Refunds & Disputes

Free cancellation window. Members may cancel a confirmed booking free of charge up to 24 hours before the scheduled start time. Cancellations inside the 24-hour window may be charged up to 50% of the agreed price to compensate the assistant's held time.

No-shows. If a member does not show up and cannot be reached within 30 minutes of the scheduled start, the booking is treated as completed and the full amount is charged.

Assistant cancellations. If an assistant cancels, the member is refunded in full and SideAway will help re-match a comparable assistant when possible.

Because assistant time cannot be returned, completed bookings are generally non-refundable. You may still request a refund within 7 days of the booking end time if the service was not delivered as agreed. Typical qualifying reasons include:

• The assistant did not arrive or left significantly early.
• The work delivered clearly did not match what was booked.
• Safety, conduct or trust concerns covered by our community standards.

Requests are reviewed case by case. Where a partial refund is fair (for example, half the agreed hours were completed), SideAway may issue a proportional refund.

Email hello@sideaway.com within 7 days of the booking with:

• Your account email and the booking reference.
• A short description of what happened.
• Any supporting evidence (messages, photos, receipts).

We aim to acknowledge every request within 2 business days and to reach a decision within 10 business days.

SideAway encourages both sides to try to resolve issues directly through the in-app messages first. If that does not work, either party may open a dispute by contacting support at the email above.

During a dispute, the disputed amount may be held from the assistant's next payout until the case is closed. SideAway acts as a neutral mediator; we may request additional information from either side and our decision on the release of held funds is final for platform purposes.

Payments are processed by our payment provider. Refunds are returned to the original payment method and typically appear within 5–10 business days, depending on your bank or card issuer.

Please contact us before filing a chargeback with your bank — most issues can be resolved faster and more fairly through the process above. Fraudulent chargebacks may result in suspension of the account under our Terms of Service.

Subscription fees are billed in advance for the selected period and are non-refundable for the current period. You can cancel at any time from Settings → Subscriptions; your plan stays active until the end of the paid period.

Questions about this policy? Email hello@sideaway.com or use our contact form.