Refunds, and charges you did not expect
Every purchase runs through the App Store or Google Play, which means refunds do too. Here is the actual route, and what we can help with when a refund is not the answer.
- Apple and Google issue refunds
- Direct links to both forms
- What we can check on our side
Where to request a refund
Refunds for in-app purchases are issued by the store that took the payment, not by us. On iPhone, iPad or Mac: go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in with the Apple Account that made the purchase, and request a refund there. On Android: open Google Play, tap your profile picture, then Payments & subscriptions → Budget & history, find the order and choose the refund option, or use Google's refund request form.
We cannot issue the refund ourselves — we never receive the payment, only a receipt — but we can look at what happened on our side. If a call failed, was billed wrongly, or the credit never arrived, write to [email protected] and we will check it, because a store refund is often not what you actually need.
Before you request a refund, check what actually happened
- 1
If the credit never arrived, this is not a refund problem
A purchase that took money without adding credit is usually a receipt that has not been delivered to the app yet. Restore purchases resolves most of them in seconds, and it is faster than a refund cycle that ends with you buying the credit again.
- 2
If a call cost more than you expected, check the arithmetic first
Rates differ sharply between destinations and between landline and mobile numbers in the same country, and the app shows the price before it dials. What a call actually costs works through the arithmetic. If the number does not add up after that, tell us — that is a billing error and it is ours to fix.
- 3
If you do not recognise the charge, identify it before disputing it
In-app purchases appear on a statement under the store's name — Apple or Google — rather than the app's, so a Telvio purchase does not read as Telvio on a card statement. Check the store's own purchase history first: it lists which app each charge belongs to. Family sharing and a second device signed into your account are the usual explanations.
- 4
If it was an accidental purchase, say so in the request
Both stores handle accidental and unauthorised purchases, and both take the circumstances into account. Requesting promptly matters; both apply time limits, and Apple's is measured from the purchase date.
Why the developer cannot refund you
This surprises people and it is worth explaining rather than asserting. Apple and Google both require digital goods sold inside an app to be sold through their own payment systems. The store is the merchant of record: it takes the money, holds the payment method, sets the refund policy and makes the decision.
What reaches us is a signed receipt confirming that a purchase happened. We do not receive the card number, the billing address or any payment credential, and we cannot see whether a bank declined a charge or reverse one that succeeded. That is a genuine privacy benefit — there is nothing on our side for a breach to expose — and it is also the reason the refund button is not in our app.
It also means a refund request is decided on the store's criteria rather than ours, and neither store publishes those criteria in detail. If a request is declined and you believe the underlying problem is on our side — a call billed twice, credit taken for a call that never connected — tell us, because that is a different claim and one we can act on directly.
What we can do instead
- Check whether a call was billed correctly. Give us the date, time and time zone and we can look at the specific call: how long it ran, what rate applied, and what was deducted.
- Confirm whether a receipt reached us. With the store order ID we can tell you whether the purchase arrived on our side or is stuck at the store, which decides who you need to talk to.
- Correct a genuine billing error on our side. If a call was charged twice, charged for time that did not connect, or charged at the wrong destination's rate, that is our mistake and we fix it directly.
- Explain a charge you cannot place. We can say what the purchase was and when it happened, which is often all that is needed to recognise it.
- Nothing about your payment method. We hold none of it and cannot look anything up on the card itself.
Avoiding the situation next time
Two habits remove most of the surprises. The first is to read the price the app shows before dialling. It is the actual rate for that specific number, not a country average, and the difference between a landline and a mobile in the same country can be several times over.
The second is to buy the smallest pack when you are calling somewhere new. Credit does not expire, so there is no penalty for buying more later and no reward for buying more now. A small pack turns an uncertain destination into a bounded experiment.
It is also worth knowing what you are not paying for. There is no connection fee, no monthly charge, no minimum call length and no per-call rounding: billing is per second from the moment the call connects. So the ways a bill can surprise you are limited to the rate itself and the length of the call, both of which you can see.
What a store refund actually decides
Neither Apple nor Google publishes the criteria it applies, and both are explicit that a refund is not guaranteed. What is visible from the outside is that both weigh how recently the purchase was made, whether it has been consumed, and whether the account has a history of refund requests — which is worth knowing, because a pattern of requests makes later legitimate ones harder.
That is a reason to make sure a refund is the right ask before making it. If credit was bought and has not appeared, the fix is a restore, and it is faster than a refund cycle that ends with you buying the same credit again. If a call was billed wrongly, that is our error and correcting it does not involve the store at all.
Where a refund genuinely is the right ask — an accidental purchase, a duplicate, a purchase made by somebody else on a shared device — say which of those it was in the request. Both stores handle those cases specifically, and a request that describes the situation is treated differently from one that does not.
Bottom line
Refunds are issued by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com and by Google in the Play Store's purchase history. The app developer is not the merchant and cannot issue them.
Before requesting one, check whether you actually have a different problem: credit that has not been applied yet is fixed by Restore purchases, and an unfamiliar statement line is usually a store name rather than an unknown charge.
A genuine billing error — a call charged twice, or charged for time that did not connect — is ours. Send the date, the time and your time zone to [email protected] and we will look at the specific call.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a refund for a Telvio purchase?
Through the store that took the payment. On Apple devices use reportaproblem.apple.com and sign in with the Apple Account that made the purchase; on Android use Google Play under Payments and subscriptions. The app developer is not the merchant of record and cannot issue the refund.
Why can the developer not refund me directly?
Apple and Google require digital goods sold inside an app to go through their payment systems, which makes the store the merchant of record. We receive only a signed receipt, never the payment or the card details, so there is nothing on our side to refund from.
I do not recognise a charge on my statement. Is it Telvio?
In-app purchases appear under the store's name rather than the app's, so a purchase will not read as Telvio on a card statement. Check the store's own purchase history, which lists the app behind each charge. Family sharing and a second device on the same account are the usual explanations.
Was I charged for a call that did not connect?
You should not have been. There is no connection fee and billing starts when the call connects, so an attempt that failed costs nothing. If a failed call was charged, send us the date, time and time zone — that is a billing error and we correct it directly.
Is there a time limit on requesting a refund?
Both stores apply their own limits and neither publishes the full criteria. Apple's window is measured from the purchase date, so requesting promptly matters. Neither store guarantees a refund, and the decision is theirs rather than the developer's.
Does Telvio charge a subscription or a monthly fee?
No. Credit is bought in one-off packs and consumed per second at the destination's rate. There is no subscription, no monthly charge and no inactivity fee, so a recurring charge on your statement is not from this app.
Is a refund guaranteed?
No. Both Apple and Google state that refunds are not guaranteed and neither publishes its full criteria. Requesting promptly and describing the circumstances — an accidental purchase, a duplicate, a purchase by somebody else on a shared device — is treated differently from a request that does not.
Related answers
- You paid and the credit has not appeared
- The free minute did not work
- That call cost more than you expected
- Deleting your data
Still stuck?
Write to us with the date, the time and your time zone, and say what you saw. A person reads every message and we aim to reply within 24 hours.
Email support