Guarantees
What happens when it does not work out.
Three of them, each with a named window and a named remedy. No arbitration, no discretion held back for later, and no clause that turns out to matter only when you try to use it.
The three guarantees
Window, remedy, and who it covers.
Each guarantee specifies its applicable audience, the duration of its validity, and the benefits it provides. These three elements constitute the essence of a guarantee; all other details are supplementary.
The Fit Guarantee
The guarantee has two stages. Before any work starts, we read your submission and tell you whether the service fits; if it does not, you decide what happens next. After delivery, the work is held to the brief we agreed at that point.
- Applies to
- Manuscript MRI · Grant Surge · Course Engagement Audit · all Sprints · the first month of Dissertation Finisher
Before work starts
- Window
- Within 24 hours of the pre-brief
- Remedy
- Full refund or a credited rescope onto a service that does fit — the choice is yours, not ours
After delivery
- Window
- Within 14 days of delivery
- Remedy
- One free revision. If the revised work still misses the brief we agreed, half the fee back as a refund or a credit, your choice
- Before work starts, the decision rests with you. We cannot impose a credit if you would rather have a refund, and there is no appeal process because there is nothing to dispute.
- Your card is authorised at checkout and charged only after we confirm the service is suitable — so at this stage there is usually nothing to refund, just an authorisation to release.
- After delivery, the test is the brief we confirmed before starting, not a change of mind. Tell us what the work does not cover, and the same specialist revises it once, at no charge.
- If the revised work still misses that brief, half the fee comes back as a refund or as a credit towards another service, your choice. A full refund after delivery is reserved for work we did not deliver and for a broken integrity commitment.
- On Dissertation Finisher, the first month’s Through-Line Map and timeline are revised once, free. If the revision still misses, half of month one is refunded and you can stop, with no further months charged and no minimum term to serve.
- The turnaround time begins at confirmation, not payment. You are not charged for the time we spend determining whether to accept the work.
The Zero-Unknowns Guarantee
A mock defence aims to eliminate uncertainties. If it fails to generate a written list of potential questions and your strongest responses, it has not fulfilled its purpose.
- Applies to
- Defense Readiness — Standard and Intensive
- Window
- Evaluated based on the session itself
- Remedy
- The session is free. For Intensive, a second round is free
- The test is the tangible document, not your subsequent feelings: you either possess the written questions and answers, or you do not.
- For Intensive, the second round serves as the remedy instead of a refund — the goal is to prepare you for the defence, and another rehearsal is more valuable than a refund.
- This guarantee uniquely involves assessing our output against a document you can physically hold, which is intentional.
The Marathon Pause
Long-term engagements encounter illness, bereavement, a teaching term that consumes a semester, and the typical disruptions of academic life. A pause is a normal occurrence in a multi-month engagement, not a failure.
- Applies to
- Dissertation Finisher · Tenure-Track Accelerator
- Window
- Once per commitment period
- Remedy
- Billing halts, and the minimum term extends by the pause duration. No penalty, no fee, no explanation needed
- You are not required to justify it. We may ask if you wish to discuss the situation, and “no” is a sufficient response.
- Nothing is lost. The months you have paid for remain yours; the clock merely pauses and resumes.
- One pause per commitment period is the stated limit. If a second is necessary, inform us — this prompts a discussion about whether the timing is right for the engagement, not a request to be denied.
If you are unhappy
Exactly what happens, in order.
If you find yourself dissatisfied, here’s the sequence of actions to take. It’s documented because when you need this information, you’re least inclined to figure out the process.
01
Share your thoughts in your own words
Reach out to contact@xp-consulting.org. There’s no need to present a case, cite a clause, or remain composed. Simply stating, “This is not what I expected and here is why,” is sufficient to begin.
02
We will respond in writing within two working days
You won’t receive a generic support response or a phone call to navigate. Instead, you’ll get a written reply detailing our perspective on what occurred, acknowledging any errors on our part, and outlining our proposed solution.
03
Select the remedy specified by the guarantee
If a relevant guarantee is in place, you have the right to choose its remedy without our input. If no guarantee applies, we’ll still inform you of possible actions — typically a redo, a partial refund, or a candid explanation of why we believe the work was satisfactory.
04
If we broke an integrity commitment, the engagement is refunded
This is non-negotiable and doesn’t require you to advocate for it. Our commitments are publicly available for verification, and a commitment without consequences is merely ornamental.
Nothing here requires you to relinquish any rights. Your legal rights remain intact regardless of your location, and these guarantees are supplementary rather than replacements. The terms outline the contractual equivalent of these assurances.
Quick answers
Objections, handled
Is there a catch in the refund policy?
No catch, but there are two stages, and they differ. Before work starts, your card is authorised rather than charged, and we capture the payment only once we have reviewed your work and confirmed the service is appropriate; if it is not, the authorisation is released and the money never leaves your account. After delivery, the remedy is a free revision and then half the fee, not a full refund, because by then a specialist has spent the hours the fee pays for.
What if I am unhappy after the work is delivered?
Tell us within 14 days of delivery what the work does not cover from the brief we agreed. The same specialist revises it once, free, and if the revision still misses that brief, half the fee comes back as a refund or a credit — your choice. Either way you receive a written response within two working days. Occasionally we may conclude that the work met the brief and explain our reasoning. This is less common than you might think, but ignoring its occurrence would undermine the credibility of everything else here.
Do you guarantee my paper will be accepted, or my grant funded?
No. No one can, and anyone who claims otherwise is revealing something about themselves. What we assure is the quality and honesty of the evaluation, and that you are not billed for work that turned out to be unsuitable.
Can I pause a marathon more than once?
The stated right allows for one pause per commitment period, without penalty or explanation. If a second pause is needed, let us know — this leads to a discussion about whether this is the appropriate time for the engagement, and sometimes the honest conclusion is to end it rather than pause again. We will not enforce a minimum term if someone is experiencing significant personal challenges.
How do refunds actually reach me?
Refunds are processed to the card or account you originally paid from, using the same processor, without requiring you to provide bank details to anyone. Institutional invoices are credited against the invoice itself rather than refunded to an individual, as this allows a finance office to reconcile it.
Still deciding
The cheapest way to test all of this is to use it once.
A single manuscript, thoroughly reviewed. Your card is authorised but not charged, and if we determine that the MRI is not the appropriate tool, you will be informed before any payment is taken.