When a term is cancelled automatically, no one should be out of pocket. Refunds work exactly the same as when you cancel a term yourself as the studio — everyone who booked gets the full amount back, with no cancellation fee. This article explains how each payment method is refunded and what you and your clients see.
The full amount is refunded, with no fee
Automatic cancellation counts as a cancellation by the studio. So everyone who booked gets 100% of the price back, no matter how little time was left before the start. Cancellation fees don't apply — those only apply to bookings that clients cancel themselves.
How each payment method is refunded
Card — the amount is refunded automatically to the card the client paid with. Depending on the bank, it usually takes 5 to 10 days to appear.
PayPal — the amount is refunded automatically to the client's PayPal account.
Credits — the credits go back to the client's account, and they can use them for another booking.
Pass — the used entry goes back onto the pass, and the client can use it again.
Membership — the booking is released and the membership stays valid, so the client can book another class.
Bank transfer — if the payment has already arrived, the order is marked awaiting refund in the Orders section and you refund the client directly. If the transfer hasn't arrived yet, there's nothing to refund.
On-site payment — if the client hasn't paid yet, which is usual for on-site payments, there's nothing to refund. If you've already recorded the payment as received, the order is marked awaiting refund and you refund the client directly.
So card, PayPal, credit, pass, and membership payments are handled for you. Only for transfers and on-site payments that have already gone through do you refund by hand — just as you would for a normal term cancellation by the studio.
What you see
For every automatically cancelled term, you get an info email with the subject Class automatically cancelled (for events, Event automatically cancelled). It tells you:
which term was cancelled and when it was due to start,
how many people were booked, what the minimum was, and the capacity,
a note that online payments were refunded in full and that bank-transfer and on-site payments are marked as awaiting refund in the Orders section.
What booked clients see
Clients who booked get the same cancellation notification they'd get for any other cancelled class or event. You don't have to write to them yourself — Zenamu tells them for you.
When an online refund fails
If a refund fails for one of the payments (because of an error on the payment gateway's side, for example), the term stays cancelled and the other payments are refunded as normal. The failed payment stays flagged in the Orders section so you can sort it out by hand. One payment won't hold up cancelling the whole term.