Refund & Return Policy

There are two completely different kinds of money in the FastServe world, and mixing them up is where nearly all the confusion comes from. This page keeps them apart.

Part one is the money a diner pays a restaurant for food. Part two is the money a restaurant pays FastServe for the software. Different rules, different counterparties, different people to talk to.

Who you paid

You paid the restaurant. Not us.

FastServe is the software the restaurant used to take your order. The transaction is between you and that restaurant. We never hold your money, at any point, not even briefly. There is no FastServe wallet, no FastServe escrow, and no FastServe balance that a refund could be paid out of.

That has a practical consequence, and we would rather be blunt about it than sound helpful and waste your afternoon: FastServe cannot refund you for a meal. We do not have your money. Only the restaurant that took it can give it back.

Who sets the rules

Each restaurant sets its own cancellation and refund terms. There is no single platform-wide refund policy and we do not impose one, because a kitchen that has already fired your order and a counter that has not started it are not in the same situation. Ask the restaurant what its policy is. Many will tell you at the point of ordering.

Timing usually decides it. An order the kitchen has not begun is a very different conversation from one that is already plated.

How to sort out a problem with an order

1. Talk to the restaurant. In person if you are sitting in it, by phone or email otherwise. Its contact details are on its FastServe page. This resolves nearly everything, and it resolves it fastest.
2. If you paid by card and the restaurant agrees a refund, the restaurant issues it back through whatever it took the payment with. How long it takes to land is up to your bank, not up to the restaurant and not up to us.
3. If you cannot reach the restaurant at all, write to support@fastserve.io. We can help you find the order and get the restaurant’s attention. We cannot decide the outcome for you, and we will not pretend otherwise.
4. Leaving a rating is not a refund request. Ratings are public feedback that the restaurant can reply to. They are well worth leaving, but no money moves because of one.

If something was seriously wrong

If an order was unsafe rather than merely disappointing, tell the restaurant straight away, and tell us at support@fastserve.ioas well. Food safety is the restaurant’s legal responsibility, but we want to know, and a pattern of reports about one restaurant is something we act on.

Invoices are issued by ACTS9 MATCHA PVT LTD, the company FastServe is a product of, at 16/5 Mohideen Terrace, Ward Place, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka. Everything in this part is between your restaurant and that company.

What we invoice for

Two things, on one monthly invoice:

• a subscription for the software;
• a commission on what you sell through it.

Both are billed in your own currency, the one your restaurant is set up in. The commission is worked out on the value of the food and drink you actually sold, after discounts. Tax, service charge, and tips are not part of the base it is calculated on. Figures do not appear on this page because they are agreed per restaurant. Yours are on your invoice and in the agreement between us.

When billing starts

The first month we invoice is the month after the one you signed up in. Whatever day of the month you join, the first of it or the last, the rest of that month is not invoiced. That is not an offer and not a promotion, and we would rather say so plainly than let it read like one. It falls out of how we invoice: we bill whole calendar months once they have closed, and the month you joined in was never a whole month with us.

How an invoice runs

An invoice is raised after the month it covers has closed, so you are never billed for a period that has not finished. It is then issued to you and is payable on the terms in the agreement between us. You can pay by bank transfer, which we record against the invoice when it arrives. A bank transfer for part of the balance is recorded as a part payment and shows against it. You can also pay online where online payment is switched on for your account. An online payment has to be for the full invoice amount, so it is not a way to pay a bit at a time. An invoice is marked paid once the balance reaches zero.

Corrections, credits, and refunds on invoices

If an invoice looks wrong, tell us at support@fastserve.io and we will go through the underlying figures with you.

• An invoice you have not yet paid can be cancelled outright and reissued corrected. This is the normal path and it is clean, because no money has moved.
• An invoice you have already paid is not cancelled after the fact. If a paid invoice turns out to be wrong, we correct it by crediting the difference against a later invoice, or by returning it to you if there is no later invoice to credit it against.

We do not refund the subscription for a month you were live and using the platform simply because you have decided to stop. We would rather put that in the body text than in a footnote.

If an invoice goes unpaid

This is the part restaurants most want in writing, so here it is in full.

If an invoice stays unpaid, we will chase it. If it stays unpaid after that, we pause the account. Pausing has a precise and deliberately narrow meaning.

What stops. The account stops accepting new orders. Diners scanning a QR code cannot start one, and staff cannot start one at the counter.

What keeps working. Any tab that is already open stays open, and can still be added to, corrected, and settled. We are not going to strand you mid service with a full room and a half eaten table. Your staff can finish what has already started.

What is kept. Everything. Menus, prices, photographs, order history, tables, staff accounts, roles, stock, suppliers, recipes, analytics, and every open tab. Nothing is deleted, nothing is archived away from you, and nothing is degraded. A paused account is a switched off account, not a wiped one.

How it comes back. Pay the outstanding invoice and the account reactivates automatically. There is no ticket to raise and no queue to join. Everything is exactly where you left it.

We would far rather talk than pause. If cash flow is the problem, email support@fastserve.io before the invoice ages. Agreeing a way forward is a five minute conversation, and it is a much better outcome for both of us than a dark screen at Friday dinner service.

Closing an account

If you want to stop using FastServe, tell us. We will settle what is outstanding up to the point you stop, and we will agree with you what happens to your data. Our privacy policy covers how long records are kept after that.

Who to ask

Questions about money for a meal go to the restaurant that served it. Questions about a FastServe invoice go to support@fastserve.io.