Sometimes studios notice that a client canceled a class within the allowed cancellation period, but the client says they do not see any refund in their bank account.
Zenamu first places a temporary authorization on the client’s card. If the booking is canceled within the cancellation window, the payment is not captured, so the bank simply releases the blocked amount.
Because the payment was never actually charged, there is nothing to refund. Some banks do not show the release of an authorization, so the transaction simply disappears instead of appearing as a refund.
How card payments work in Zenamu
When a client books a class with a card payment, the payment is first authorized, not immediately charged.
This means:
The bank temporarily reserves the amount on the client’s card.
The money is not yet transferred to the Stripe.
it is captured later.
Zenamu captures the payment either 7 days after the authorization or on the day the event begins, whichever happens first.
This approach helps studios avoid unnecessary Stripe transaction fees when bookings are canceled.
What happens when the client cancels in time
If the client cancels within the allowed cancellation window:
the payment is not captured
the authorization is automatically released
the studio does not pay any Stripe transaction fee
Because the payment was never actually charged, there is no refund transaction in their bank.
What the client may see in their bank
Banks handle card authorizations differently. The client may see:
a temporary pending charge that later disappears
a temporarily blocked amount that is released
no visible change at all
Some banks do not show the release of an authorization as a separate transaction, so it may simply look like the payment never happened.
How to verify the payment status
If you want to check what exactly happened with the payment, you can verify it directly in your Stripe Dashboard.
Go to Payments.
Search for the client's payment.
In Stripe it may look similar to the example below:
