Refunds and cancellations

Calls charged by the minute

Before the call starts, you pick how long it can last, and we place a hold on your card for that length at the creator's rate. A hold is not a charge: it sets the money aside until the call ends. You only pay for the minutes you use. Unused amount is released within 7 days.

• Waiting to be connected is free, and so is the time the video takes to connect. The clock starts once the video is connected both ways.
• The call ends at the length you picked. You both see a reminder shortly before, so you never pay for more than that length.
• Time is counted to the second and rounded up to the next whole minute.
• If your connection or your video drops, the clock keeps running until we notice, which can take up to about a minute and a half. Then it pauses, and you have 2 minutes to come back, up to 3 times in one call. If you don't come back, the call ends as if you had left it. While you're still connected to the call's video, it doesn't count as a drop.
• Every service charged by the minute has a minimum length, set by the creator and shown with the service. If you leave before it, including with the safety exit, you pay for the minimum. If the creator ends the call before it, you pay only for the time you talked.

Calls at a fixed price

• For a call you start now, we hold the price on your card. Once you and the creator are both on the call, you pay the full price. If the call never starts, the hold is released.
• For a call you book ahead, we hold the price on your card: when you book if the call is 6 days away or less, otherwise 24 hours before the call, on the card saved for the booking. You pay it once you and the creator are both on the call. If we can't place the hold and you don't update your card, the booking is cancelled an hour before the call and you pay nothing.
• You pay the price however long the call runs. It doesn't go up if the call runs over.

Calls that don't happen

• If the creator doesn't answer your call, or declines it, you pay nothing. Any hold is released, and a booked call you paid for is refunded in full.
• If you start a call now and leave before you and the creator are both on the call, you pay nothing.
• For a call you start now: if the creator answers but you're not both on the call within 3 minutes, or the video doesn't connect within 2 minutes after that, the call closes and you pay nothing.

Cancelling or moving a booked call

When you book a call, we keep the card you book with for that booking, in case there's a cancellation fee, a move or a balance to pay.

If you cancel:

• Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. Any hold is released, and a call you paid for is refunded in full.
• 50% fee within 24 hours.
• Full fee within 2 hours.

For a call charged by the minute, the full fee is what the service's minimum length costs (the minimum number of minutes times the rate per minute). For a fixed-price call, it is the price: within 24 hours you pay half of it, within 2 hours all of it, taken from the hold (or charged to the card saved for the booking if the hold isn't placed yet). If you paid when you booked, you get back the rest instead. A fee smaller than the smallest amount a card can be charged isn't charged. We show you the exact fee before you confirm.

Moving a booking to another time counts as cancelling it: the same fee applies, based on how close the original time was. The new time is held on your card, as a new booking would be. A booking you paid for in full when you made it can't be moved; you can still cancel it.

If the creator cancels your booking, you pay nothing, whenever they cancel: any hold is released, and a call you paid for is refunded in full. If the creator asks to move it to another time, the move costs you nothing. If we cancel your booking because the creator can't take it, you pay nothing either: any hold is released, and a call you paid for is refunded in full.

If someone doesn't show up

You can join a booked call from 5 minutes before it starts.

• If the creator hasn't joined 10 minutes after the start (or 10 minutes after you arrived, if you were late), the booking is closed and you get everything back: the hold is released, or the price refunded in full.
• If the creator is on the call and you aren't 5 minutes after the start (or 5 minutes after the creator arrived, if they were late), the call counts as missed and you pay the full fee, the same as cancelling within 2 hours. The fee goes to the creator.
• If you try to join but your card doesn't accept the hold, or we can't confirm your payment, the booking is cancelled and you pay nothing.
• If a problem on our side stops us setting up the payment when you try to join, the booking is cancelled and you pay nothing: any hold is released, and anything you paid for it is refunded in full.
• If neither of you joins, nobody pays.

If something goes wrong on our side

On a call charged by the minute, you pay only for the time you actually talked, never a minimum, if the call ends because of a problem on our side, because you and the creator lost your connections at the same time, or because the creator's connection dropped and they didn't come back. The same goes if you end the call yourself while the creator's connection is down. When the creator's connection drops, the clock stops from when it dropped.

If the video never connects, the call doesn't start and you aren't charged. For a booked call, the booking is cancelled and your hold is released. But on a booked call where, when we check, the creator is connected to the call's video and you aren't, it counts as you missing the call instead: you pay the full fee, the same as cancelling within 2 hours (see “If someone doesn't show up”).

If MinuteTalk ends a fixed-price call early (for example, because the creator's connection dropped and they didn't come back), you pay only for the part you had: the price × the minutes you had ÷ the call's length. If we take you off a fixed-price call because we found you broke our rules, you pay the full price.

If we charged you the wrong amount, we correct it.

If a problem on our side means we don't take the payment for a booked call you had, you still owe what the call cost. We email you with the amount and a link to pay it. If it isn't paid within 3 days of that email, we may charge it to the card saved for that booking.

If a problem on our side means we don't take the payment for an instant call or a group call you had from your account, you still owe what the call cost. Your receipt for the call shows the amount with a link to pay it. Nothing is charged automatically: there's no card saved for these calls, so you pay it yourself with that link.

If you had a call as a guest and a problem on our side means we don't take the payment for it, you still owe what the call cost. We email a link to pay it to the address you gave at checkout. The link has no time limit. If you lose it, you can ask for a new one.

A call that costs less than the smallest amount a card can be charged isn't charged at all.

If you still owe a payment

Until you've paid what you owe, whether it's a cancellation or no-show fee or a payment for a call you had, you can't make a new booking, start a call or join a group call from your account. A call you're already on, or a call you booked earlier, isn't affected. You can pay it any time from your bookings.

Until a payment for a call or a booking is paid, a new call or booking paid with the card it was taken on may not go through, as a guest or from an account. Nothing is charged when that happens, and any hold on the card is released within 7 days. Use a different card, or contact us.

Someone under 18 on the call

Calls on MinuteTalk are for adults. If someone under 18 takes part in a call, the creator must take the person who brought them off the call, and that person's payment is cancelled or refunded in full, fees included. In a one-to-one call, this ends the call. In a group call, the call carries on for everyone else, and their payments aren't affected. Someone who is only in the room, like a baby in a parent's arms, isn't taking part.

Refunds for a call that took place

Apart from the cases above, a refund for a call that took place is usually the creator's decision. A call not going the way you hoped isn't on its own a reason for us to refund it, but the creator can choose to.

If a creator broke our content rules on your call, for example by asking you to pay outside MinuteTalk, tell us: we may refund you ourselves.

When the creator gives a refund, they choose how much, up to everything you paid.

Wherever this page says “refunded in full”, you get back everything you paid, fees included.

Before a call, the checkout says: “Refunds for a call that took place are the creator's choice, up to what you paid. Calls are for adults: if someone under 18 takes part on your side, the creator ends your call and your payment is cancelled or refunded in full.”

How money gets back to you

• Money goes back to the card you paid with.
• A hold was never a charge, so there is nothing to refund: the unused part of a hold is released within 7 days.
• A refund usually reaches your card within 5–10 business days.

Asking for a refund

Email us at support@minutetalk.com. Tell us the date of the call or booking, the email address you used, and the creator's name. Our contact page has more on what helps us find it.

On your card statement, a MinuteTalk charge appears as MINUTETALK* followed by the creator's handle in capitals (up to 10 characters).

Refunds can be made up to 30 days after the call. You can also dispute a charge with your bank or card issuer.

If you paid for a booking in advance and your bank disputes that payment (a chargeback) before the call, we cancel the booking, and there's nothing more for you to pay. Your bank is handling the money it disputed, so we don't refund that separately. We refund any part of the payment it didn't dispute, and the disputed money too if your bank returns it to us.