Cancellation & Refund Policy

1. Cancellation Windows and Refund Eligibility

A Customer may initiate a cancellation request exclusively through their Account Dashboard or by submitting a written request to billing@assurd.in with the Job Reference ID. Refund eligibility is determined solely by the verified pipeline status of the job at the exact time the cancellation request is received and timestamped by Assurd's systems, as follows:

2. Rejected Certification Requests: AITF Liability

Where a Customer's Hardware has been processed at an Authorized Intake & Testing Facility ("AITF") and Assurd HQ subsequently rejects the Certification Request submitted by that AITF due to incomplete, internally inconsistent, or non-compliant data, the following applies:

3. Certification Outcomes: Fail Grade and Non-Refundability

A "Fail" certification outcome does not entitle the Customer to a refund of any portion of the Certification Fee. This is not an arbitrary commercial decision; it is a structural and legally defensible feature of the certification service model:

• The Customer is contracting for the execution of an independent forensic audit. Assurd's obligation — which it fulfills completely — is to conduct the audit with professional competence and report results objectively.
• A "Fail" result is not a service deficiency; it is the service functioning precisely as designed. The discovery of a fault or non-compliant BIOS is a successful audit outcome that has delivered material informational value to the Customer and to the secondary hardware market.
• All pipeline resources — AITF technician time, Kairoscope runtime, Assurd HQ validation compute, and thermal consumables — are fully expended regardless of the outcome.

A "Fail" grade will be issued, and the Certification Fee will be non-refundable, in any of the following confirmed scenarios:

• Physical audit failure: severe oxidation of PCB traces, missing or damaged surface-mount devices (SMDs), evidence of prior liquid damage, or burn marks indicative of electrical failure.
• VBIOS cryptographic failure: the extracted firmware hash does not match any OEM-authorized BIOS in the Assurd verification database, or is consistent with known mining, overclocked, or spoofed BIOS signatures.
• Thermal saturation failure: the Hardware exhibits catastrophic thermal throttling, exceeds safe temperature thresholds under standardized load, or produces graphical artifacts indicative of memory or core degradation.
• Performance failure: the Hardware's benchmark scores fall below the minimum acceptable percentile threshold for its declared model.

4. Chargeback and Payment Dispute Policy

Initiating a payment chargeback or dispute with a bank or payment gateway in circumstances that do not constitute a legitimate billing error is considered a material breach of the Terms of Service. In such cases, Assurd reserves the right to:

• Suspend the Customer's account pending resolution of the dispute.
• Submit complete documentary evidence of service delivery — including Kairoscope audit logs, telemetry records, Assurd HQ validation timestamps, and courier tracking data — to the payment gateway or bank in contest of the chargeback.
• Pursue recovery of any chargeback fees, legal costs, and administrative costs incurred by Assurd as a result of the disputed transaction.

5. Fraudulent Submissions: Absolute Non-Refundability and Legal Consequences

Where Assurd HQ or an AITF determines that the Hardware submitted materially deviates from the Customer's CCD — including but not limited to the submission of an intentionally bricked component, Hardware modified to misrepresent its model or specification tier, or a component substituted to evade a higher pricing tier — the following consequences apply:

• The Certification Fee is non-refundable in its entirety, with no exceptions.
• The Hardware will be quarantined for a maximum period of ninety (90) days pending investigation.
• The serial number will be permanently flagged in the Assurd Global Registry as a "Fraudulent Submission."
• Assurd reserves the right to pursue civil and/or criminal remedies under Indian law, including the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

6. Hardware Damage or Loss in Transit: Insurance Protocol

Assurd insures all Hardware in transit under its logistics arrangements, covering both inbound transit to an Assurd HQ Lab or AITF and outbound return to the Customer. In the event that Hardware is confirmed lost or suffers severe physical damage during transit, the matter is governed by Assurd's Transit Insurance Protocol.

1. Notification. Assurd will notify the Customer in writing within forty-eight (48) hours of confirming a logistics failure.
2. Claim Assessment. Compensation shall be assessed at the Hardware's Fair Market Value ("FMV"), defined as the lower of: (a) the verified purchase price in the Customer's submitted proof of purchase, or (b) the prevailing average resale price of a comparable unit in equivalent condition on recognized Indian secondary markets, as determined by Assurd at its reasonable discretion at the date of loss.
3. FMV Cap. Compensation is subject to a maximum declared value cap per consignment, communicated to the Customer at the time of booking. Assurd shall not be liable for any value exceeding the declared and agreed cap.
4. Certification Fee. In the event of confirmed transit loss prior to lab receipt, the full Certification Fee shall be refunded in addition to the FMV compensation.
5. AITF Custody Distinction. The Transit Insurance Protocol applies to losses occurring while Hardware is in the possession of a third-party logistics carrier. Loss or damage occurring while Hardware is within an AITF facility is the sole liability of the AITF under the AITF Agreement and is governed separately.