Activate Cancellation Policies in the Apps tab. It's free!
Facilitate the cancellation process and save time by allowing your staff (and your clients in some circumstances) to cancel an activity, based on predetermined criteria.
For the time being, cancellation policies are linked to programs and only affect session-based activities.
In this article you will learn:
1. Permissions for Cancellation Policies
Admins need permissions to create policies, modify policies, and/or override them when canceling an enrollment. These permissions can be found in the Account>Administrators > Permission groups subtab, under the Payments section.
🔑 View cancellation policies: Allow an administrator to simply view existing cancellation policies in the Accounting and finance > Policies subtab.
🔑 Manage cancellation policies: Allow an administrator to create, modify and/or delete cancellation policies in the Accounting and finance > Policies subtab.
🔑 Override cancellation policy: Gives an administrator the right to override the applied cancellation policy when processing a cancellation. This means they can manually edit the credit, refund and/or administrative fees when canceling an enrollment linked to a policy in effect.
🔑 Override in the absence of a cancellation policy: Allow an administrator to cancel an enrollment as well as manually edit the credit, refund and/or administrative fees when a policy is not in effect, or doesn't exist. Keep in mind this permission is also required if an administrator needs to cancel multiple enrollments linked to different cancellation policies on the same invoice.
🔴 Once the Cancellation policies app is activated, an administrator must have the 'Override in the absence of a cancellation policy' permission in order to cancel any type of enrollment (including drop-ins and private lessons). Consider this permission as the minimum requirement for canceling an activity on an invoice.
2. Create a Cancellation Policy
To create a cancellation policy, go in the Accounting and finance > Policies subtab:
Name your policy.
Select the appropriate Ledger code.
Refund amount issued: Choose the percentage of the activity's cost to refund.
Write down the amount or percentage of Administrative fee to add to the cancellation policy.
Day(s) before the activity start date: Set the period of time (in days) in which the client is allowed to cancel and be refunded. Cancellation policies can now be applied even after the activity has started.
Set at least one Cancellation period. You can add multiple cancellation periods to a policy by clicking Add another cancellation period.
3. Associate a Policy to a Program
When you've created a policy, you can link it to a program via Activities>Programs:
Select the desired program and click on Edit.
In the Cancellation policy section, select a policy from the drop-down menu. The policy's details appear underneath.
Check whether Clients can cancel or not. If you don't check the box, clients will need to contact you for their cancellation request.
Don't forget to Save your program.
4. Cancel via the Client Billing subtab
The cancellation policy you create also has an impact on the cancellation process in the Client Billing subtab.
Select the invoice you want to cancel and click on Cancel/Refund items.
Check the item (activity) you want to cancel. If this item is linked to a policy, you will see that the cancellation form is automatically filled in according to your cancellation policy criteria.
If multiple items are selected and are linked to different policies or different cancellation periods within the same policy, the form will not auto-populate.
If a cancellation policy cannot be applied, the detailed reason will appear.
You can always modify the form manually.
5. How Can Participants Cancel an Activity
It is possible for participants to cancel a session-based activity directly in the Amilia app, if a cancellation policy has been set and if it allows clients to cancel. In the Calendar tab, they can choose the desired activity and click on Cancel this event.
If a cancellation policy is set and allows clients to cancel, participants will see the policy details and which cancellation period will be applied (if many are set). They will be able to cancel their activity by clicking Terminate enrollment.
If a cancellation policy is set but doesn't allow clients to cancel or if no cancellation policy is set, participants will get a note saying the activity can't be cancelled via the mobile app and they need to contact the organization in order to cancel. The organization's contact information is given at the bottom of the page.
When an activity is cancelled via the Amilia app, both parties receive a confirmation email. The refund is automatically processed according to the cancellation policy criteria. You can see the refund in the Client Billing subtab.
Note that the cancellation process has limitations:
The invoice must have an amount superior to $0 and must have been paid in a single transaction, with a credit card.
The invoice should have no product or discount.
The invoice must not be linked to any installments.
The invoice can only be reconciled to a single transaction.
The payment must have been batched by the merchant account.