The principle
You are paying for the work of producing a certified translation. So the question that decides a refund is simply how much of that work has been done — not whether the result turned out to be useful to you.
Before service work has started, you get everything back. Once work is under way, you pay for what was actually done. Once the translation is delivered, the work is complete.
Before work begins
Full refund, no deduction. If you cancel after paying but before service work has started, you receive the entire amount back. Nothing has been produced, so there is nothing to charge for. That is § 8.2 of our Terms & Conditions.
Work can start soon after you pay, so if you have changed your mind, tell us promptly and this is the straightforward case.
After work begins
Once service work has started, you can still cancel at any point up until the translation is delivered. You will be refunded the fee less the value of the work already done, and you keep whatever has been produced at that point.
We calculate the deduction against how far the order actually progressed, and we will tell you the figure and how we arrived at it before processing it. We do not apply a flat cancellation percentage, because a translation cancelled ten minutes in and one cancelled at proofreading are not the same thing.
This mirrors your statutory position for a contract for work under § 648 BGB, which lets you cancel at any time while entitling us to the value of what we have performed. If you believe our figure overstates the work done, say so — you are entitled to have it reduced on evidence, and we would rather settle it than argue.
After delivery
Once the certified translation has been delivered, the work is complete. If the translation contains a genuine error — a misspelled name, an omission, a mistranslation — report it to us promptly. Your first remedy is a free correction; further statutory remedies (such as a price reduction, rescission or damages) remain unaffected. Reporting promptly is a request, not a deadline: the statutory limitation periods are unaffected too. That is set out in § 9 of our Terms & Conditions, which govern the translation contract itself.
If an authority rejects your translation
This is not grounds for a refund, and we want to be direct about it rather than leave you to discover it later.
Every translation is produced and certified by a translator sworn before a German court. What we cannot do is bind the authority receiving it. Consulates, universities, registry offices and courts each apply their own requirements — some want an apostille on the original, some want a specific format, some reject documents for reasons unrelated to the translation itself. That decision is theirs, it is taken after our work is finished, and it is not something we are able to guarantee on your behalf.
So: we charge for producing a certified translation, not for the receiving authority’s decision about it. If the rejection is because we made a mistake, that is a defect and we correct it free under the section above. If the rejection is because the authority wanted something we were never asked to provide, it is not.
If you are unsure whether what we offer matches what your authority requires, ask us before you pay. We would much rather talk you out of the wrong order than refuse a refund on the right one.
Your statutory right of withdrawal
Separately from this policy, as a consumer you have a statutory 14-day right of withdrawal, and nothing here limits it. Because we begin work on your translation immediately — which is the point of an Express or Digital order — that right can lapse once the translation has been fully produced, but only if you expressly asked us to start early and confirmed you understood the consequence. We ask for exactly that at checkout, in those terms.
The full withdrawal instructions and the model withdrawal form are in our Terms & Conditions. Where your statutory rights give you more than this policy does, your statutory rights apply.
How to request a refund
Email contact@trustedlingo.com with your order reference and what went wrong. There is no form to fill in and you do not need to justify a cancellation before work has begun.
- We reply within 2 business days, with the amount and — if any deduction applies — how it was worked out.
- Refunds are issued to the original payment method. We cannot redirect one to a different card or account.
- Once issued, your bank or card provider typically takes 5–10 business days to show it. That part is outside our control; the refund itself leaves us immediately.
If a refund has not appeared after ten business days, write to us again and we will chase it with our payment provider.
Statutory rights
Nothing in this policy limits the rights German law gives you as a consumer — including the statutory rights in respect of defects (§§ 634 ff. BGB), the right of withdrawal above, and the right to go to court. Where this policy and the law differ, the law wins. Where this policy is more generous than the law, we honour the policy.