Customizing the cancelation and refund policy for an activity
When it comes to cancelations, some activities may benefit from offering parents more flexibility, while others may require stricter protection. In Village, you have the ability to customize the cancelation and refund policy for each of your activities. This article will guide you through the process.
Default policy
When you create an activity using our wizard, the default policy allows families to cancel up to 7 days before the scheduled start date and receive a full refund. If you need a different policy, you can easily modify it by following the steps below.
Steps to change the Cancelation Policy for your activity
To find and modify the current policy of an activity:
- Go to the activity edit page and locate the Cancelation Policy tab.
- Make any necessary changes.
Keep in mind the Cancelation Policy of an activity will apply to all schedules within that activity.
You will be able to edit the Cancelation Policy at any time. Any changes you make will only apply to future registrations and won’t affect any registrations initiated prior to when you made the change.
Find the Cancelation Policy that applies for a confirmed registration
If you need to check what the policy of a registration is, you need to navigate to the order details and locate the Cancelation Policy section.
How can families find the cancelation policy that applies to their registration?
Prior to the registration, families can check the activity’s current active cancelation policy that will apply if they register at that moment on the activity page. After they have registered, you can advise families to check this information on the order detail page they can access through the registration tab or to go to the registration confirmation email on their inbox.
Review the Cancelation Policy for your activity
You can always see how your activity looks to families by accessing the activity page (click the "View live" button).
A "Cancelation Policy" section is displayed, explaining the current active cancelation policy that will apply to new registrations.
Types of policies
Family cannot cancel
If you want to prevent families from being able to cancel by themselves through Village altogether, you can disable the “Allow families to cancel” toggle that is enabled by default.
This will make families see the following policy when they are viewing your activity page:
When a user registers under this policy they will not be able to cancel through Village, and will see the “Cancel button” disabled on their end.
This policy is beneficial not only if you’re certain you don’t want to support cancelations but also if you wish to implement a customized policy that Village doesn’t automatically support. For this case, you can describe your unique cancelation policy in the activity description or you can add a waiver. Parents will need to reach out to you directly to cancel, relying on you to honor and apply your stated policy.
Allow families to cancel
If you allow families to cancel you will be able to:
- Set a cancelation notice
- Choose the refund policy that applies
1. Set a cancelation notice
If you enable the “Allow families to cancel” toggle, you will be able to specify a notice period before the schedule start time within which parents can cancel directly through Village and get some form of automated refund. Past the notice deadline, they will need to contact you directly to inquire about refund options at your discretion.
2. Select the refund policy that applies
Full Refund
When a parent cancels a registration under the “Full Refund” configuration:
- They will receive a refund for every installment they have paid for online, into the credit card they used.
- Any unpaid installments will be automatically canceled.
- Any credit used to pay for the registration will be added back to their account for them to use at a later time on any of your activities.
- If they used a scholarship to subsidize the registration, the funds will return to The Village Project to subsidize other registrations. The parent will have the opportunity to re-apply for a new scholarship the next time they are signing up but the funds are not reserved.
This is an example of what parents will see when they are viewing your activity page if this policy is enabled:
This is an example of what parents will see when they are viewing their registrations tab if this policy is enabled:
⚠️ Refund fees may apply (to you): Please remember that refunds cost an additional fee when the funds have already been paid out to your Stripe account. This is a fee that Stripe charges and is usually a small percentage of the amount. If you wish to transfer these costs to families, you should bump up the registration price. Note that issuing refunds in credit does not have any extra fee, so this may be a better option for you if you anticipate having many cancelations.
Refund in credit
When a parent cancels a registration under the “Refund in credit” configuration:
- The amount corresponding to every installment they have already paid for online, plus any credit used to pay for the registration, will be added to their account in the form of credit. The parent will then be able to redeem it in any of your activities.
- Any unpaid installments will be automatically canceled.
- If they used a scholarship to subsidize the registration, all or a part of it will be added to their account in the form of credit. This amount is proportional to the installments they had already paid. If they had paid for the entire registration, 100% of the scholarship amount will return to them as credit. They will have the opportunity to re-apply for a new scholarship the next time they’re signing up but funds are not reserved.
This is an example of what parents will see when they are viewing your activity page if this policy is enabled:
💡 Tip to avoid accidentally granting excess credit: If you manually grant credit to a user for a registration but forget to remove them from the roster, they might still be able to cancel on their own. If they do, the cancelation policy will be triggered, and they could receive additional credit or a full refund, depending on the policy. To prevent this from happening, always remove the learner from the roster immediately after issuing the credit. This ensures they cannot cancel the registration themselves and inadvertently receive more credit than intended.
Offline payment methods and Cancelation Policy
Please keep in mind that if you place an order on behalf of a customer and select cash or check as payment method, the family needs to contact you to cancel no matter the policy settings the activity has.
You can always take the action you want to on your end
Do you want to forgive a parent who missed the cancelation period? Or perhaps remove someone from the roster who informed you in person that they won’t be attending, allowing someone else to take their place? As a provider, you have the flexibility to cancel registrations, issue refunds or grant credit as needed, regardless of the cancelation policy.
If you need further information on this matter please contact us! hello@village.com
