diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Library/Commands.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Library/Commands.hs
index 814c34bf5a..c6862fa36d 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Library/Commands.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Library/Commands.hs
@@ -5479,7 +5479,18 @@ sendBadgeRequest nm user signKey req =
       pure $ either (badgeRequestFailed . responseFailed) id $ J.eitherDecodeStrict' respData
     -- a sentence first, then the error itself: the apps render an 'internal' code by showing this
     -- message (G2), and a bare 'Show' of a 'ChatError' is not something to put in front of a user
-    requestFailed e = "The badge service could not be reached, and the request was not delivered. Details: " <> tshow e
+    --
+    -- the agent's request timeout gets its own sentence, because it is the ONE outcome here that
+    -- may have been DELIVERED: the service can have received the request and consumed the code,
+    -- with only the reply lost. Saying "not delivered" would steer the user into re-entering the
+    -- same code, and 'redeemBadgeCode' mints a FRESH purchase key per call, so the retry reaches
+    -- the service as a different signer and is answered @code_used@ (plan §9) — burning a code
+    -- they paid for. Everything else this collapses is a genuine non-delivery: an unresolvable
+    -- target, a transport failure before the send, or an agent error other than the timeout.
+    requestFailed = \case
+      ChatErrorAgent {agentError = AGENT (A_SERVICE ASETimeout)} ->
+        "The badge service did not answer in time. The request may still have been delivered, so a code presented with it may already have been used, and entering it again will not help. Please contact support."
+      e -> "The badge service could not be reached, and the request was not delivered. Details: " <> tshow e
     responseFailed e = "The badge service answered with something this app version cannot read. Details: " <> T.pack e
     badgeRequestFailed e = BSPError {code = BSEInternal, message = Just e, retryAfter = Nothing}
 
diff --git a/tests/Bots/BadgeServiceTests.hs b/tests/Bots/BadgeServiceTests.hs
index 17842f7f43..344e385a0f 100644
--- a/tests/Bots/BadgeServiceTests.hs
+++ b/tests/Bots/BadgeServiceTests.hs
@@ -2862,6 +2862,12 @@ testC5StorePaymentsUnsupported ps =
 -- The agent's 'serviceRequestTimeout' is shortened to two seconds for this example only: its
 -- default is thirty, which is longer than any terminal assertion waits, and what is being pinned
 -- is what happens AFTER the timeout, not how long the default is.
+--
+-- The message asserted here is the TIMEOUT one, and that is the whole point of asserting it in
+-- full: nothing is listening, so the request expires as @A_SERVICE ASETimeout@, which is the one
+-- outcome of 'sendBadgeRequest' that may have been delivered. It must not tell the user the
+-- request was not delivered, and it must not invite a retry of the same code, which would arrive
+-- as a different signer and be answered @code_used@ (plan §9).
 testC5ServiceStoppedIsInternal :: HasCallStack => TestParams -> IO ()
 testC5ServiceStoppedIsInternal ps =
   -- the two startup phases publish the service's address and then it stays down: 'withService' is
@@ -2871,11 +2877,19 @@ testC5ServiceStoppedIsInternal ps =
     let cfg = (badgeClientCfg sLink pk) {agentConfig = testAgentCfg {serviceRequestTimeout = 2}}
     withNewTestChatCfg ps cfg badgeClientDbPrefix aliceProfile $ \alice -> do
       alice ##> "/_badge catalog 1"
-      alice <##. "badge service error: internal, The badge service could not be reached, and the request was not delivered."
+      alice <## badgeTimeoutError
       alice ##> purchaseCodeCmd "C5-SERVICE-DOWN"
-      alice <##. "badge service error: internal, The badge service could not be reached, and the request was not delivered."
+      alice <## badgeTimeoutError
       noClientBadgeRows "with the service stopped" alice
 
+-- | 'sendBadgeRequest''s timeout sentence, spelled out rather than derived from the function under
+-- test: it carries no @Details:@ tail, so the whole line is compared.
+badgeTimeoutError :: String
+badgeTimeoutError =
+  "badge service error: internal, The badge service did not answer in time."
+    <> " The request may still have been delivered, so a code presented with it may already have been used,"
+    <> " and entering it again will not help. Please contact support."
+
 -- Supersession and the slot -----------------------------------------------------
 
 -- | A second code redeemed on the same profile takes the slot: the first purchase becomes