Billing and Refund Policy

Last updated: [OWNER DECISION: publication date]. Draft for owner and counsel review.

This policy explains how THEKEY charges for Premium access to a course, how monthly subscriptions renew and end, and how refunds are requested and handled. It forms part of the Terms of Use. The price, schedule and dates that apply to your purchase are shown before you pay, and afterwards in Settings → Billing in the THEKEY app.

1. Ways to buy Premium

  1. One payment: a single charge for Premium on one course, with nothing to renew.
  2. Monthly Premium for a course: a subscription for one course, charged monthly within an academic term or year.
  3. Premium for all your courses: a monthly subscription that gives Premium on every course you are enrolled in at the named institution during the named term or year, where the course has a paid plan. The features and AI allowance on each course come from that course's own plan.

Prices are shown in Saudi Riyals. [OWNER DECISION: whether displayed prices include VAT.] Payments are processed by Stripe, and THEKEY does not store your full card details.

2. Monthly subscriptions

2.1 When you are charged

The first monthly charge is taken when you subscribe, and Premium starts at once. Later charges are taken every month on the same day of the month. If that day does not exist in a month (for example the 31st), the charge falls on the last day of that month.

If you subscribe before the academic term or year begins, you pay one full monthly price on the day you subscribe and Premium starts at once. Your next charge falls one month after the term or year starts, and then monthly on that day. There is no separate charge for the days before the term or year begins.

The monthly price shown when you subscribe is fixed for the life of that subscription; later price changes apply only to new subscriptions. Charges are never prorated.

2.2 When renewals stop

Every monthly subscription belongs to one academic term or year. No renewal is charged on or after 00:00 Riyadh time on the last day of that term or year (the renewal cutoff). Your subscription then ends by itself, and you do not need to cancel it. The last charge before the cutoff still pays for a full month, even when that month runs past the end of the term or year.

Before you subscribe, the app shows the date Premium lasts until if every renewal is paid. Stripe sets the exact charge dates, and Settings → Billing shows your next charge or the date your subscription ends.

2.3 How long Premium lasts

Premium lasts until the end of the last month you paid for (the paid-through date), whether your subscription ends by itself or you cancel it. Section 2.6 describes the exception.

2.4 Cancelling

You can cancel at any time from Settings → Billing in the THEKEY app. Cancelling stops all future charges. Premium continues until the paid-through date, and the current month is not refunded. While a cancellation is scheduled, you can resume the subscription from the same page as long as a further renewal is still possible before the renewal cutoff. Subscriptions are cancelled and resumed only in THEKEY.

2.5 Failed payments

If a monthly charge fails, Premium pauses at the paid-through date; there is no grace period. The charge may be retried automatically, and Settings → Billing and a notice in the app let you update your card or pay the open charge. If the payment then succeeds, Premium returns for the rest of that month. The month still runs from its original start date, so days without Premium are not added back.

A failed charge can be paid until one hour before the renewal cutoff. After that, the unpaid charge is cancelled and not collected, and the subscription ends. You can still update your card at any time.

2.6 When a course becomes unavailable

If a course is archived, hidden or removed by the institution or THEKEY, Premium on that course ends at once and you are not charged for it again; your subscription ends at the end of the current paid month. If the course becomes available again during that month, Premium returns for the rest of the month and you can resume the subscription from Settings → Billing.

[OWNER DECISION: whether any refund is given for the unused part of the month when a course becomes unavailable. The product currently gives no automatic refund in this case.]

2.7 Subscriptions for all your courses

A subscription for all your courses covers a course while you are enrolled in it, the course is available to students, it belongs to the subscription's institution and term or year, and its plan has a paid price. A course you already bought with a one-time payment keeps that Premium and is not counted. If a course stops being covered, Premium from this subscription ends on that course. The subscription continues for your other courses, and ends at the end of the paid month when no course is left.

When a subscription for all your courses starts, your monthly subscriptions for single courses in the same term or year stop renewing. You keep the time you already paid for.

2.8 Promotion codes

Before checkout you can enter a promotion code made for monthly subscriptions. A valid code lowers your monthly charges as its own terms say: the first charge only, a set number of months counted from the day you subscribe, or every charge. Other THEKEY discounts, bundles, price holds and shared payment links do not apply to subscriptions. Promotion codes have no cash value.

3. One-time payments

A one-time payment is a single charge for Premium on one course. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel.

4. Refunds

4.1 How to ask for a refund

Email support@thekey.sa from the address on your THEKEY account. Include the course, the date and amount of the charge, and the receipt, which you can download from Settings → Billing. THEKEY reviews each request. [OWNER DECISION: how many working days THEKEY takes to answer a request.]

4.2 When a refund is given

[OWNER DECISION: the refund rules, for example how many days after a payment a refund can be requested, whether using Premium (the AI tutor, practice sets or exam booking) affects eligibility, whether partial refunds are offered, and how the statutory right to cancel under the Saudi E-Commerce Law applies. Counsel must confirm this section.]

Cancelling a monthly subscription stops future charges only; it does not by itself refund any charge.

4.3 How refunds are paid

Approved refunds are paid back to the original payment method through Stripe. [OWNER DECISION: how long a refund takes to reach the student, for example within N working days.] Your card issuer may take longer to show it.

4.4 What a refund does to your access

  1. One-time payment: when the refund is processed, Premium on that course ends and the course goes back to what its plan offers without payment (for example free access or a trial), unless THEKEY tells you otherwise.
  2. Monthly charge refunded in full: the subscription ends at once and Premium for that month is removed.
  3. Monthly charge refunded in part: the subscription and Premium for that month continue.
  4. A charge that should not have been taken: if a monthly charge is taken on or after the renewal cutoff, or at an amount other than the agreed monthly price less any promotion code, THEKEY refunds it in full automatically.
  5. Payment disputes: if your bank decides a dispute about a monthly charge against THEKEY, the subscription ends at once and Premium for that month is removed.

5. Receipts and billing records

Settings → Billing in the THEKEY app lists your subscriptions with their status, paid-through date and next charge, your saved card, and a receipt for every paid charge, one-time payments included, which you can download.

6. Changes to this policy

THEKEY may update this policy, and the date at the top shows the current version. A change never alters the monthly price of a subscription you already have.

7. Contact

Billing and refund questions: support@thekey.sa. [OWNER DECISION: confirm the billing mailbox; the Terms of Use send billing complaints to privacy@thekey.sa.] Complaints follow section 15 of the Terms of Use.