Refund Policy

What is refundable, for diners and for restaurants, in plain English. Where a window or a rate applies, this page reads the live setting rather than quoting a number that might have moved.

1. The short version

Most coupons are free to claim, and the meal is always paid for in person, directly to the restaurant — we never handle that, and a refund on food is between you and the restaurant. But there are things you can pay us for, and this policy covers each of them, plus restaurant subscriptions.

• A paid coupon claim → refunded if the restaurant stops honouring it before you could redeem
• A prepaid voucher or pack → unspent value returns to your DealsBanana wallet after the period shown at purchase
• An event ticket → cancel yourself before the cut-off on the event page for a full refund; automatic if the host cancels
• A catering deposit → in full 14+ days before the event, 50% in the window before that, none close to the event (details)
• An event-space deposit → in full 30+ days before the event, 50% in the window before that, none close to the event (details)
• A lunch pre-order → cancel for a refund any time before its fulfilment time
• A restaurant subscription → see restaurant subscriptions below

2. Paid coupon claims

Some coupons carry a claim price, always shown before you claim. The discount still applies in person; the claim price is what you paid us to hold it.

• If the restaurant closes, or stops honouring the coupon, before you could redeem it → refunded in full.
• If we cancel a coupon because of an error on our side or the restaurant's → refunded in full.
• If you simply did not use it before it expired → not refundable, the same as a free coupon.

Ask through the contact form with the coupon name; refunds go back to the original card.

3. Prepaid vouchers and packs

A voucher is money paid up front to be spent in store — pay less, carry more. A pack is a fixed count of something, bought up front.

• Value you have not spent by the end of the holding period shown at purchase is returned automatically as DealsBanana wallet credit, which you can spend on anything on the platform.
• Wallet credit is store credit: it can be spent here and is not withdrawable as cash.
• If the restaurant closes before you could use the voucher, contact us — we return the unused value.

4. Event tickets

Restaurants host ticketed evenings — a tasting, a chai evening, a themed night. Some are free, some are paid, and some are paid at the venue.

• You cancel: you can cancel your own ticket up to 48 hours before the event starts, from the event page, and a paid ticket is refunded in full. After that the control disappears, because the restaurant has already bought for your seat — contact the restaurant directly at that point. Nothing can be cancelled once the event has started.
• The host cancels, or the event is called off for not reaching its minimum attendance before it starts: every paid ticket is refunded automatically, with no action from you. A payment that arrives after an event was cancelled is refunded automatically too.
• Pay-at-venue tickets: nothing was charged, so there is nothing to refund. Releasing the seat is the courteous thing to do.

5. Catering deposits and balances

Accepting a caterer's quote means paying a deposit of 30% of the quoted total to confirm the booking. The caterer — not you — pays DealsBanana a commission of 20% on the job total, taken from that deposit.

• The deposit is held and released to the caterer about 48 hours after it clears, so there is a window in which a booking made in error can be unwound.
• The balance is released to the caterer about 7 days after the event.
• Cancelling yourself (from your request page, any time before the event): 14 or more days before the event, the whole deposit comes back; 7–13 days before, 50% of it; closer than 7 days the caterer has bought food and staffed the job and the deposit is theirs. The balance is never charged after a cancellation — if you had already paid it, it comes back in full. Your page shows the exact figure before you confirm.
• If the caterer cancels, or never confirms, the deposit is returned in full.

6. Event-space deposits

A venue may ask for a deposit to hold a date for an event. It is paid by card, and paying it confirms the date.

• Cancel at least 30 days before the event and the deposit is refunded in full.
• Between 14 and 29 days before, 50% of it comes back; closer than that the venue has turned other enquiries away and keeps it — though the venue, or we, may still choose to refund. You cancel from your enquiry page, which shows the exact figure first.
• A deposit request you never pay expires by itself after 72 hours, and the date it was holding is released.
• If the venue cancels on you, or loses your date, the deposit is returned in full.

The exact window, and the amount, are shown on the deposit request before you pay. We take no commission on an event-space deposit.

7. LunchBox office lunch

Where LunchBox is live, an order is paid when you place it and delivered to your building's reception around the ready time on the order.

• Cancel any time until the ordering cutoff shown on your order (usually 11:00) and you are refunded in full, from your order page.
• After the cutoff the kitchen is cooking your box, so the order can no longer be cancelled or refunded.
• A box left uncollected at reception is not refunded; the restaurant is paid a few hours after delivery whether or not you tap “I collected it”. If your box is missing or wrong, report it from your order page straight away, before that happens.
• Cancelling a launch-offer order before the cutoff frees the offer for a later order.
• A pre-order paid from a prepaid pack returns units to the pack rather than money.
• A Last Call portion is never refunded — that small payment is what stops no-shows wasting surplus food.
• If the restaurant cancels, or the batch never arrives, you are refunded in full automatically.

8. How long a refund takes

• DealsBanana wallet credit: immediately.
• Card refund: 5–10 business days, depending on your bank.

We cannot refund to a different card from the one that paid, and we never ask for card details to process a refund. If anyone does, it is not us.

9. What is not refundable

• A free coupon that expired unredeemed.
• Food you have eaten, or a dish you did not enjoy — speak to the restaurant.
• Anything obtained or used through fraud, automation, resale or abuse.
• Repeated requests from an account flagged for refund abuse.

10. Restaurant subscriptions

Restaurants pay a subscription to publish coupons. There is no commission on a coupon redeemed in the restaurant.

Automatic, with nothing to do:

• You were charged after cancelling.
• You were billed twice for the same period.
• A payment was taken on an account already comped or downgraded.

Ask us, within 24 hours of the charge:

• You believe a subscription charge was made in error.
• You were charged a different amount from your selected plan.
• Your account was suspended outside the published terms while a paid period was active.

Support reviews within 24 hours and decisions are issued within 3 business days.

Not refundable: the part of a period you have already used; dissatisfaction with how many diners claimed your coupons; charges disputed more than 24 hours after they appear; accounts suspended for fraud or terms violations.

11. Cancelling a subscription

Cancelling stops future renewals. Your published coupons stay live through the end of the period you have already paid for, after which the account is deactivated until you resubscribe. Moving between paid plans is prorated.

12. Disputes and chargebacks

Please give us a chance to fix a billing problem before going to your bank. Filing a chargeback while we are investigating freezes the charge under review. We honour legitimate chargebacks and contest disputes that bypass our process.

Restaurants can track an open dispute on the disputes dashboard, which shows the deadline to respond and a form for evidence. Missing the deadline loses the disputed amount automatically.

13. Contact

Stuck on a refund? Use the contact form or email support@dealsbanana.com. See also the Customer Agreement, the Vendor Agreement and the Coupon Terms.