Customer credit
Credit is money held against one customer that comes off their next bill — unlike a gift card, which anyone can buy and anyone can spend. It comes from you giving it, from cancelling a prepaid booking, or from the remainder of a gift card. Apply Credit reveals an inline box with a tick button you must click; the green button alone does not commit it.
Credit is money held against a specific customer's account that comes off what they owe next time. It's different from a gift card: a gift card is a voucher anybody can buy and anybody can spend, while credit belongs to one customer and can't be handed on.
Where credit comes from
- You give it. A goodwill gesture, or making good on something that went wrong.
- A cancelled prepaid booking. When you cancel a booking that's already been paid for, moving the money to credit is one of the three options.
- What's left on a gift card. A customer with £4 left on a £30 card can have the remainder moved onto their account rather than carrying the card around.
Giving a customer credit
Open the customer and click Apply Credit in Quick Actions. Enter the amount and a reason — the reason isn't optional in practice, because in six months nobody will remember why the account is £15 up.
Seeing what they have
A customer with credit shows a banner on their record and on their bookings, so whoever takes the payment can see it without having to go looking.
Spending it
On a booking's payment screen, choose to apply credit and it comes off the total. If the credit covers the whole thing, the amount due drops to £0.00 and there's nothing left to take.
Apply Credit reveals an inline box with a tick button, and you have to click the tick. Clicking the green button alone doesn't commit it — this catches people out constantly. Check the total actually changed before taking the rest of the payment.
It's a running balance, not a single pot
Every addition and every deduction is recorded against the customer, so you can see how a balance got to where it is. Nothing is edited in place — which is exactly what you want when a customer queries the figure.
Credit isn't a refund
Credit keeps the money with you and commits the customer to coming back. That's fine when they're happy with it, but it isn't a substitute for a refund when someone is entitled to their money back and asks for it. Offer, don't assume.