No-show and late cancellation charges

Empty spots from no-shows and same-day cancellations cost real money. WagDay can charge the customer's saved card automatically when it happens, using a policy you control.

Setting your policy

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 customer's saved card 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 payment method before they can book through the portal, so there's always a card to charge.

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

What happens automatically

When you mark a booking as a no-show, WagDay raises the configured percentage as a fee against the customer. With auto-charge on, their saved card 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 customer's saved card (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.

Stripe and Square

Automatic fees work with a connected Stripe or Square account. The customer's saved 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.

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 review

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 has no card saved (or it's on your previous payment provider).
• your payment provider isn't connected, or its connection needs to be renewed in Settings → Payments. 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.

If the card fails

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 fee

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)

• 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 a card on file — turn on require card on file for the strongest protection, or encourage it at check-in.