Credit-safety policy.

1. What a credit is

A practice credit is the unit of consumption inside the Bandlingo app. Every credit buys you one of the following:

Activity	Credits
One full Speaking, Writing, Reading or Listening practice attempt — AI-scored	5
The same attempt — escalated to examiner review	+3 (8 total)
A full mock test across all four modules	20
Cross-exam score-conversion report	0 (free)

2. When credits are charged

Credits are deducted at one specific moment: when the scoring engine has produced a result and that result is visible inside your account. Not when you start a practice. Not when you upload audio. Not when the network gets flaky.

You will see the deduction reflected in your credit pill within 5 seconds of the score being shown.

3. When credits are never charged

• Upload failures. Your microphone cut out, your network dropped, the file didn't reach our servers.
• Scoring failures on our side. Our grader timed out, returned an internal error, or could not produce a score within 5 minutes.
• Examiner-review backlog. If you escalated to examiner review and we miss the SLA (24 hours during business days), the +3 credits are refunded automatically.
• Duplicate attempts. If you submit the same recording twice within 60 seconds — usually from a double-tap — only the first attempt is charged.
• Test-content errors. If a practice item has a corrupt audio file, an unreadable image, or a known-bad rubric, the entire attempt is refunded.

4. Failures and retries

When something breaks, the app shows the exact line: "Upload failed — you have not been charged. Tap to retry." We surface the failure mode in plain English, never as a generic error code, and never with an icon you have to interpret.

Retries are unlimited and free until you have a successful, scored attempt. There is no rate-limit on retries from the credit side; only your network speed matters.

5. Expiry and rollover

• Paid credits never expire. Buy 100 today, use the last one in 2029 — same outcome.
• Trial credits expire after 7 days. Unused trial credits are forfeited at midnight IST on day 7.
• Promotional credits follow whatever expiry was stated at the time of award. If no expiry was stated, they do not expire.
• Rollover between plans: If you upgrade from Crack the Test to Full Journey, unused Crack credits convert 1:1 into Full Journey practice credits. Trial credits do not roll over.

6. Disputing a charge

If you believe a credit was deducted in error, tap the credit pill in your dashboard, select the disputed attempt from your history, and choose "Dispute this charge". We respond within 1 business day. Most disputes are resolved within the hour because our logs show exactly which step failed.

If the system disagrees with you and you still believe the charge is wrong, email credits@bandlingo.edu with the attempt ID. A human will review and reply within 2 business days.