Skip to content
JustBook Help

A deposit wasn't refunded

A customer cancelled but their deposit came back partial, or not at all.

Most common cause

Section titled “Most common cause”

The cancellation refund ladder awarded a smaller percentage — often 0% — because of how far ahead the customer cancelled. A refund is policy, not automatic. Your cancellation policy is a ladder of rules like “cancel at least 24 hours ahead → refund 100% of the deposit; less notice → refund less.” JustBook finds the rule that matches how much notice the customer gave and refunds that percentage of the deposit. If they cancelled inside your shortest-notice window, the matching rule may refund 0%, which is the intended outcome — not a failed refund.

Fix: open the appointment and check how much notice was given against your ladder in Settings → Booking Settings. If the amount looks right for that rung, no action is needed. If a customer deserves more back, issue a manual refund from the appointment.

How the amount is decided

Section titled “How the amount is decided”
  1. JustBook takes the notice period — the time between the cancellation and the appointment start.
  2. It finds the rung in your ladder for that notice (”≥ N hours before → X% of the deposit”).
  3. It refunds that percentage of the deposit that was actually paid — never a recomputed number. A no-show follows your no-show policy instead, which can keep some or all of the deposit.

Checklist

Section titled “Checklist”
  1. How much notice did the customer give? Less notice sits on a lower rung — a small or 0% refund is often the policy working as designed.
  2. What does your ladder say? Review the rungs in Settings → Booking Settings. If the tiers aren’t what you want, edit them for future cancellations.
  3. Was it a cancellation or a no-show? No-shows use your no-show policy, which can keep the deposit. They aren’t refunds and follow different rules.
  4. Was the deposit ever paid? If the booking never reached a paid deposit, there’s nothing to refund.
  5. Refund shows as done but no money moved? Card refunds can take several business days to appear on the customer’s statement.
  6. Need to override the policy? Issue a manual refund from the appointment for the amount you choose. Trying to refund more than was captured is rejected (code REFUND_EXCEEDS_MAX).
Section titled “Related”