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How to use a client's deposit for cancellations or no-show charges

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Online deposits are a way to get real time commitment from your clients when they make a booking, giving you confidence in their legitimacy. Should anything fall through, this also ensures you are able to pay your staff for the clients absence. If your client has paid a deposit, but have since cancelled their appointment at late notice or didn't attend without communicating to you prior; the deposit will be turned into a client credit automatically - in this article you will learn how to use a client's deposit as a cancellation fee instead. 

You can set policies regarding deposits, such as caveats when individuals are unable to attend their appointments for genuine reasons. See our help section on cancellation policies and charges for more information.

 

 

Timely note: the deposits feature is available if you use Timely as your payment provider (TimelyPay). If not, it's only available on Elevate and Innovate plans. Should you wish to upgrade your plan, you can find more information in our help guide How to change your Timely plan.

 

 

What do you do when a client cancels or does not show up?

When an appointment with a deposit is cancelled, the deposit will revert to a normal customer credit by default. However, you have the option to take all or some of the deposit as a cancellation fee. You can also choose to have a client forfeit their deposit when marking an appointment as did not show. To do either of these options:
 

Cancellation Fee

1 First, open up the cancellation screen then click on the charge a cancellation fee link.

 

2 When you click cancel appointment the deposit will have it’s balance reduced by the value of the cancellation fee and if there is any remaining balance it will be converted to a customer credit attached to the customers profile.

 

Forfeit Fee

1 First mark the appointment as did not show. By default, if you now save the appointment the attached deposit will be converted to a customer credit attached to the client profile.

 

2 But you also have the option to charge them as per your cancellation and no-show policies by clicking charge a fee. When you save the appointment the fee chosen will be deducted from the deposit, and if there is any remaining balance it will be converted to a customer credit.

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