Most changes to a booking with a booking deposit (Booking deposits) take care of the unpaid balance for you. This page explains what happens when you refund, cancel or credit a booking, when the customer changes the dates or extends, and how the booking deposit interacts with a security deposit.
Refund a booking #
Open the order and click Refund booking… in the Rental payment panel. Enter an amount, up to the most that can be refunded, and click Preview to see where the money comes from before you confirm.
The money is taken in this order:
- The unpaid balance is reduced first, so the customer is not asked to pay for what you refund.
- Then the balance payment is refunded, if the customer has paid it.
- Then the booking deposit, but only when it is refundable.
Whether the booking deposit is refundable depends on Booking deposit refundable in the settings: always, never, or until a number of days before the start. When it is not refundable that part is kept. You can refund it anyway by ticking Refund the booking deposit anyway and giving a reason. The panel shows the date until which the deposit was refundable.
The security deposit is never part of this refund. It is released separately.
Cancellations and credit memos #
- Cancelling the booking order cancels its unpaid balance.
- A credit memo for units on the booking order takes their share of the balance off the unpaid balance. If every unit is refunded, or the order is closed in full, the balance is cancelled.
- Cancelling an unpaid balance order unlinks it, so a new payment can be started. A balance that was being charged returns to Failed.
When the customer changes the dates #
Paid orders are never re-priced. If the dates of the booking change after the customer has paid, only the due date moves, and a comment on the order records the new date. If the new due date is already past, an automatic charge is tried in about an hour. Any other balance becomes Due and the customer gets a reminder.
You can also move a due date yourself with Change due date in the panel.
With the security deposit #
If you use the Deposits & Damage Waiver extension (Refundable Security Deposits), the security deposit is paid at checkout and refunded separately. It is never counted as part of the booking deposit or the balance, and it does not pay off an unpaid balance.
By default the release of the security deposit is held while a balance is unpaid, with the message “The booking balance of … is unpaid. The security deposit is held until it is paid or waived.” Set Hold the security deposit release while a balance is unpaid to No to turn that off.
With rental extensions #
Rental extensions are always paid in full. They never take a booking deposit. While a balance is overdue an extension is held back: the customer is told “Please pay your balance first” with a link to pay it, and can extend once it is paid. If a payment is already being processed they are asked to wait. Set Allow rental extensions while a balance is overdue to Yes to let extensions through anyway.
Handing the rental over with an unpaid balance #
Hand-over with an unpaid balance controls what happens at Send, Ship and auto-send, and over the API. With Warn (the default) staff are asked to confirm. The Send screen shows a Balance badge on rows with an unpaid balance. With Block the hand-over is refused everywhere. With Allow nothing is checked.
Waive a balance #
Waive balance writes the balance off, with an optional reason. The booking keeps what was paid, the balance moves to Waived, and the security deposit hold is lifted.
Uninstalling or turning booking deposits off #
Turning the master switch off stops offering deposits on new orders. Balances on existing orders carry on and are collected as before.
