner, Razorpay. The refund will be credited back to your original source of payment within 5 to 7 business days, in strict compliance with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) payment processing guidelines.

5. Contact & Dispute Instructions

If you experience a failed connection or wish to report a booking dispute: