Refund Policy

1. Scope

This policy explains how cancellations and refunds work for eHive Circle memberships (including renewals and the founding activation fee) and for paid event tickets. It forms part of our Terms of Use. For how we handle the personal data involved, see the Privacy Policy.

2. Cancelling your membership

You may cancel at any time by emailing info@ehiveglobal.com from the email address on your account, or by asking any member of the team. Cancellation stops your membership from renewing: you keep full access until the end of the period you have already paid for. If a renewal payment has already been taken, the cooling-off in section 3 or the pro-rata option in section 4 applies to that payment.

3. Cooling-off — new memberships and renewals

• If you cancel within fourteen (14) days of a membership or renewal payment, we refund that payment in full.
• Where a founding activation (the AED 499 Clarity Sprint, section 6) has already been delivered in that window, its value may be deducted from the refund.
• Refunds requested after the fourteen-day window are handled under section 4.

When a refund is issued, access lapses immediately for refunds within the fourteen-day window, and at the end of the paid period otherwise.

4. Refunds after the cooling-off period

Outside the cooling-off window, annual membership fees are non-refundable as of right. That said, we are a community run on relationships, not fine print: where your circumstances genuinely change — relocation out of the region, serious illness, or the business closing — email us. We consider proportionate, pro-rata refunds on a discretionary, case-by-case basis, and we will always be straight with you about what is possible.

5. Founding-member terms

Founding members joined at AED 12,000/yr under a founding cohort limited to forty seats, with the founding activation (section 6) as part of admission. Because founding pricing reflects a cohort commitment:

• The cooling-off in section 3 applies to the founding fee on the same fourteen-day basis.
• Discretionary pro-rata refunds (section 4) are available to founding members on the same case-by-case terms.
• A founding member who cancels and later rejoins is not guaranteed the founding rate; re-admission is by application.

6. The founding activation fee (AED 499)

The founding activation is a Clarity Sprint delivered in your first thirty days — advisory normally priced at AED 2,500, offered to founding members at AED 499. It is paid once, at admission, and is not part of the annual fee. Because the sprint is delivered as advisory work:

• If your application is accepted but you withdraw before the sprint is scheduled or delivered, the activation fee is refunded in full.
• If the sprint has already been delivered, the activation fee is non-refundable, and its value may be deducted from any cooling-off refund of the annual fee (section 3).

7. Event tickets

Paid event tickets are refunded automatically when the event is cancelled by eHive or its chapter, or when an event sells out between your payment and settlement — the refund is issued back through the same route you paid, with no action needed from you. For tickets you can no longer use:

• Cancel up to forty-eight (48) hours before the event for a full refund, by emailing info@ehiveglobal.com or cancelling in the portal.
• Inside forty-eight hours, or for no-shows, tickets are non-refundable so that seats and catering can be planned honestly.
• Free guest seats carry no charge and therefore no refund; a cancelled event simply releases them.

8. How refunds are paid

Refunds go back through the route the payment came in on: bank transfer for payments made by bank transfer (our current mode), or back to the card used once card payments are enabled. We aim to process approved refunds within five (5) business days of approval; your bank may take a few further days to show the funds. We confirm every refund by email with the amount and reference.

9. Questions and disputes

If you disagree with how a cancellation or refund was handled, email info@ehiveglobal.com and we will review it personally — most disagreements are resolved this way. Nothing in this policy limits any right you have under the laws of the United Arab Emirates, including consumer-protection rights that cannot be excluded.