Legal

Dispute policy

Last updated September 10, 2026

Version: 1.0 (draft for legal review) · Last updated: [[EFFECTIVE_DATE]] · Effective: [[EFFECTIVE_DATE]]

Draft. This document has not yet been reviewed by counsel and contains placeholders in [[double brackets]] that must be completed before it takes effect.

Preliminary: what this policy is, and what it is not

This policy governs disputes between two users about a Deal where money is held in escrow by [[COMPANY_LEGAL_NAME]] (“Bizik”). It is incorporated into the Terms of Service.

⚠ Read this before anything else.

What a mediator’s ruling is. When you enter a Deal, you and your counterparty jointly instruct us to hold money and to release it according to agreed conditions. Where you cannot agree whether those conditions are met, you both authorise a Bizik mediator to determine where the money we hold should go. The ruling is a contractual determination of the destination of funds, made under the authority you gave us.

What a ruling is not.

It is not a judgment and the mediator is not a judge or an arbitrator.
It does not decide who was legally right. It decides where the escrowed money goes.
It does not extinguish your claims against your counterparty. If you believe you are owed more than the ruling gave you, you remain free to pursue your counterparty in court, in arbitration, or by any other lawful means.
It does not remove any right you have as a consumer, and it does not prevent you from going to a court that has jurisdiction over you or your counterparty.
It does not bind a court. A court may reach a different conclusion, and if it does, the court’s conclusion prevails between you and your counterparty.

We are neutral. We are not on either side, we do not benefit from either outcome, and our service fees are the same whichever way a Dispute is decided.

Disputes with Bizik itself — about our service, our fees, a freeze or an error we made — are not dealt with here. They are dealt with under section 23 of the Terms of Service.

1. Opening a dispute

1.1 Who may open one

Either party to a Deal — the Payer or the Payee — may open a Dispute.

1.2 What can be disputed

A Dispute is opened against a specific Milestone. The Milestone must be:

funded — there is money in escrow. There is nothing for us to determine if there is not; and
not yet released — once money has left escrow, we no longer hold it and cannot redistribute it.

You cannot open a Dispute over a Milestone that was never funded, one that has already been released, or one that was cancelled before funding. If money has already been released and you believe it should not have been, tell us — we will investigate — but your remedy against your counterparty lies outside this policy.

1.3 When to open one

Before the inspection period expires.

⚠ This is the single most important timing rule in the Platform. When the Payee submits a delivery, an inspection period runs — between 3 and 14 days, as agreed when the Deal was created, and 5 days by default. If the Payer does nothing before it expires, the money is released automatically to the Payee.

Opening a Dispute before expiry stops the clock. Automatic release is suspended for as long as the Dispute is live.

We show the Payer the exact date and time of automatic release when the delivery is submitted, and we remind them before it arrives. Once the money is released, this policy can no longer help.

1.4 Grounds

A Dispute is opened on one of the following grounds:

Ground	Use it when
Non-delivery	Nothing was delivered at all
Incomplete work	Part of what was agreed was delivered; part was not
Quality below specification	It was delivered but does not meet what was agreed
Scope creep	You are being asked to do or pay for more than was agreed
Communication breakdown	The other party has stopped responding and the Deal cannot progress
Other	Anything else — describe it fully

Choose the ground that best fits. Choosing the wrong label will not defeat a well-evidenced claim, but a vague description will weaken it.

1.5 What you must provide

A clear statement of what you say went wrong.
What you want: full release, full refund, or a specific split, with the reasoning.
Your supporting evidence (§2).

1.6 What happens immediately

The Milestone status becomes disputed, and the escrowed money is frozen. Neither party can release, refund or withdraw it while the Dispute is live.
Automatic release is suspended.
The other party is notified and the response period begins.
A timeline is opened, recording every step, with timestamps, visible to both parties.

1.7 Talk first

You are not required to, but most Deals go wrong through misunderstanding rather than bad faith. Message the other party through the Deal first. A Dispute freezes both parties’ money and takes days; a conversation may take minutes.

We may also use the reminder feature to nudge whichever party the Deal is waiting on before matters escalate.

2. Evidence windows

2.1 The response period

⚠ The responding party has three (3) days from notification to respond.

Notification is sent through the Platform and to the contact details on the account, which may include push notification, email, SMS and WhatsApp. Keep your contact details current: a notification sent to a stale address is still a notification.

2.2 If the responding party does not respond

If no response is filed within three days, the Dispute proceeds to review without their input. The mediator decides on the material before them.

⚠ Silence is not an admission, and it does not produce an automatic win for the party who filed. The mediator still requires the claim to be made out on the evidence. But a party who does not answer loses the chance to explain, contradict or produce their own evidence, and in practice that is often decisive.

2.3 What counts as evidence

Anything that helps establish what was agreed and what happened, including:

the Deal description, milestone definitions and delivery dates as recorded on the Platform;
the delivery submission and its attachments;
photographs, screenshots, documents, files, and delivery or tracking records;
messages between the parties, whether on the Platform or elsewhere;
third-party records — a courier’s proof of delivery, an inspection report, a receipt.

2.4 Filing evidence

Both parties may file evidence and messages while the Dispute is open. Evidence is filed through the Platform so that it is timestamped and visible to both sides and to the mediator.

The mediator may request specific further evidence and set a deadline for it. If you cannot meet a deadline, say so before it passes and explain why.

2.5 Rules about evidence

⚠ These rules matter, and breaking them has consequences beyond the Dispute.

Do not fabricate, alter or misattribute evidence. Doing so is a breach of the Terms of Service and may be a criminal offence. It will be reported and will result in a decision against you and, in a serious case, closure of your account.
Both parties see the evidence. Do not file anything you are not willing for your counterparty to read. If a document contains information that must stay private, redact it before filing.
File what is relevant. Volume is not weight. Ten well-chosen items beat two hundred screenshots.
Evidence you keep back cannot be considered. The mediator decides on what is filed.
Off-platform evidence is admissible, but on-platform records are inherently more reliable because we can verify when they were created. If you agreed something important by voice or in another chat, that is exactly the kind of thing that becomes hard to prove.
Files must be within the size and format limits the Platform states, and must not contain malware.

2.6 Confidentiality

Dispute material is used to resolve the Dispute, to meet our legal obligations, and to defend a claim. Neither party may publish the other’s evidence, or the ruling, in a way that identifies the other party, except as necessary to take legal advice or to bring or defend proceedings.

3. How mediators decide

3.1 Who mediates

A Dispute is assigned to a trained Bizik mediator. Mediators act independently of our commercial functions. A mediator who has any interest in the outcome, or a relationship with either party, must decline the assignment.

Either party may object to an assigned mediator by giving reasons at [[SUPPORT_EMAIL]] before the ruling. Where the objection is well-founded, the Dispute is reassigned.

3.2 The standard applied

The mediator asks: on the material before me, and on the balance of probabilities, what did these two people agree, and did it happen?

The mediator applies the Deal itself first. What the parties wrote when they created the Deal — the description, the deliverables, the dates, the amounts — is the primary reference. Where the Deal is silent or ambiguous, the mediator considers the parties’ conduct and communications, and what is customary and reasonable for a transaction of that kind.

The mediator does not apply a legal standard of proof, does not take evidence on oath, does not hold a hearing, and does not decide questions of law.

3.3 What the mediator weighs

What was agreed, as recorded when the Deal was created.
What was delivered, and whether it corresponds.
Timing — was the delivery on time, and did the other party act within the periods allowed?
Conduct — did each party act in good faith, respond, and try to resolve matters?
Documentary reliability — an on-platform, timestamped record carries more weight than a later assertion.
Partial performance — where some value was delivered, a split usually reflects reality better than an all-or-nothing outcome.

3.4 The suggested resolution

The Platform generates a suggested resolution for the mediator, derived from the Deal’s history and the dispute record.

⚠ It is a prompt, not a decision. The mediator is not bound by it, and a ruling is not valid unless a named mediator has considered the material and made the decision. No Dispute is determined by an automated system alone. Either party may ask, after the ruling, whether the mediator departed from the suggestion — and the ruling’s reasons will show it either way.

3.5 Escalation

A mediator may escalate a Dispute to a senior reviewer where it is unusually complex or high-value, where the parties’ accounts cannot be reconciled, where an allegation of fraud arises, or where a compliance concern appears. Escalation extends the timeline; both parties are told.

3.6 Timing

We aim to rule within [[MEDIATION_TARGET_DAYS]] days of the close of the response period. Complex or escalated Disputes take longer. Both parties can see the current status in the Deal.

3.7 Settlement at any time

The parties may settle at any point before the ruling, and are encouraged to. A settlement is recorded and given effect through the Platform, and the Dispute is closed.

3.8 Compliance overrides mediation

Where a Dispute discloses a matter we are required to act on — sanctions, suspected laundering, suspected fraud — our compliance obligations take precedence. The money may be frozen for longer than the Dispute process would require, and we may be unable to explain why. See the AML / KYC Policy, section 4.4.

4. Outcomes

4.1 The three rulings

A mediator may rule in one of three ways, and only these three:

Ruling	Effect
Full release	The whole disputed amount is released from escrow to the Payee
Full refund	The whole disputed amount is returned from escrow to the Payer
Partial split	The disputed amount is divided between the parties in the proportions the mediator specifies

4.2 Reasons

Every ruling is given with reasons, recorded in the Dispute timeline, and visible to both parties. A ruling without reasons is not a ruling.

4.3 Fees on a disputed Milestone

The Payer’s service fee was charged at funding and is not refunded, because the service — holding the money and adjudicating — was provided. [[FEE_ON_DISPUTE_CONFIRM]]
The Payee’s release fee is charged only on an amount actually released to the Payee. On a full refund, no Payee fee is charged. On a split, it is charged on the Payee’s share.
Third-party payment charges already incurred are not recoverable from us.

Drafting note — remove before publication: counsel to confirm §4.3 against consumer-protection rules on fees retained where the consumer prevails.

4.4 How the money moves

The ruling is executed automatically once given. Funds move to the wallet of the party or parties entitled, from where they may be withdrawn subject to the usual verification and approval controls. Where an account is frozen or under review, the funds are credited but remain restricted.

4.5 Effect on the Deal

A ruling resolves the disputed Milestone. Other Milestones of the same Deal continue according to their own terms, unless the ruling or the parties provide otherwise.

4.6 What a ruling does not do

It does not award damages, interest, costs, or any sum beyond the money we hold. It does not order anyone to do anything — to deliver, to redo work, to apologise, or to return goods. The mediator can only decide where the escrowed money goes. If you want more than that, you need a court or an arbitrator.

4.7 Goods already delivered

Where the ruling refunds the Payer and goods have already been delivered, the Payee may be entitled to their return. We cannot order or arrange that. It is a matter between you, and if agreement is not reached, a matter for a court. Mediators take the position of delivered goods into account when deciding whether a split is fairer than a full refund.

5. Appeals

5.1 The right to ask for a review

A party may request a review of a ruling within [[APPEAL_WINDOW_DAYS]] days of being notified of it, by writing to [[SUPPORT_EMAIL]] with the Deal reference and the grounds.

5.2 Grounds for review

A review is not a second attempt at the same argument. It is available where:

procedural unfairness — you were not notified, or were prevented from filing evidence within the period allowed;
material evidence not previously available — evidence you could not reasonably have filed at the time, with an explanation of why;
an obvious error — the ruling misstates the amount, the parties, the Milestone, or contradicts its own reasons;
conflict of interest on the part of the mediator, not known at the time.

Disagreeing with the mediator’s assessment of the evidence is not a ground for review.

5.3 How a review is conducted

A different and more senior reviewer, who was not involved in the original ruling, considers the request. They may uphold the ruling, vary it, or set it aside and re-decide.

We aim to complete a review within [[APPEAL_TARGET_DAYS]] days. The outcome is given with reasons.

5.4 Effect of a request for review

Funds already moved are not automatically clawed back. Where a review changes the outcome and the funds are still with us, we will correct the position. Where they have already been withdrawn, we will ask the recipient to return them; we cannot compel them, and the correction may then be a matter between the parties.

For that reason a review is most effective when requested promptly.

5.5 The decision on review is final within the Platform

Once a review is decided, our internal process is exhausted. There is no further internal appeal.

5.6 ⚠ Your rights outside the Platform are untouched

Exhausting this process does not stop you from:

pursuing your counterparty in court, including a court that has jurisdiction where you live;
pursuing them in arbitration, if your contract with them provides for it;
reporting a crime to the police, if you believe you were defrauded;
complaining to a consumer or regulatory authority;
bringing a claim against us, under section 23 of the Terms of Service, if you say we handled the money or the process wrongly.

Nothing in this policy is a waiver of any of that, and any clause of it that purported to be such a waiver would be ineffective to that extent.

6. Abuse of the dispute process

Opening Disputes without genuine grounds, to delay payment, to pressure a counterparty, or as a matter of routine, is a breach of the Terms of Service. So is fabricating evidence, and so is threatening a Dispute in order to extract something you are not owed.

We monitor dispute patterns. Where we find abuse we may restrict a user’s ability to open Disputes, decline to adjudicate, suspend or close the account, and report the matter where a criminal offence appears to have been committed.

Equally, a Payee who systematically fails to deliver and relies on Payers letting the inspection period lapse will be identified by the same monitoring.

7. Statuses you will see

Status	Meaning
Filed	The Dispute has been opened; the money is frozen
Awaiting response	The other party has been notified and the 3-day period is running
Under review	A mediator is considering it
Escalated	Referred to a senior reviewer
Resolved	A ruling has been given and executed
Auto-ruled	Determined without a response from one party, under §2.2

8. Contact

Purpose	Contact
Open a Dispute	In the Deal, on the Platform
Question about a live Dispute	[[SUPPORT_EMAIL]] with the Deal reference
Request a review of a ruling	[[SUPPORT_EMAIL]], within the window in §5.1
Object to a mediator	[[SUPPORT_EMAIL]], before the ruling
Complaint about our handling of a Dispute	[[LEGAL_EMAIL]]

[[COMPANY_LEGAL_NAME]] — RCCM [[RCCM_NUMBER]] — [[REGISTERED_ADDRESS]], Republic of Cameroon.