The cancellation ladder
| When you cancel | Deposit | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 15 days or more before | Back, less $1,000 | Only the $1,000 cancellation fee is withheld. Ticketed travel is the other exception. |
| 14 to 4 days before | 50%, less $1,000 | Half is held as credit against a booking in the next 12 months, and the $1,000 fee is withheld. |
| 72 hours or less | Not refunded | Talent are paid for the day they held. You may move it once, dates allowing. |
| We cannot supply | 100% back | Replacement of equivalent standing first, full refund of that fee if you decline it. No cancellation fee — the failure is ours. |
What this covers
This policy covers everything a client pays us: the membership fee, booking deposits, final balances and travel invoices. It forms part of our Terms of Service, and the windows below are counted from the first event day in the booking summary, in the event's local time.
Membership fee
The annual fee — $1,000 for Fashion, $2,000 for Lifestyle — is refundable in full for 14 days from payment, as long as we have not yet sent you a shortlist or issued a board access code. Once either of those has happened the year has started and the fee stands. A renewal is refundable on the same terms, counted from the renewal date.
If we close your account for a reason of our own, we refund the fee pro rata against the months remaining in the year it was paid.
Deposits
Half the agreed total confirms the booking and takes the talent off the market for those dates. Cancelling costs a flat $1,000 per booking, whenever it happens, and the ladder above sets what comes back on top of that: the rest at 15 days or more, half between 14 and 4 days, nothing inside 72 hours. Credit held from a part refund is valid for twelve months and transfers between divisions.
Cutting a booking down — fewer talent, fewer days — is treated as a partial cancellation and follows the same ladder for the part removed.
Final balance
The balance is due on the event day and is refundable only where we fail to supply. Talent are paid on the day it clears, which is why a balance paid for an event that then goes ahead cannot be recalled afterwards.
Overpayments and duplicate transfers are returned in full within five business days of us spotting them or you telling us.
Substitutions
If talent fall ill or travel fails, we offer a replacement of equivalent standing at the same rate. Accept it and the booking continues unchanged. Decline it and the fee for that talent is refunded in full, including their share of the deposit.
If we withdraw talent because duties or conditions differ materially from the brief, or because their safety is at risk, no refund is due. That is a breach of the terms, not a cancellation.
Moving a date
Tell us 15 days or more ahead and you can move a booking once at no charge, provided the same talent are free. Inside 14 days a move is possible but the deposit ladder applies to the original date, and any travel already ticketed is rebooked at cost.
Travel costs
Travel is invoiced at cost and never marked up, so a refund can only be what the airline, hotel or transfer company gives back. Where a fare or stay is non-refundable, that amount stands regardless of when you cancel. We pass on any recovery in full, with the provider's receipt attached.
Travel is never deducted from a talent's fee, and a cancelled trip does not become the talent's cost.
Force majeure
Closed airspace, government restriction, extreme weather or civil disruption: neither side is at fault, so nobody is penalised. Fees already paid are held as credit for twelve months, less any travel cost that cannot be recovered. If no date works inside those twelve months, the credit is refunded.
How refunds are paid
Refunds go back the way the payment came. Card and Apple Pay payments are returned through PayPal to the same card, which usually shows in five to ten business days. PayPal payments return to the PayPal balance the same day we approve them.
Crypto is refunded in the same asset, on the same network, to an address you confirm in writing — valued at the US dollar figure on the receipt, with the network fee deducted. We do not refund crypto to a different asset, a different network, or a third party's wallet.
How to ask
Send the booking reference and one line on what changed to info@thefashioncasting.com, or to us you have been talking to. A cancellation counts from the moment that message arrives, not from when we reply.
We answer within three business days with the figure, the reason and the date the money moves. Nothing here affects any statutory right a consumer holds under the law of England and Wales.