How payments work
The full booking amount is charged at the time you make the booking, through Paystack's hosted checkout. The money is held in a Jolloyard-owned business account at a Nigerian licensed bank as a refundable prepayment for the service. Jolloyard operates as the merchant of record; we are not acting as an escrow agent on the provider's behalf.
The provider's net-of-commission is released to their bank automatically 2 business days after the service is marked complete, around 2 PM Nigeria time — once the dispute window has closed without an open dispute. Friday and weekend completions release the following Tuesday. Up to that point, the prepayment remains fully refundable per the rules below.
Refunds (from cancellation or a dispute) are processed back to the original card from the held balance. Funds typically land within 3–10 business days depending on your bank or card issuer.
Customer cancellations
You may cancel a confirmed booking at any time before the scheduled service start. The portion of the booking total that is refunded to your card depends on how far in advance you cancel:
- More than 24 hours before the service: 100% refund
- 24 hours to 4 hours before the service: 75% refund
- 4 hours to 45 minutes before the service: 50% refund
- Less than 45 minutes before the service: 35% refund
- After the service has started: cancel is no longer available — see Disputes below
The retained portion compensates the provider for the time they reserved for your booking. Once the service start time has passed, the customer-cancel option is no longer offered; your route at that point is to raise a dispute (Report a Problem) instead.
Pending bookings — full refund
A booking is "pending" until the provider explicitly accepts it. If you cancel while the booking is still pending, you receive a full refund regardless of timing — the provider had not yet committed. The graduated refund tiers above only apply after the provider has confirmed.
5-minute cool-off after acceptance
On every booking, you have a 5-minute cool-off after the professional accepts. If you cancel within those 5 minutes you receive a full refund regardless of how far in advance the booking is — the professional has not yet incurred real cost. After the 5-minute window, the standard cancellation tiers above apply based on how close to the service start time you cancel. The minimum lead time for any booking is 30 minutes from the time you book; bookings made less than 2 hours before the start surface a short-notice warning on the confirm-and-pay screen.
Provider no-response — full refund
Providers have up to 48 hours to confirm a booking, or until 15 minutes before the scheduled start, whichever comes first. If the provider does not confirm in that window the booking is automatically cancelled and you receive a full refund to the original card — no action needed on your part. For short-notice bookings the effective response window is therefore tight (anywhere from 15 minutes to under 2 hours depending on how close to the start time you book), which is why we show a short-notice warning on the confirm-and-pay screen.
Provider cancellations — full refund
If a provider cancels a confirmed booking — whether before the service or once it has started — you receive a full refund to your original card. The provider's cancellation count increases. Repeated provider cancellations may result in reduced visibility on the platform or removal from Jolloyard.
Disputes
If a provider does not show up, delivers a service of unacceptable quality, or there is any other significant issue, you can raise a dispute through the Jolloyard app. The dispute window opens at the scheduled service start time (so "the provider never arrived" reports can be filed mid-service) and closes at 2 PM Nigeria time, 2 business days after the service is marked complete (Friday and weekend completions close the following Tuesday). The window is also the release hold — provider funds are not released until it closes without an open dispute.
How a dispute is reviewed:
- The other party is notified and given a chance to respond
- Our support team reviews both sides — messages on the platform, photos, ratings, and any other evidence submitted
- We aim to resolve disputes within 10 business days
- Possible outcomes: full refund, partial refund (typically 25%, 50%, or 75%), or no refund — depending on the evidence and severity
- Our decision on disputes is final, but you retain any rights you have under Nigerian consumer protection law
What we don't refund
- Customer cancellations made after the service has started — your route is to raise a dispute instead
- Disputes filed after the dispute window has closed (2 PM, 2 business days after the service is marked complete)
- Off-platform payments — only payments made through Jolloyard are eligible for our refund process
- Refund amounts that arise from reasonable provider expenses (e.g. materials already purchased at the customer's explicit request) when supported by evidence
How to request a refund
Cancellation refunds (per the tiers above) are processed automatically when you tap Cancel in the app — no separate request needed. If you believe you're owed a refund that hasn't arrived, or you need to raise a dispute:
- For service quality or no-show issues, raise a dispute from the booking detail screen in the app
- For payment or processing issues, email support@jolloyard.com with the booking reference, the date, and a clear description of the issue
- We respond to refund queries within 3 business days
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Changes apply to bookings made after the update takes effect — bookings already in progress remain governed by the policy in force at the time the booking was created.