Cancellations & Refunds

How to cancel a booking, what's refundable, and how and when you're paid back.

Effective date: 1 February 2026Last updated: 1 February 2026

The short version

A booking you haven’t paid for yet can be cancelled any time, free.
For a paid chef booking, how much is refunded depends on how much notice you give — see the table below.
An event advance is partly or fully non-refundable once paid, because we start committing chefs and suppliers straight away.
Anything paid from your Chefose Wallet always goes straight back to your wallet; card / UPI refunds take about 5–7 business days.

This summary is for convenience only. The numbered terms below are what apply.

This policy is part of our Terms & Conditions and covers cancellations, rescheduling and refunds for chef bookings and event bookings on Chefose. Because a chef reserves time for you (and, for events, we commit other professionals), how much is refundable depends on when you cancel.

1. Before you’ve paid

A chef booking that is still awaiting payment, and an event booking before you pay the advance, can be cancelled at any time at no cost — nothing has been charged, so there is nothing to refund.

2. Cancelling a chef booking

You can cancel a confirmed hourly or monthly chef booking from My Chef Bookings any time before the service is due to start. What is refunded from the booking amount depends on the notice you give:

48 hours or more before the start timeFull refund
Between 24 and 48 hours before50% refund
Less than 24 hours before, or nobody is at the addressNo refund

Any amount paid from your Chefose Wallet is returned to your wallet immediately.
The remaining refundable amount is returned to your original payment method once our team approves the cancellation.
Once the chef has started, or the booking is marked completed, it can no longer be cancelled — if something went wrong, raise a service issue instead.

The windows above apply unless a different cancellation policy is shown on the booking itself.

3. Cancelling an event booking

You can cancel free of charge any time before you pay the advance — from My Event Bookings.
After the advance is paid, we begin committing chefs, staff and suppliers for your date. The advance is therefore partly or fully non-refundable, depending on how close to the event you cancel and what has already been arranged. Contact our events team and we will confirm what can be refunded.
The portion of your advance paid from your Chefose Wallet is credited back to your wallet.
Cancellations very close to the event date, or after work has started, are reviewed case by case.

4. Rescheduling instead

Moving a booking is usually easier than cancelling it. Ask at least 24 hours ahead for a chef booking (earlier for an event) and we will move it to a new date and time subject to the chef’s availability — the first change is free. Repeated changes, or a change at very short notice, may be treated as a cancellation under the rules above.

5. If the chef doesn’t arrive or the service falls short

Tell us within 24 hours of the booking (or of the event) through Customer Support, with your booking number and any photos or details that help. We will look into it with the chef and, depending on what happened, arrange a re-booking, a partial refund, or a full refund. A chef no-show is always refunded in full.

6. If a chef or Chefose cancels

If a chef cancels on you, or we cancel a booking for any reason — for example a verification or safety concern — you receive a full refund of everything you paid, and we will help you re-book another verified chef as quickly as possible.

7. Events beyond anyone’s control

Some things are outside everyone’s control — severe weather, floods, public-health restrictions, government orders, civil unrest, or a power or water failure at the venue. Where these stop a booking from going ahead, we will work with you to reschedule. Refunds in these cases are handled fairly and case by case; any third-party costs already committed and not recoverable may be deducted.

8. How refunds are paid

Chefose Wallet. Amounts paid from your wallet are returned to your wallet and are available immediately for your next booking.
Card, UPI & net banking. Refunded through Razorpay to the original payment method, typically within 5–7 business days of approval, depending on your bank.
We refund only to the method you paid with — not to a different account, and not as cash.
Any non-refundable advance or platform fee stated at the time of booking is retained. See the Payments page for how payments and refunds work.

9. How to cancel

Chef booking: My Chef Bookings → open the booking → Cancel, then choose a reason.
Event booking, before the advance: My Event Bookings → Cancel.
Event booking, after the advance: contact our events team through Customer Support.
Always cancel through the app or by contacting us. Telling the chef directly is not a cancellation and does not start a refund.