No-show and late cancellation charges

Empty spots from no-shows and same-day cancellations cost real money. Wagday can charge the card a customer has authorised for fees automatically when it happens, using a policy you control.

Setting your policyCopy Anchor Link

Under Settings → Policies (Admins only) you'll find the cancellation, no-show and card-on-file settings:

• Cancellation notice period — how many hours before the booking counts as "on time" (0–168 hours, i.e. up to a week; the default is 24). Cancellations inside the window incur the fee; set 0 to disable the policy.
• Late cancellation fee — the percentage of the booking value charged for a cancellation inside the notice period, on a 0–100% slider in 5% steps (the default is 50%). Set 0% for no fee.
• No-show charge — the percentage charged when a customer simply doesn't turn up, also 0–100% in 5% steps (the default is 100%).
• Charge fees automatically — separate toggles for late cancellations and no-shows. When on, the card the customer authorised is charged immediately, except in the cases under When a fee is held for review. When off, the fee is held as Pending for staff to review and issue from the Fees tab in Billing.
• Require card on file — when on, customers must save a card with the authorisation before they can book through the portal or the app (see The customer's card authorisation). A customer without one is asked to save it when they submit their booking request, then comes straight back to finish the request. A card saved before card authorisations were introduced doesn't count, at a Stripe or a Square facility. Without a connected payment provider no customer can save a card online, so their booking requests still go through but wait for your review: they appear in Pending Booking Approvals with the reason Card on file required, and the customer is told you'll arrange a card with them before confirming. A customer rescheduling a confirmed booking is asked to send you a change request instead. Once you connect Stripe or Square, customers save their own card and these holds stop.

The Policy Preview card at the bottom shows the exact wording customers will see, and updates as you change the numbers.

What happens automaticallyCopy Anchor Link

When you mark a booking as a no-show, Wagday raises the configured percentage as a fee against the customer. With auto-charge on, the card they authorised is charged straight away; with it off, the fee waits as Pending for you to charge or waive from the Fees tab. When the card is charged, the customer gets an email with the amount, the reason and, where your payment provider supplies one, a link to the payment receipt — nobody likes a silent charge.

When a late cancellation is approved, the late-cancel fee is raised against the card the customer authorised (again, charged immediately or held for review, per your toggle). Any refund the booking is due under your deposit refund policy is handled separately. Cancellations made with proper notice refund normally, with no fee.

A charge is only ever applied once per booking, so toggling a booking's status back and forth can't double-charge anyone.

The customer's card authorisationCopy Anchor Link

Wagday only charges a fee to a card the customer saved themselves under Payment methods in the customer portal, where they tick that your facility may charge it for late cancellations and no-shows under your policy. That authorisation is recorded with the exact wording and fee policy they saw, and it is what lets you charge the card without asking them again each time. Customers aren't asked to approve each fee.

A card without that authorisation is never charged for a fee, even if it shows on the customer's profile. This includes:

• cards saved before card authorisations were introduced;
• a card the customer has removed from Payment methods, or that staff removed from the customer's profile (removing it doesn't cancel anything they already owe);
• a card saved on your previous payment account.

In each case the fee is held for review instead, and the customer can save their card again from the portal. The customer's profile shows the authorisation they gave on the Money tab.

Stripe and SquareCopy Anchor Link

Automatic fees work with a connected Stripe or Square account. The authorised card has to be on the same provider your facility uses now, so a card saved before you switched providers can't be charged and the customer needs to add it again. A fee that has already been charged stays with the provider that charged it, so retries and refunds of that fee go back through that provider even after you switch.

Customers can't yet save a card with the authorisation at a Square facility, so for now Square facilities' fees are held for review rather than charged automatically.

The Fees tab shows which provider each fee was charged through. Hover the provider to see its payment reference, which you can search for in your Stripe or Square dashboard.

When a fee is held for reviewCopy Anchor Link

With auto-charge on, Wagday holds the fee as Pending instead of charging the card when:

• the customer has already paid for the booking in full. Your facility already holds their money, so Wagday won't charge their card on top of it. Keep the fee back when you refund them, or waive it.
• the customer hasn't authorised a saved card for fees, or has removed it (see The customer's card authorisation).
• the authorised card can't be used — the provider no longer holds it, or it's on your previous payment account.
• your payment provider isn't connected, or its connection needs to be renewed in Settings → Payment Setup. The fee settings show a notice while this is the case.

The Fees tab shows the reason next to the fee, and your owners and admins get a notification. Nothing is charged and the customer isn't told. Choose Issue fee when you're ready to charge it, or Waive fee. Issue fee charges only an authorised card too: a fee held because the customer hasn't authorised a card stays held until they save one, so collect it another way or waive it.

If the card failsCopy Anchor Link

Sometimes the saved card has expired or has insufficient funds. Wagday marks the fee as Failed on the Fees tab (hover the status to see why) and lets the customer know. Choose Retry charge once they've sorted out their card, or waive the fee. A failed fee isn't added to an invoice or to the customer's balance, so follow it up from the Fees tab. It never blocks you from updating the booking itself.

Now and then the provider accepts a charge but hasn't confirmed it yet. The fee stays as Processing. Choose Check status to confirm it with the provider. Wagday never charges the card a second time for it.

Refunding a feeCopy Anchor Link

You can refund a charged fee from its payment record. Once the refund goes through, the Fees tab shows the fee as Refunded (or Part refunded).

Keeping it fair (and keeping customers)Copy Anchor Link

• Put the policy in your terms and on your portal so customers know before they book — an unexpected fee costs you goodwill faster than a no-show costs you money.
• Many operators waive the first offence and enforce from the second. You can always refund a charge from its payment record if a regular has a genuine emergency.
• The fees only work if customers have authorised a card — ask them to save one under Payment methods in the customer portal, for example at check-in.