We understand you need full flexibility in managing your bookings. Usually, it is better to move a booking rather than refund a customer where possible - however we recognise that there are many scenarios where you will need to refund a customer - so we have built functionality that allows you to remove attendees from sessions and process cancellations.
How to cancel an attendee from a session
You can access the cancel functionality from the attendee information modal. This can be found in the register, on the bookings tab, or on the attendance overview.
Click the Cancel button and you'll begin the cancellation process.
After clicking the Cancel button you will then need to select which session you want to remove the attendee from:
Next you'll have the option to refund the customer for the cancellation or just cancel with no refund.
If you decide to refund the customer you will then be taken to the booking summary screen. The attendee you are choosing to cancel may have been part of larger booking - we summarise the booking and allow you to refund up to the total cost of the full booking.
Note - if you issue a cancellation and refund against a booking we will keep track of the remaining balance on the booking. We'll communicate the remaining balance if/when you issue any cancellations/refunds against the booking in future. This means you'll never be able to refund more than the total cost of the booking.
After you've defined the amount you would like to refund the customer, click Next and you'll be taken to the reason for cancellation screen.
Note that any reason that you enter here will be communicated to the customer in their cancellation/refund confirmation email.
The final step of a cancellation/refund is the summary screen. This screen provides an overview of:
The attendee being cancelled
The sessions they are being removed from
The refund being issued (if applicable)
To confirm the cancellation, click 'Confirm Cancellation'. At this point, a check is made to ensure your Stripe account has sufficient funds to cover the refund. If there are enough funds, the cancellation and refund will be confirmed. If there are insufficient funds, you will see a message prompting you to top up your Stripe account. Once the funds have cleared, you can complete the refund.
When a cancellation is confirmed:
The refund process will begin
The attendee will be removed from the associated registers
The refund amount will be tracked and reflected in the finance export
Confirmation communications will be sent to both you and the customer
Capacity will be added back to the session(s) from which the attendee was cancelled
Please note that refunds may take 5-10 working days to process and appear in the customer's account.
FAQ
Can I cancel and refund all bookings?
At the moment not all bookings can be cancelled and refunded, read below for exceptions:
Subscriptions: you can cancel these yourself, but if you'd like a refund please contact us directly
Add-ons: if you would like to cancel and refund an add-on please contact us directly
Poncho Pay bookings: If you would like to refund these please do this through your normal method, if you'd like to cancel them please reach out to us directly
Can I refund without a cancellation?
At the moment this isn't possible, please email support@bookpebble.co.uk. Other cases where you can't refund currently include: a moved booking, a booking made via Poncho Pay, and a booking with a Pebble Promotion applied.
Does Pebble charge for refunds?
See our terms and conditions regarding refunds. Pebble do not charge for the refund itself, however the original booking fee paid may still be incurred by the provider. The current functionality (subject to change in the future) is as follows:
Partial Refunds:
Pebble will transfer the requested refund amount from the provider account to refund the customer (the provider covers the full full amount they choose to refund)
Example:
Customer makes a booking and pays £100
Pebble fee is calculated (£3 (3% in this example))
Pebble transfers £97 to provider
Provider decides to PARTIALLY refund the booking giving the customer £50:
We transfer back £50 from provider account
We refund customer the £50
Provider retains the remaining £47
Full Refunds:
Pebble will reverse the transferred payment from the provider, then top-up* the refund with the booking fee paid to ensure the customer gets a full refund (effectively refunding the original booking fee paid by the supplier).
Example:
Customer makes a booking and pays £100
Pebble fee is calculated (£3 (3% in this example))
Pebble transfers £97 to provider
Provider decides to FULLY refund the booking giving the customer £100:
Pebble reverse the £97 transfer from the provider account
Pebble add the Pebble fee of £3* (this may change in the future)
We refund customer the £100
*These steps outline our automated process; however per our T&Cs, Pebble retain the right to charge the booking fee for a booking (even if it is later refunded) and may seek to re-coup these fees under certain circumstances.
How long do refunds take?
Once a refund has been processed a customer will receive an email from Stripe to confirm the refund has been actioned and also advises them of the timeline. Stripe advise it may take 5-10 business days to settle, but the refund is usually received within a few days.
Using discount codes as class credit
Alternatively, we can also create discount codes for your customers to use as 'credit' against a future booking if a customer chooses this option. These can't be 100% of the cost of a class so work very well when offering 'one class off' (as part of a block) for the next term, for example.
Moving a booking
Are they coming another day instead? Move them onto another day so they're on the class register and receive a confirmation of this. This relieves the need for a refund and parents are often happy to do this.
We value your input and are always looking for ways to improve our communication and services.
If you have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your Customer Success Manager, our support team at support@bookpebble.co.uk or via the live chat support.