📘 CT-SOP-109.1.9 — Refund Automation & Payment Retry SOP

Effective Date: July 27, 2025 Applies To: Finance Ops, CLO, Affiliate Admin, Platform Support Teams, CTO Review Cycle: Quarterly or upon billing integration updates Related Legal Depot Sections: Sections 4.4, 6.1.6, CrownThriveU Addendum, Affiliate Terms

1. Purpose

To standardize and automate refund logic and payment retry systems while remaining compliant with U.S. consumer protection laws, Stripe terms, and affiliate compensation policies. Also ensures that users know what to expect—and bad actors can’t exploit the system.

2. Scope

This SOP applies to:

• All Stripe-connected CrownThrive platforms
• Digital products, courses, subscriptions, memberships, services, and donations
• Physical products (Melanin Magic, ThriveWick, ThriveThreads)
• Any affiliate sale tied to a payout
• Any recurring (monthly/annual) billing scenario

3. Required Inputs

4. Process Steps

4.1 Step 1: Refund Request Intake

• User may request refund within:
• 7 days (digital services & one-time courses)
• 14 days (subscriptions and memberships)
• 30 days (physical products with return required)
• Requests must:
• Be submitted through dashboard or
• Include Order ID or email match
• CLO reserves right to override policy in case of:
• System error, double charge, or proven fraud

4.2 Step 2: Eligibility Verification

• System checks:
• Was refund window missed?
• Was product/service already consumed?
• Was an affiliate paid for this order?
• If affiliate was paid:
• Refund triggers commission reversal
• Affected affiliate notified in dashboard

4.3 Step 3: Refund Decision

• Eligible:
• Refund issued to original payment method
• User notified with confirmation
• Ineligible:
• Support sends explanation with link to policy
• User may escalate to Tier 2 (see SOP 106.1.6)

4.4 Step 4: Automation Logging

• Refund log recorded in:
• Stripe dashboard
• ThrivePush history (email receipt + refund)
• CrownLytics for data insight

5. Payment Retry Logic

5.1 Automatic Retry System

• Triggered when:
• Subscription renewal fails
• Declined credit card or expired billing info
• Stripe attempts:
• Retry 1: 24 hours
• Retry 2: 3 days later
• Retry 3: 7 days later
• If still failed:
• User account is suspended or downgraded
• Notification sent to email + dashboard

5.2 Subscription Downgrade Handling

• If payment fails after retries:
• Cancel subscription or remove access
• Mark user as “Billing Inactive”
• Do not attempt billing again unless user updates card manually

6. Chargebacks & Fraud

• All chargebacks must be:
• Responded to within 3 business days
• Include: proof of delivery, login records, refund policy screenshot
• If chargeback is lost:
• Member is blacklisted internally (see SOP 105.1.5)
• Instructor or affiliate commission is also reversed (if applicable)

7. Escalation Contacts

8. Compliance Markers

✅ Refund window enforced per product ✅ Refund logs synced to Stripe and ThrivePush ✅ Affiliate commissions reversed fairly ✅ Stripe retries managed automatically ✅ Chargebacks responded to with documentation ✅ Support team follows appeal logic (SOP 106.1.6)

9. Version Control

• Version: 1.0
• Last Updated: July 27, 2025
• Maintained By: CLO + Finance Ops
• Next Review Due: October 2025 or upon billing stack change