This article will show you how to keep an online booking deposit and/or charge a cancellation fee if your client cancels their appointment.
This feature is available to businesses using PhorestPay through Stripe.
In this Article
When Can I Charge a Cancellation Charge?
When a client has either
- Booked online and paid a deposit through PhorestPay
- or
- Booked in-house and paid a deposit through PhorestPay
you can decide to keep the booking deposit and/or charge the client an additional cancellation fee if they cancel their appointment.
How to Process a Cancellation Charge
Single-click the appointment on your Appointments screen > Click Remove.
If there are multiple services in the appointment, you will see an option to choose which services to cancel. Each service has its own deposit, so you can choose to apply the cancellation charge to individual services or to the entire appointment.
Next, select Cancellation charge.
Finally, choose the amount you wish to charge, then enter a Cancellation reason and click Apply cancellation charge to finish.
The cancellation reason will be recorded as a note on the client's Service History as a past appointment note.
If you cannot select the charge remaining amount or charge custom amount options, it is because the client's card details are no longer stored. Click here for more information on removing stored card details.
Client Receipt
Your client will receive a receipt by email, provided you have their email saved on their Client Card. The receipt will include the amount charged for the cancellation and the deposit amount paid originally when the appointment was booked.
If you wish to print a paper receipt, you can do this by going to Manager > Sales > Single-click on the transaction > Receipt > Print.
Reporting & Cash Up
Cancellation Charges will appear as a value under Sales in Manager > Reports > Finance.
They will also show on the legacy Financial Totals report (adding to the PhorestPay Credit payment type total) and on your Sales screen and Sales Transactions report as a Cancellation Charge.
Cancellation Charges will not count toward your daily Cash Up totals.
Staff Commission
Commission is not given to staff for a Cancellation Charge, as staff commission is only calculated on services performed.
Refunding a Cancellation Charge
You can refund a Cancellation Charge by going to Manager > Sales > single-click the transaction > Refund. If you wish to refund back to the original card, choose the PhorestPay payment method when refunding.
How do I process a Cancellation Charge on PhorestGo?
The same process applies on PhorestGo, regardless of whether an appointment is canceled late or a customer doesn't show for their appointment.
Open the appointment. In the appointment window, tap on More options and then on Cancel appointment.
If it is a series of appointments, these will be displayed. If you only want to delete the current appointment, click on Cancel appointment.
In the next window, enter the reason for cancellation, just as you would for appointments without a deposit. The reason you enter here will be noted in the service history.
If you have a saved card, Phorest offers you the option of collecting a further amount in addition to the deposit. Without a saved card, you only have the option of withholding the deposit.
You will see four separate cancellation options:
- Refund the booking deposit
- Apply no additional charge but retain the booking deposit
- Keep the deposit and apply a custom charge
- Keep the deposit and charge the remaining fee
Enter the cancellation option of your choosing.
Enter your chosen fee and select Cancel appointment and charge.
Other FAQs
Is the initial storing of the client's card details secure?
PhorestPay payments are Powered by Stripe, who have the very highest security and Level 1 PCI Compliance. Neither you, your staff, or Phorest staff has access to the raw card details at any stage.
Can I charge a client who cancels their own appointment online?
Clients can only cancel their appointment online provided the cancellation adheres to your Cancellation Period. In this case, you will not be able to charge them. If they have paid a deposit, the deposit will be refunded automatically in 5-10 business days.
'Valid Card for this Payment' error.
If you're trying to process a Cancellation Charge and are getting this error, this means there is no stored card on the Client Card, and therefore you cannot process a Cancellation Charge. This happens if you did not choose to save the client's card details when taking the in-house deposit or you have deleted the stored card from the client's Client Card.