When a student chooses to upgrade or downgrade their membership in Groovio, it’s important to understand the timing and process for the change to take full effect.
How Membership Upgrades Work
When you upgrade or downgrade a student’s membership (e.g., from Silver to Gold), you choose when the change takes effect (see below). Until then:
Current Membership: The student continues to use their current membership for classes dated before the change date.
New Membership: From the change date onward, the new membership’s credits and benefits apply.
The change does not have to wait for the next billing cycle. The student can begin booking eligible classes straight away (see below).
Choosing When the Change Takes Effect
Go to the student's Memberships tab, click Action > Upgrade/Downgrade, pick the new membership and click Continue. Under When should this upgrade/downgrade take effect? choose one of:
At the end of the current billing cycle — The current membership stops renewing, and the new membership starts on what would have been the current membership's next billing date. The student's next charge is already at the new membership's price, so there is nothing to refund or top up.
On a specific date — Pick a date (from tomorrow onward, up to the membership's expiry). The current membership ends on that date and the new membership starts and is billed from that date. The remainder of the current paid cycle is not refunded automatically. If the date you pick is after the current cycle ends, the current membership renews once more at its existing price before the new one starts — the panel shows both billing dates before you confirm.
Immediately — The current membership ends today and the new membership starts today, and the new membership is paid for now (see below). The remainder of the current paid cycle is not refunded automatically. Immediately is only available when the current membership is Active, its next billing cycle hasn't already been created, and no other change is scheduled — otherwise choose an effective date instead.
Paying for an Immediate Change
With Immediately, payment for the new membership is taken when you confirm the change:
Card on file (under Auto Charge Card On File) — the student's default saved card is charged straight away. If the student has no saved card, the change isn't made and you'll see No card on file to charge — use another payment method, or pick At the end of the current billing cycle instead. Cards that need 3D Secure authentication can't be charged by staff this way.
Process Payment Now — take the payment from the student's wallet, or record EFTPOS, bank transfer, cash or another method.
Changing the amount of the first payment
For an Immediately change you can edit Revised Grand Total in the Confirm Details panel — for example, to credit the student for the unused part of their old membership. The revised amount applies to this first payment only; the new membership's later renewals are charged at its full usual price.
For At the end of the current billing cycle and On a specific date, Revised Grand Total is locked and the new membership is charged at its full price when it starts.
Booking Classes Before an Upgrade or Downgrade Takes Effect
When a membership is scheduled to upgrade or downgrade on a future date, the student doesn’t have to wait for that date to arrive before using the new benefits.
Starting today, the student can book any classes that are scheduled on or after the future change date, using the benefits of the new (upgraded or downgraded) membership.
Example: If the upgrade takes effect on July 1st, the student can today book classes dated July 1st onward using their new membership.
Classes dated before the change date continue to use the student’s current membership.
Verifying Membership Upgrade Status
Since students cannot upgrade their own memberships, follow these steps to confirm whether a change is scheduled or completed:
Access the Student Profile: Go to Groovio > Manage Studio > Students and select the student’s profile.
Check Membership Details: In the profile, open the Memberships tab.
Scheduled change: While a change is scheduled, the Upgrade/Downgrade option is replaced by Cancel scheduled upgrade/downgrade, and the incoming membership is listed with a status such as Upcoming upgrade/downgrade or Active From its start date. If you still see Upgrade/Downgrade and no incoming membership, no change has been set up yet.
Cancelling a Scheduled Upgrade or Downgrade
If an upgrade or downgrade has been scheduled but not yet applied, you can cancel it directly from the student’s profile while the change is still pending or upcoming.
Go to Groovio > Manage Studio > Students and select the student’s profile.
Navigate to the Memberships tab.
Click the Action button on the membership with the scheduled change.
Choose Cancel scheduled upgrade/downgrade.
This is available while the change is still pending or upcoming. Once cancelled, the student remains on their current membership.
Keeping Existing Bookings When Changing a Membership
When you change a student’s membership — whether upgrading or downgrading — you’ll see a toggle that lets you keep their existing bookings in place.
Toggle on — The student’s current class bookings are carried across to the new membership, so they don’t lose their spot in classes they’ve already booked.
Toggle off — The change follows the standard behaviour and existing bookings are not retained against the new membership.
Use this when moving a student between memberships mid-cycle and you don’t want to disrupt classes they’re already enrolled in.
Troubleshooting Class Booking Issues
If the student’s membership benefits are not appearing during booking, confirm the following:
Class Date vs. Change Date: The new membership’s benefits apply to classes dated on or after the scheduled change date. Classes dated before the change date use the student’s current membership, so make sure you’re booking a class on the correct side of the change date.
Student Profile Verification: Verify under the student’s profile that the correct membership and scheduled change are displayed.
By following these steps, you can ensure a smooth membership upgrade process, minimizing any disruption to the student’s class bookings.
Notes
When upgrading or downgrading a membership, you can make the change at the end of the current billing cycle, on a specific date, or immediately. An immediate change is paid for at the time (card on file is charged now), and only an immediate change lets you edit the first payment amount. From the change date onward the new membership’s benefits apply, and the student can immediately book classes dated on or after the change date using the new membership.
The Upgrade/Downgrade option only appears on an Active membership that has no pause set up and no change already scheduled.
Pausing and scheduled changes: A membership can't be paused while an upgrade/downgrade is scheduled — the Pause/Resume option disappears while the change is pending. Resuming a paused membership, scheduling the upgrade/downgrade and then pausing it again does not work. To pause, cancel the scheduled upgrade/downgrade first.
Discount codes: There is no discount-code field when upgrading or downgrading a membership, because the change doesn't go through checkout. To give a discount, use Edit Pricing on the student's membership (Action menu on their Memberships tab) to set the discounted amount, then set it back to the original price after that cycle has run.