Refunds: sending one, answering a request, and cancellations

You can send money back to a family's card at any time, without cancelling their booking, and you decide on the refund requests families send you. This page also explains how a cancellation is refunded, depending on who cancels. Sending refunds and answering requests needs Money set to Take payments & refund, which the Owner and Bookkeeper presets have.

Send a refund without cancelling

Use Send refund when a family should get some money back but keeps their place: a missed session, a class that was cut short, or an overcharge. The booking stays exactly as it is.

You can start a refund from four places:

• Money › Class payments: Send refund on a booking's row. It shows only while some card money is left to refund on that booking.
• People › Parents: the family's row menu (•••) › Send refund.
• A child's record: the Money tab, under Billing › Send refund.
• An appointment's panel, for services: Send refund.

To send one from Class payments:

1. Open Money, then Class payments (1).
2. Find the booking and select Send refund (2). The form opens beside the list.
3. Check From. If you started from a family rather than a booking, choose which of their paid bookings the money comes from.
4. Enter the Amount to send back. The hint under the box shows the most you can send: "Up to $X, what's left of what they paid by card."
5. Add a note if you like (the box is labeled with the family's first name, for example "Note to Jordan (optional)"). The family sees it with the refund in their conversation, for example "Missed the Oct 2 class."
6. Read What this refund costs you (see the next section). It updates as you type.
7. Select Send refund, then confirm. The confirmation reads, for example, "Send this refund to Jordan's card? It can't be taken back."

In the form, enter the amount (1), check the cost panel (2), then select Send refund (3). You'll see a message like "Sent $50.00 back to Jordan's card. They've been told in Messages." The family gets a Refund sent card in their conversation with you, plus a notification and an email. The refund also appears under Money › Requests & refunds, marked Refund sent. You can send more than one refund on the same booking, up to what's left of the card payment.

What this refund costs you

The panel shows the refund from your side before you send it:

Line	What it means
[First name] gets back	The amount going back to the family's card.
A line about Famlo's fee	Either Famlo returns its 3.7% + $1.79 share, when Famlo gives back part of its fee in proportion to what you refund, or Booking fee the family paid (kept by Famlo).
Stripe's original fee	Always not returned. Stripe keeps its card fee on the original payment.
Comes out of your payouts	What the refund actually costs you once any returned fee is counted.

Refunds come out of your own Stripe balance, because card payments go straight to your Stripe account.

Answer a family's refund request

Before a booking starts, families cancel it themselves and your refund terms decide what they get back. Once it has started, a family can use Request a refund on their booking instead. They pick a reason (Ended early, Didn't happen, Not as described or Something else), say how much they're asking for, and can add a note. You decide.

The request arrives as a Refund request card in that family's conversation in Messages, marked "Waiting on you". The person who created or claimed your listing is also notified, and that notification can't be turned off. The card has three buttons, Approve with the amount asked for (for example Approve $12.50), Different amount and Decline, and each one opens the request in a panel.

The panel shows the Status, the Family, the Booking and what was paid, They ask for, the Reason and Their note.

To approve it:

1. Open the request from its card in Messages.
2. Check the Refund amount (1). It starts at what the family asked for. To send a different amount, change it here (or select Different amount on the card, which labels the box Amount to send back).
3. Read What this refund costs you. It's the same panel as Send refund.
4. Select Approve and send refund (2), then confirm.

The money goes back to the card they paid with, their booking stays as it is, and the family is told in Messages. You'll see a message like "Approved. $12.50 is going back to Layla's card, and they've been told in Messages."

To decline it:

1. Select Decline instead… (3) in the panel, or Decline on the card.
2. Write Why you're declining. It's required, up to 300 characters, and the family sees it.
3. Select Decline.

The family sees your reason in the conversation and can reply there to talk it through. If no card money is left on the booking, Decline is the only answer the panel offers. A family can withdraw a request before you answer it, and they can have only one open request on a booking at a time.

Cancellations: who cancels changes the refund

What happens	What the family gets back
The family cancels before the booking starts	What your refund terms allow, measured on what they paid by card. Each booking keeps the terms it was booked under.
The family asks after it has started	Whatever you approve (see above).
You cancel the whole class (••• › Cancel activity)	Everyone registered is refunded and notified. See Cancel, unpublish or delete a class.
You cancel one appointment (Cancel… in its panel)	You choose: refund all of it, Refund part of it, or No refund now. See Services and appointments.
You refund a shop sale (Store › Sales › Refund)	The sale is cancelled and refunded. Families can't cancel shop purchases themselves. See Sell downloads, videos and bundles in your Store.

When a family cancels, their cancel screen shows Amount paid, Activity refund, Booking fee refund and Total refund before they confirm. Booking fee refund is marked "(not refundable)" when the booking fee isn't coming back.

Who can cancel. People who run every class (by preset the Owner, Co-leader and Class organizer) can cancel a class, which cancels every booking on it. Sending refunds and answering requests is separate: it needs Money set to Take payments & refund (by preset the Owner and Bookkeeper). A Co-leader can cancel a class but can't open Requests & refunds or send a refund. See What staff can do: roles and access.

For membership dues, removing a member has its own refund choices. See Membership dues.

What Famlo can and can't refund

• Card money only. Every refund goes back to the card the family paid with, and only up to what's left of that card payment. Anything already refunded is subtracted, including from a later cancellation.
• Step Up seats and money paid to you directly. That money never went through a card, so Famlo can't send it back. The form says: "A Step Up seat, or money paid to you directly, never went through a card, so any refund of it is yours to give."
• Shop downloads. Refunding the full price of a shop purchase takes the product back from the family. A partial refund lets them keep it.
• Timing. Families usually see the money on their card within 5 to 10 business days.

Troubleshooting

I don't see Send refund. It shows only to people with Money set to Take payments & refund, and only on bookings with card money left to refund. A Step Up seat, or money paid to you directly, has nothing to refund by card.

"There's no card payment left to refund on this." Everything paid by card on that booking has already been refunded, or it was never paid by card.

"You can send back at most $X on this." You entered more than is left of the card payment. Enter that amount or less.

A refund didn't go through. You and the family are both notified. Your notice reads like "A $50.00 refund to Jordan Rivera didn't go through. The money is still in your account. Send it again from Requests & refunds." Open Money › Requests & refunds and send it again. If Stripe is disconnected, the Money page shows a red banner, and you can't issue refunds until it's reconnected. See Set up getting paid with Stripe.

The family says the refund hasn't arrived. Card refunds usually take 5 to 10 business days. If your Stripe balance is too low to cover a refund, Stripe holds it until enough money comes in.

What's next

• Refund terms (If a family cancels)
• The booking fee, and paying it yourself
• Ask a family to pay: payment requests and saved charges
• Cancel, unpublish or delete a class
• Cancelling and refunds (what families see)