Refund Policy

This policy explains when Crown Votes refunds money paid for votes. It is part of the Terms of Use.

1. The short version

What happened	What you get
Your votes counted	No refund. A paid vote is final once it counts.
The payment failed, was declined or timed out	No votes are added, and normally you are not charged. If money did leave your account, see section 3.
You were charged twice for one purchase	The extra charge is refunded.
You were charged but your votes never counted	A refund.
Your vote was held for review	It is reviewed: it either counts, or the payment is refunded. Not automatic.
The pageant was cancelled after you bought votes	A refund for those votes.
A free vote	No refund: free votes have no monetary value.

2. Paid votes are final once they count

When you buy votes, you get exactly what you paid for the moment the payment is confirmed: the votes count for the contestant you chose. For that reason, we do not refund votes that have counted, including when:

• you changed your mind, or meant to vote for a different contestant;
• your contestant did not win, or was eliminated;
• the organizer applied the pageant’s own rules to decide the result.

Counted votes cannot be moved to another contestant or another pageant.

3. Failed and timed-out payments

A payment is only taken when you approve it on your phone and your mobile money operator confirms it.

• If the payment fails, is declined or times out, no votes are added, and a failed payment should not charge you.
• If money left your account but the payment failed, contact us with the transaction reference and we will check it with the operator.
• If a payment is still being confirmed, wait for the result before trying again. Paying a second time while the first is pending is the most common cause of a double charge.

4. When we refund

We refund the amount charged when:

• You were charged twice for one intended purchase.
• You were charged but the votes never counted, for example because of a fault on our side.
• We decide to refund a held vote. Votes that fail a fraud check are held and reviewed. After review, a held vote is either counted as normal, or we refund the payment to the number that paid. This is a decision made on review, not an automatic step, and a held vote that is counted is not refunded. A vote is never both counted and refunded.
• The pageant was cancelled after you bought votes for it.

5. How to ask for a refund

Write to support@crownvotes.com with:

• the mobile money number you paid with;
• the date, time and amount of the payment;
• the transaction reference from your mobile money confirmation message;
• the pageant and contestant you voted for.

We check every request against the payment records before approving it. Refunds are reviewed by our team before they are sent.

6. How refunds are paid

Refunds are paid by mobile money to the number that was charged, never to a different number, unless you show us that the original number has changed hands (for example after a SIM replacement). We refund the amount you paid; we never refund more than was charged for the votes concerned.

7. Free votes

Free votes are not purchased and have no monetary value. They cannot be refunded, exchanged or converted into paid votes or cash.

8. Your other rights

This policy does not take away any right you have under Ugandan law. If you are unhappy with how we handled a refund request, write to legal@crownvotes.com.