Credit notes and refunds

A credit note comes out of a change to the job, never out of thin air. Here is what raises one, what happens to the money, and how to refund a card.

Where credit notes come from

There is no button for a free-standing credit note. A credit note is raised when a job changes after the customer has paid, and the price goes down:

• A variation on the job. Click Pause / change order on the job, raise the change, and approve it. The modal states the outcome before you click.
• Changing collection or delivery on a paid order to something cheaper.
• A VAT correction through a variation.
• A refund you made in the Stripe dashboard, which thintent picks up from the payout and asks you to raise a credit note for.

If nothing has been paid yet, no credit note is needed. Approving the change voids the invoice and issues a replacement under a new number; a draft is simply corrected in place. If the price goes up on a paid order, a supplementary invoice is raised for the difference and dispatch waits for it.

What happens to the money

A credit note lists each item, is numbered CN-1000 upwards, and is emailed to the customer with its PDF unless you untick that. If the invoice was only part paid, the credit comes off what is still owed first, and only anything beyond that is owed back. The invoice’s Credit notes card shows each one as “£X taken off this invoice · £Y to give back”.

Giving it back

For a card payment, an owner can click Refund the card. It refunds the whole amount owed back through Stripe, leaves your Stripe balance straight away, usually reaches them in a few days, and can’t be undone. Stripe keeps its fee. For money you’re returning any other way, click Mark refund paid and say how.

Refunds made in Stripe itself

If you refund from the Stripe dashboard instead, thintent finds out when the payout lands. The invoice shows an amber notice that money went back with no credit note, and Raise credit note creates one already marked refunded, with the amount fixed. Until you do, the invoice still reads paid in full.