Managing Refunds, Duplicate Charges, and Memberships in Arketa
Arketa provides tools to handle common payment and membership issues, such as refunds, duplicate charges, and overlapping memberships. Below is a comprehensive guide to address these scenarios effectively.
Refund Processing
Issuing Refunds for Duplicate Payments
If a client has duplicate memberships or charges, you can:
Refund the extra charge manually to the original payment card.
Apply an account credit if the client agrees.
Handling Refunds Already Issued as Account Credit
If a refund has already been processed as account credit, you cannot issue another refund for the same payment through Arketa. Instead, contact Arketa support to process the refund externally via the payment processor (e.g., Stripe).
Correcting Duplicate Cash Sales
To resolve duplicate cash sales without refunding to a card:
Refund the duplicate sale as account credit.
Neutralize the credit by adding a matching debit to the client’s account.
Managing Duplicate Charges and Memberships
Verifying and Fixing Duplicate Charges
Open the client’s profile and review charges in the Payments tab.
Refund the duplicate charge by selecting the most recent duplicate entry.
Cancel the extra membership to prevent future issues.
Preventing Repeated Charges
Cancel all active or reactivated memberships tied to the client to stop further automatic charge attempts. Ensure the system generates the next invoice on the regular billing date.
Handling Overlapping Memberships
To avoid booking issues when one membership ends and another begins:
Set the end date of the current membership to the start date of the new membership.
If the cancel date was set incorrectly, remove it and reset it to align with the new membership’s start date.
Invoice and Billing Adjustments
Canceling Failed Invoices
To cancel a failed or open invoice and prevent duplicate charges:
Open the client’s profile and go to Payments.
Select the open invoice and click Actions > Cancel Invoice.
Adjusting Billing Dates
If a duplicate charge occurs, refund the charge and adjust the subscription’s next billing date to align with your schedule.
Client Account Management
Merging Duplicate Accounts
If a client has multiple accounts, merge or remove the duplicate to avoid confusion with check-ins and billing.
Removing Duplicate Credits
To offset a duplicate credit:
Add a manual debit to the client’s account for the exact amount of the duplicate credit.
Include a note explaining the adjustment.
Preventive Measures for Payment Issues
Understanding Duplicate Charges
Duplicate charges are not indicative of a security breach. They may occur due to user actions (e.g., clicking the payment button twice) or rare technical issues. Arketa has implemented fixes to minimize such occurrences.
Reporting Issues
Clients should contact the studio or business directly for cancellations or refunds. Arketa support assists businesses with platform-related issues but does not manage customer refunds. By following these steps, you can effectively manage refunds, resolve duplicate charges, and ensure smooth membership transitions in Arketa.