Refunds and disputes are handled from the same two places you see payments: the Payments page and a client's Payments tab.
Refund a payment
- Find the payment and click Refund. The dialog shows what was paid, how, on which day, anything already refunded, and how much can still be refunded.
- Keep the full amount or enter a partial amount.
- Pick a reason (client asked for a refund, charged twice, fraudulent, or other) and add a note. Both are stored on the payment and visible to staff.
- Confirm. The dialog says whether the money goes back to the card or is only being recorded.
| Payment | What happens |
|---|---|
| Card taken through FrontDesk (in the app, a pay link, the portal, autopay, a plan) | Refunded through Stripe. The money comes back out of the practice's Stripe balance and usually shows on the client's statement in 5 to 10 days. FrontDesk's fee is not returned, as Stripe keeps its own. |
| Cash or check | Recorded as refunded. Give the money back yourself. |
| Card run on an outside terminal | Recorded as refunded, with a reminder to refund it on the terminal or in Stripe. |
After a refund the payment shows as Refunded or Partial refund, and:
- The balance goes back up only by what the payment had taken off it. The client owes again only what this payment had paid off; money they paid ahead just comes back.
- The charges the payment had paid are open again.
- An invoice the payment paid goes back to owing the refunded amount. A voided invoice stays void: what the payment paid on the invoice's own lines is not owed again, and only the visit charges it billed (which a void leaves owed) reopen.
Refunds made directly in the Stripe dashboard sync back to FrontDesk and are booked the same way.
A refund goes out once
- Each opening of the Refund dialog is one refund. A double click, or trying again after the connection dropped, gets the first refund back instead of sending a second.
- If someone else records a refund on the same payment at the same moment, you see "This payment changed while it was being refunded". Refresh and check the payment before refunding again.
- If Stripe can't be reached, nothing is refunded and the dialog says to try again in a minute. It is safe to try again.
- If the refund was sent but Stripe didn't answer, and Stripe can't be checked either, the dialog says the refund is being checked. It stays recorded as refunded so it can't go out twice, and FrontDesk settles it with Stripe on its own, usually within minutes. Don't refund it again in Stripe. Until Stripe confirms it, it isn't counted in the financial reports.
Cancellation and no-show fees
To give back a missed-visit fee that was charged to the card, open the visit and use Refund and waive. It refunds the payment and removes the fee in one step. A plain refund from the Payments page leaves the fee owed on the client's balance. See Cancellation and no-show fees.
Disputes and chargebacks
When a client's bank opens a dispute on a card payment:
- The payment gets a Disputed badge and the office gets a Payment disputed notification with the reason and the date to respond by.
- Respond in Stripe with your evidence (appointment records, consent, the cancellation policy). Open it with Stripe dashboard next to the location under Settings → Billing → Payment methods.
- When the bank decides, you get Dispute won or Dispute lost. A lost dispute is booked like a refund: the payment shows Chargeback, the balance and any invoice it paid reopen, and the charges are unpaid again. It is reported on the date the dispute was lost.
Now and then Stripe tells FrontDesk about a dispute before the payment itself has finished being recorded. The dispute is kept and applied as soon as the payment is recorded, usually within minutes, so the notification can come a little after the dispute was opened.
Payment plan installments
A full refund or a lost chargeback on an installment payment reopens the installment on hold: due again, but never charged by the scheduler until you charge it or record a payment. A partial refund leaves the installment paid. See Set up a payment plan.
Good to know
- Refunds show as their own line in the financial reports and in the daily close, each dated when it was made. The payment itself still counts as collected on the day it was paid.
- A payment can only be refunded up to what is left after earlier refunds.
- Refund reasons and notes are visible to staff, never to the client.