Refunds and cancellations

Most of our refunds are issued automatically — you don't have to ask. The two paths below cover almost every case.

You changed your mind: cancel before we mail it

If you decide you don't want the letter sent after paying, you can cancel for a full refund up until the point we hand it off to USPS. From your dashboard, open the letter and click Cancel and refund. The refund hits Stripe immediately and shows up on your card within 5-10 business days, depending on your bank.

Once we've handed the letter to USPS — usually within a few hours of payment — we can no longer cancel. The letter is in the mail at that point. If your landlord ends up paying before our letter arrives, that's a good outcome regardless: you got the deposit back, and the letter served as the precipitating action. No refund applies in that case because the service we provided (the letter) was delivered.

We couldn't deliver the letter: automatic full refund

Sometimes we can't successfully deliver a letter — most commonly because the landlord's address turned out to be invalid (typo, moved, address doesn't exist), or because USPS returned the letter as undeliverable. When that happens:

1. We mark the case as failed in your dashboard.
2. We automatically issue a full refund through Stripe — no need to contact us.
3. You get an email explaining what happened and confirming the refund.

The refund is for the entire amount you paid, including any add-ons. It typically appears back on your card within 5-10 business days.

Common scenarios

"I think I made a typo in the landlord's address."

If you catch it before we mail (within an hour or two of payment), cancel and start a new case with the corrected address. If you catch it after, the letter will likely come back to us as undeliverable — at which point our automatic-refund flow kicks in. Either way you don't pay for an undelivered letter.

"My landlord paid before the letter arrived."

Great outcome. You don't owe us anything additional, but we also don't refund the cost of the letter — you paid for the letter to be drafted and mailed (which we did), and the landlord's payment is the result we promised would be more likely after sending it. Mark the outcome as full return in your dashboard so we can update our public response-rate stats.

"The letter was delivered but my landlord ignored it."

No refund applies here either — we delivered the service we sold. The next step is escalation, either through a follow-up notice (which we offer as a separate purchase) or by filing in small-claims court. See how follow-up notices work.

"I never got the letter back / no signed receipt."

Lob (our certified mail provider) provides USPS tracking and delivery confirmation directly. The signed receipt or in-mailbox confirmation lives in your case dashboard once USPS processes it. If 14 days have passed since dispatch with no delivery scan, email us — we'll check on the tracking and either confirm delivery or trigger the failure refund flow.

How to ask

For automatic refunds (failed delivery, pre-mailing cancellations) you don't need to do anything — they happen on their own. For everything else, email hi@securitydepositback.com with your case number (you'll see it in your dashboard URL) and a one-line description of the situation. We respond within one business day.

Chargebacks

If you initiate a chargeback through your card issuer for a service we delivered (a letter that was successfully mailed and confirmed delivered), we'll provide Stripe with the case record, the dispatch confirmation, and the USPS delivery receipt. Chargebacks for delivered services are typically not upheld by the card networks. We'd much rather sort this out via email.