When an automatic refund to a guest couldn't be made

What the alert "A refund to a guest couldn't be made" means, and how to try the card refund again or record that you paid the guest back another way.

Sometimes a guest pays but nothing is made for them — a booking, an event ticket, a gift card or an order didn't go through after the card was charged. ResoFlow then sends the money back to their card automatically. If that refund still hasn't worked after several tries (for example the card has been cancelled, or your venue isn't connected to Stripe), you get the alert A refund to a guest couldn't be made in the bell, and it's in your Activity log.

How to sort it

Open the alert — it opens its Activity-log entry with Refund now… ready. You have two choices:

• Try the card refund again — sends the whole amount back to the card the guest paid with, and ResoFlow's fee on it comes back to you. If a refund is already on its way for that payment, it is used — the guest is never refunded twice.
• I paid them back another way — for when you've already given the money back yourself: Cash, Bank transfer or On our card machine. Record the whole amount, the day you paid them back and, if you like, a receipt or reference (never a card or bank account number), and tick that the guest agreed to be paid back that way. Nothing is sent to the guest's card. A gift card isn't one of the choices here.

Either one needs an owner's password, or a manager's approval PIN from someone who can refund that kind of payment (bookings, event tickets, gift cards or orders). Once it's done the alert shows as handled for everyone, the guest's contact details are removed from the payment record, and the Activity log names who sorted it. When you send the card refund, the guest gets the same email the automatic refund would have sent. Recording that you paid them back another way sends the guest nothing.

If part of the payment has already gone back

If some of the money has already gone back to the guest's card (for example you refunded part of it in your own Stripe), the sheet shows Already back on the guest's card and Still owed. Try the card refund again isn't offered then — pay the guest the rest another way and record it with I paid them back another way: the amount to record is filled in for you (what's still owed), and the payment record keeps both parts. If that part refund is still on its way to the guest's card, wait until it has gone through, then record the rest.

If your venue isn't connected to Stripe

The card refund can't be sent, so only I paid them back another way is offered — or connect Stripe in Settings → Payouts and Stripe first and then try the card refund. The same happens if the payment was taken on a Stripe account that is no longer connected to your venue.

If the card refund is still waiting at the bank

Sometimes the guest's bank takes a few days to accept a card refund. The payment then shows the refund is on its way, and the guest's contact details are kept until it has gone through. ResoFlow checks with Stripe every day once a refund has been waiting a week: when it has gone through, the payment is closed; if the bank turned it down, a new alert arrives (below).

If the card refund fails again later

Occasionally a guest's bank turns a refund down a few days later. The payment then waits for you again and a new A refund to a guest couldn't be made alert arrives, so you can try once more or record paying them back another way.

A cancelled event ticket whose refund couldn't be made is sorted on the ticket itself: the sheet opens the event's guest list, where the ticket shows Refund needs attention and a Retry refund button.

Related: How do I get the app and alerts on my phone? · Why was (or wasn't) a deposit refunded?