How can i receive a refund

You receive a refund from Hostworld by opening a billing ticket in your Hostworld account and asking for one. We assess all requests against our Terms of Service and usually issue approved amounts as account credit, or back to the original payment method depending on the reason. Submitting a cancellation request does not trigger a refund.

Before you start

• Check eligibility. Our Terms of Service say refunds are offered on selected web hosting services at our discretion. The 30 day money back guarantee applies only to the first purchase of eligible services, not to renewals. Dedicated servers, domain registrations and third party control panel licence fees such as cPanel or WHM are non refundable. Setup, handling and transaction fees are not refunded.
• Know the route. Refunds are only processed on request via a support ticket. A cancellation request in your account will not produce a refund on its own.
• Expect account credit. We typically issue refunds as account credit. We can in some cases refund via the original payment method, depending on the reason. Tell us in your ticket if you prefer one outcome.
• Time limits for uptime claims. Our SLA says open the claim within 3 days of the incident, while our Uptime page says by the last working day of the month. Use the stricter rule. Raise the billing ticket immediately and include dates and times of impact.
• Back up before cancelling anything. In WHMCS, choosing Immediate on a Cancellation Request can run a termination on the provisioned service. For a cPanel account or a VPS this can delete data. Take your backups first.
• Have your details to hand. You will need the service name, the invoice number and your reason for requesting a refund. If you paid in cryptocurrency, know that refunds are calculated using the GBP value at the time we process the refund.

Step 1: Confirm your order is eligible

Read the relevant parts of our Terms of Service first. The 30 day money back guarantee is for the first purchase of eligible hosting only. It does not cover renewals. Non refundable items include dedicated servers, domain registrations and third party control panel licensing fees, for example cPanel or WHM. Where a refund is approved within 30 days, any setup, handling or transaction fees are deducted.

Why this matters: it prevents wasted time and stops you cancelling something you still need, only to find it was not refundable.

Undo: if you are unsure about eligibility, do not cancel the service. Move to Step 3 and ask us in a billing ticket before taking action.

Step 2: Gather the details we need

• Service: the product or plan name as shown in your Hostworld account.
• Invoice number: the paid invoice you want refunded or credited. The invoice number appears on the invoice itself in your account.
• Reason: tell us why you are requesting a refund. This guides whether we issue account credit or return funds via the payment gateway.
• For uptime or SLA claims: include the start and end times of the impact, the date, and which service was affected. Give the timezone.
• Payment method: card, PayPal, bank or cryptocurrency. If crypto, remember the refund will be calculated using the GBP value at the time of processing.

Why this matters: complete information speeds up verification and stops back and forth later.

Undo: if you later notice a mistake in what you sent, reply to the same ticket with the correction. Keep all replies in one thread so we do not miss context.

Step 3: Open a billing ticket to request the refund

Open a billing ticket from your Hostworld account. Use this direct link: open a support ticket. If asked to choose a department, select Billing. Include the service name, invoice number and your reason. State if you would prefer account credit or a refund to the original payment method. We will confirm what is possible under the Terms.

Important: a Cancellation Request is not a refund request. If you only submit a cancellation, no refund will be processed.

Undo: opened the ticket to the wrong department or created duplicates. Reply to one of the tickets asking us to merge or close the others. We will tidy it so nothing is missed.

Step 4: If your request is about uptime or SLA, provide timings now

For uptime related credits, include exact dates and times of the incident and which service was affected. Our Service Level Agreement defines the credit bands based on monthly uptime:

• 99.0% to 99.89%: 10% monthly credit
• 98.0% to 98.99%: 25% monthly credit
• Below 98.0%: 50% monthly credit

Our SLA says claims must be opened within 3 days of the incident. The Uptime Guarantee page says submit by the last working day of the month. Follow the stricter rule. Open the billing ticket as soon as you can and include the timings. Approved credits are issued as account credit.

Undo: if you think you are late, open the ticket anyway with full details. We will review it against the applicable policy. Waiting longer will not help.

Step 5: Do not cancel to try to trigger a refund

If you also want to cancel the service, do that after we have answered your refund request, unless you have already backed up everything and are ready to lose access. In WHMCS you can choose Immediate or End of Current Billing Cycle when submitting a Cancellation Request. Immediate can end access for an automated product and delete data, for example a cPanel account or a VPS.

Why this matters: cancellation can run the module’s Terminate command. Data loss may be irreversible.

Undo: if you clicked Immediate by mistake, open a support ticket at once. Tell us the service and time you submitted the cancellation. If the system has not terminated yet we can try to hold it. If it has completed, we will check if any backups exist. Recovery is not guaranteed.

Step 6: Understand how the refund will be paid and how it shows on your account

By default we issue refunds as account credit that you can use against future invoices. Depending on the reason, we may refund via the original payment gateway instead. Tell us your preference in the ticket. We will confirm what is possible.

WHMCS keeps invoices immutable once issued. Refunds and adjustments create separate credit notes so the original invoice stays unchanged. When we refund a paid invoice, WHMCS generates the credit note automatically. If we add credit to your account, you will see your available credit on future invoices. WHMCS shows a red box on an unpaid invoice when there is credit available to apply.

Why this matters: it sets expectations. You know what to look for and how to use it. It also avoids confusion if the original invoice does not change.

Undo: if you prefer money back rather than account credit, say so in your ticket before we process the refund. Once a gateway refund has been sent, it cannot be converted to account credit. If you apply credit to the wrong invoice, reply to your ticket. We can review and adjust the credit balance in your account ledger.

Step 7: If you used PayPal or card and have a dispute open, read this

If a PayPal or Stripe dispute is opened, managing it inside WHMCS has consequences. Closing a dispute in WHMCS is final and submits a full refund through the gateway. Some gateways add dispute fees. Payment reversals are gateway dependent. For example, PayPal Checkout supports reversals in WHMCS. Stripe card reversals do not.

It is better to request the refund through your billing ticket first. We can then process it cleanly as a credit or a gateway refund without dispute fees.

Overpayments from duplicate PayPal subscriptions can create an account credit automatically. If you see unexpected credit or multiple payments, check in PayPal for old or duplicate subscriptions that should be cancelled to avoid future overpayments.

Undo: if you have already opened a dispute, tell us in your ticket. Do not click to close the dispute in WHMCS unless you intend a full refund via the gateway. We will advise the next step based on the payment gateway used.

Step 8: If you paid with cryptocurrency

When a refund is approved for a cryptocurrency payment, the amount is calculated using the GBP value at the time we process the refund. We typically issue refunds as account credit. If you want us to consider returning funds via the original method, state that in your ticket and we will confirm what is possible under the Terms.

Undo: if you disagree with the calculated GBP value when you see it, reply to the same ticket immediately so we can recheck the rate we used at the processing time.

Step 9: Track the outcome and use your credit

We will reply to your ticket with the decision and the method. If approved, you will see a credit note against the original invoice and, where applicable, an increased account credit balance. On your next unpaid invoice, look for the red box that shows available credit and apply it to part or all of the invoice total.

Undo: if you do not see the credit or credit note after our confirmation, reply to the ticket and include the invoice number you expected it to appear on. We will check your ledger in WHMCS and update you.

What next

• If you are weighing up keeping or cancelling a VPS, read our VPS guides for practical tasks like snapshots and backups in Virtualizor before you decide.
• Planning a replacement server in the UK. See our Linux VPS options hosted in our Maidenhead data centre.
• If you need us to review your situation, including eligibility, timing or payment method, open a support ticket to Billing and we will help.