What happens to your money when you cancel

Sessions fall through. Someone gets sick, a flight moves, a track is not ready. What you get back depends on the studio's cancellation policy, how much notice you gave, and who did the cancelling.

The policy belongs to the studio, and it locks when you book

Every listing shows its cancellation policy before you pay, and studios pick their own, so it is worth reading rather than assuming. The policy showing at the moment you book is locked to your booking, even if the studio changes it later.

The three policies

• Flexible. Full refund of the studio rate if you cancel at least 24 hours before the session starts.
• Moderate. Full refund of the studio rate up to 5 days before. After that, half, until the session ends.
• Strict. Half the studio rate up to 7 days before. After that, nothing.

The cutoff counts in your favour. Cancelling exactly 24 hours before a flexible booking still gets you the full refund.

The service fee is not part of it

The Soundbooked service fee is kept when you cancel, on every policy. A full refund on a flexible booking means the full studio rate, not the fee that sat on top of it.

Cancelling after the session has ended

There is no refund on any policy once the session is over, including a moderate booking, which otherwise pays half back.

If the studio cancels instead

You get everything back, the studio rate and the service fee, whichever policy the listing carried. The policy tiers only ever apply to a guest cancelling.

The same applies if we cancel a booking ourselves, which happens if a listing is suspended after you booked it.

How to cancel

Open the booking from your Bookings page and choose Cancel booking. You are asked for a reason and the studio sees it. Nothing forces you to give one, but the cancellation sits on the booking either way, so a line of explanation costs you nothing.

When the money comes back

The refund is sent to your original payment method as soon as the cancellation goes through, and normally lands within five business days. Your bank controls the exact timing. It comes back as money, not as credit on Soundbooked.

If you asked to book and the studio has not accepted yet, nothing has been charged, so there is nothing to refund. Cancelling that request costs you nothing.

When the problem is the studio, not your plans

If you turn up and the room is not what the listing promised, do not just cancel and take the policy hit. Message the studio from the booking so there is a written record, and contact support. The policy tiers are for a change of plan, not for a room that was misdescribed, and we can look at a booking that went wrong.