Online refunds and disputes

A payment made online is refunded through Stripe, back to the card or wallet the guest paid with. A dispute, when the guest's bank questions a payment, is answered in Stripe and shows on the bill until it is decided. Payments taken at your desk are refunded as before, see Take payments.

Refund to card

In the payment's menu (Payment actions) on the bill, choose Refund to card, enter the Amount and a Reason, and confirm with Refund to card.

• The amount is at most what is left of that payment after earlier refunds, and at most what the bill was paid; the window shows the limit.
• The bill has to be open, as for any refund.
• A payment with an open dispute cannot be refunded to the card. Once the dispute is won it can be again; after a lost dispute it cannot, because the guest's bank already took the money back.
• It needs the permission Refund and the permission to see that bill. The Activity log records the request.
• When the refund would leave the bill owing again, for example on a bill that was paid in full, the window says so and offers Then take … off the bill as a bill discount, ticked. With it ticked, the bill discount window opens after the refund with that amount filled in; untick it when the guest should pay it again. When the bill already has a bill discount, the window asks you to discount or remove the line, or cancel the booking, instead.

Until Stripe confirms, the bill shows "Refund pending" with the amount, and the refund is in no total. Once Stripe confirms, usually within seconds, the refund is a payment line of its own with a minus amount, the method Online payment and the person who asked for it. The guest's bank can take several days more to show it on their statement. DivePilot's fee on the payment is refunded in proportion to the amount refunded. In the cash-up the refund counts under Online, like the payment, not in the takings of the person who asked for it. The bill updates by itself once Stripe confirms.

If Stripe does not complete the refund, nothing is posted and your team gets the notification Card refund failed. If a refund Stripe had confirmed fails later (the card's bank sends it back), DivePilot takes it back off the bill with a correction and sends the same notification. Refund the guest another way then, for example with Refund on the bill by bank transfer. If a refund reported as failed goes through after all, it is posted on the bill and your team gets the notification Card refund went through after all; check the guest was not refunded another way too.

A refund is money only: it never changes an invoice, a credit note or a receipt. When the guest should owe less, void or discount the line, which issues a credit note when it was invoiced, or cancel the booking with its cancellation dialog, which can refund a deposit to the card by itself, see Cancellation policy.

An online payment has no Void payment and no Reverse (chargeback).

Refunds made in Stripe

A refund made in your Stripe Dashboard reaches the bill by itself once Stripe confirms it, with Online instead of a staff name. DivePilot's fee on the payment is refunded in proportion to the amount refunded, as for a refund to card; where it is billed monthly, it is lowered instead. On a closed bill it is posted on the guest's current bill, as a correction that names the closed bill, and your team gets the notification Refund posted on the current bill. The same happens to a refund to card asked for from the bill that Stripe confirms after the bill was closed. The list of online payments on the Online payments tab offers no refund: start refunds from the bill, so the reason is kept. When Stripe refunds an online payment that is on no bill, or takes it back in a lost dispute, nothing is posted and your team gets the notification Online refund or dispute not posted: check it in Stripe. For the lost dispute of such a payment it comes instead of Dispute closed. When a refund made in Stripe leaves a bill owing again, for example a bill that was paid in full, your team gets the notification Refund in Stripe leaves the bill owing instead, with the amount the bill owes: discount or remove the line, or cancel the booking, if the guest should not pay it. When the refund was for a closed bill, open that bill and void or discount the line it was for: the correction comes off the current bill, while a bill discount on the current bill takes nothing off it. Until you decide, My bill does not ask the guest for that amount: the bill shows a notice that it is held back from the guest and why, and the guest's page says it is on hold while you check a refund. Voiding or discounting the closed bill's line takes it off. If the guest should pay it after all, press Ask the guest to pay in that notice, with the permission Add charges; My bill then asks for it.

Disputes

When a guest disputes a payment with their bank:

• The payment shows "Disputed" with the amount and the date by which you must answer, and Open in Stripe in its menu. Your team gets the notification Online payment disputed. The date comes with its time, in your dive center's time zone.
• You answer in the Stripe Dashboard, or in the Payments tab under Online payments with the permission Connect Stripe. Stripe holds the disputed amount from your Stripe balance meanwhile; the bill does not change. The Payments tab shows only to people who also have See every bill. For them the dashboard counts the disputes to answer under Needs attention, and that chip opens the list of bills on the bills that hold them.
• Won: the payment shows "Dispute won" and the bill stays as it was. Your team gets Dispute closed.
• Lost: DivePilot reverses the payment, on the same bill while it is open, or on the guest's current bill when it is closed, and the guest owes that amount again. Your team gets Dispute closed. DivePilot's fee on the payment is refunded in proportion to the amount lost, as for a refund; where it is billed monthly, it is lowered instead. The reversal is marked Chargeback on the bill and "Chargeback (dispute lost)" on the guest's My bill page, and the payment's receipt reads "payment charged back".

Stripe's dispute fee is a cost of your Stripe account and never lands on the guest's bill.

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