Mara Vakil uses an escrow model so your fees are protected. This Refund Policy explains when refunds are issued, how to request one, and how disputes are resolved. We believe in a fair, transparent process for both clients and advocates.
1. How Escrow Works
When you hire an advocate on Mara Vakil:
- You pay the agreed fee into Mara Vakil's regulated nodal escrow account — not directly to the advocate.
- Funds sit in escrow until you confirm a milestone has been completed.
- On milestone confirmation, the advocate receives the fee minus a small platform fee.
- If the advocate fails to deliver, funds are refunded to you per the rules below.
- All escrow movements are logged and visible to both parties in your dashboard.
2. When You Get a Full Refund
You are entitled to a 100% refund (minus payment-gateway charges of approx 2%) when:
- Advocate does not respond within 72 hours of accepting the case.
- Advocate cancels before any work begins (e.g. conflict of interest discovered).
- Verification fails — Bar Council credentials turn out to be invalid after engagement.
- Major scope mismatch — advocate's specialisation does not actually match the case category they accepted.
- Anti-bypass violation — advocate demands cash or off-platform payment.
- Platform error — duplicate charge, payment processing bug, or our technical issue.
3. Partial Refund Scenarios
Partial refunds reflect work already done. Typical splits:
- Initial consultation completed, case not pursued: consultation fee retained by advocate; remaining held fees refunded to you.
- Milestone 1 done, you withdraw before Milestone 2: Milestone 1 released to advocate; future milestones refunded.
- Mutual cancellation mid-case: negotiated split — typically 40-70% to advocate based on work completed, balance to you.
- Court adjournments outside advocate's control: no refund — work was done; case timeline simply extended.
4. No Refund Cases
Refunds are not issued when:
- Case has been concluded and you simply dislike the outcome (we cannot refund based on litigation results — courts decide, not advocates).
- You provided false case facts that materially affected the work done.
- You unilaterally went off-platform after engaging the advocate.
- More than 30 days have passed since the milestone was released and confirmed by you.
- Document drafting was completed and delivered as per the brief you approved.
5. How to Request a Refund
Step-by-step:
- Open your case dashboard on Mara Vakil.
- Click Request Refund on the relevant milestone or escrow line.
- Select the reason (advocate non-response, scope mismatch, etc.) and add supporting notes.
- Upload any evidence (screenshots of chat, missed calls, draft documents).
- Submit. Our dispute team acknowledges within 24 hours and resolves within 5 working days for standard cases (up to 14 days for complex disputes).
- Approved refunds are credited back to the original payment method within 5-7 working days.
6. Dispute Resolution
If client and advocate disagree on whether a refund is due:
- Both parties are invited to submit evidence via the dispute portal.
- Mara Vakil's neutral mediation team reviews chat logs, document drafts, milestone records and call timestamps.
- Decision is communicated to both parties with reasoning, within 14 working days.
- Either party may appeal once within 7 days of decision. Appeals are reviewed by a senior moderator.
- Funds remain in escrow until the dispute concludes — neither party can withdraw unilaterally.
7. Platform Fee
Mara Vakil retains a platform fee (disclosed before payment, typically 5-10% of total fees) to operate the marketplace. This platform fee is non-refundable for completed work but is refunded along with your principal when a 100% refund applies (e.g. advocate non-response, verification failure).
8. Payment Gateway Charges
Payment gateway charges (approx 2%, set by your bank / UPI provider) are non-refundable, as we do not receive them ourselves. This applies to all refunds except platform-error cases where we absorb the cost.
9. Subscription & Annual Plans
If you purchase a subscription plan (premium support, document templates, etc.), refunds are pro-rated based on unused months. Cancellation must be initiated at least 7 days before the next billing cycle to avoid that cycle's charge.
10. Refund Timeline Summary
Acknowledgement: within 24 hours of request.
Standard refund decision: within 5 working days.
Complex dispute: up to 14 working days.
Credit to original method: 5-7 working days after approval (UPI is usually faster, card refunds slower depending on your bank).
11. Contact for Refunds
Open a refund request from your case dashboard, or contact:
📧 refunds@maravakil.in — direct refund team
📧 help@maravakil.in — general support
Always include your Case ID and Milestone reference for fastest resolution.