It depends on the type of submission and how the curator responded. Here's what's automatic, what you can request, and what's not refundable.
Premium submissions: automatic refunds
Premium credits come with built-in protections. If the curator misses any of these requirements, your credit returns to your balance automatically:
You don't need to do anything for these. The credit just shows up in your balance.
When the refund actually lands
The automatic refunds above aren't instant. They process when your campaign expires, which is around 72 hours after you submitted for curators (48 hours for influencers). So even if a curator gives a too-short reply an hour in, the credit comes back when the campaign expires, not the moment they respond. If you're owed one, give it until the campaign has expired before worrying.
The exception is when a curator actively refunds you themselves (for example, flagging a wrong-genre submission, or hitting refund instead of reviewing). Those land right away.
Approved but never shared
If a curator approves your song and then goes quiet on actually sharing it, you can request an update. Open the song, head to the Results tab, click on the curator's name under "Unshared," and use "Request an update." If they don't respond within 72 hours, the credit auto-refunds. See the "An outlet approved my song, but isn't responding" article for the full walkthrough.
Properly declined
If a curator listened, declined, and wrote 20+ words explaining why, that's the system working as intended. No refund for a properly-handled decline; the curator earned the credit by spending time with your song.
Standard (free) submissions
Standard credits don't have the same protections, since they're free and curators aren't obligated to respond at all. Most of the auto-refund triggers above don't apply.
Other situations
If you ran into something that doesn't fit the above (a curator going months without engaging, an obviously broken decline, or anything else), open a support ticket with the song link and we'll have a look.