MyFitnessClient has no button to refund an online payment or to respond to a dispute, which is when the client challenges the payment with their bank (known as a chargeback). The money from online payments is in your Stripe account, so you handle both in the Stripe dashboard. MyFitnessClient reads what Stripe tells it and updates the charge in Payments > Charges. In some cases, MyFitnessClient itself returns the money, from your Stripe account.
To open the Stripe dashboard, in Payments, on the Settings tab, select Open Stripe dashboard on the Receive online payments card. Only the workspace owner has this button. See Check your Stripe balance and payouts. This article does not describe Stripe's screens.
What changes after a refund
On a charge the client paid with Pay now, MyFitnessClient only counts refunds that Stripe reports as completed:
- Full refund: in the list, the charge changes to Refunded, with the amount struck through. When you open it, the details show the status Cancelled and, in the Online payment block, the Refunded line with the amount refunded.
- Partial refund: the charge stays Paid. In the details, the Refunded line shows what you refunded and Current net goes down.
- A pending, failed or cancelled refund does not change the charge's status. If a full refund fails after the charge has changed to Refunded, it goes back to Paid.
- With each change, MyFitnessClient adds a line to the charge's Internal notes, for example “[Stripe] Full refund issued.” or “[Stripe] The refund did not complete and the payment status was restored.”.
- If the charge was for a monthly fee or a pack, a full refund takes away the days of access that payment gave the client. See Access end date and the client's paid plans.
Automatic monthly fees and courses
- On a monthly fee with automatic payment, where the client pays a Stripe subscription, the invoice line stays Paid in the list after a refund you make in Stripe. A full refund makes the access paid for by that plan end on the day before the start of that invoice's period. A partial refund changes nothing.
- On a one-time course purchase, a full refund changes the sale to Refunded in the list and the client loses access to the course. The rest is in How a course sale works, from purchase to refund.
Disputes
A dispute opens when the client challenges the payment with their bank or card issuer. You respond in the Stripe dashboard, within the deadline Stripe gives. On a charge paid with Pay now, MyFitnessClient notifies you and updates the charge:
| When | Notification you receive | The charge |
|---|---|---|
| Dispute opened | “Payment disputed”, with “{client} disputed {amount}. Respond in Stripe by {date}.” (without the date when Stripe does not give one). It arrives in your MyFitnessClient notifications and, depending on your notification settings, by push and by email. | Stays Paid. In the details, the Dispute status line shows the status Stripe gives the dispute, for example “Needs response”. |
| Dispute won | “Dispute won”, with “You won the {amount} dispute with {client}.”, only in your MyFitnessClient notifications. | Stays or goes back to Paid. |
| Dispute lost | “Dispute lost”, with “You lost the {amount} dispute with {client}.”, only in your MyFitnessClient notifications. | Goes back to To pay, or to Overdue if the due date has already passed. |
- These notifications go to the workspace owner and to team members with the Mark paid and assign plans permission for that client. Opening the notification takes you to Payments, with that client's list. Only the owner can open the Stripe dashboard from MyFitnessClient.
- MyFitnessClient does not notify the client about disputes.
- Current net in the details follows what Stripe takes from and returns to your balance because of the dispute.
- With each change, the charge's Internal notes get a line that starts with “[Stripe] Dispute updated:”, with the status Stripe gives the dispute.
- After a lost dispute, the charge is left unpaid, but the client can neither pay it online nor mark it as paid: they do not see Pay now and, on the website, Mark as paid does not appear either, and you cannot mark it as paid or delete it. To close it, select Cancel charge in the row's ⋮ (or with a right-click) and confirm; in a team, only the owner can do this. The charge becomes Cancelled and no longer counts for the overdue-payment restrictions.
- If the charge was for a monthly fee or a pack, a lost dispute takes away the days of access that payment gave the client. If Stripe later marks the dispute as won, the days come back.
- On a monthly fee with automatic payment and on a one-time course purchase, there are no such notifications: follow the dispute in the Stripe dashboard. In the list, the line stays Paid. On an automatic monthly fee, a lost dispute has the same effect on access as a full refund. On a course purchase, the client has no access to the course while the dispute is open and after you lose it.
Refunds MyFitnessClient makes on its own
Outside course sales, which have their own rules, MyFitnessClient refunds the payment on its own, in full and from your Stripe account, in two cases where the client paid for access they never got:
- A paid request to join that ends without the client joining. The client paid for the package of an invitation, could not join right away (for example, because you had no room left for more clients) and the request was left waiting on the Requests tab of Clients. If nobody replies, the request expires 14 days after the payment and you receive “Paid request expired”. If you decline or block the request, if the client cancels it or if they start coaching with another professional, you receive “Payment refunded”. See Require a package payment before a client joins.
- A renewal of an automatic monthly fee charged for a period in which the client no longer had access with you. The subscription is cancelled and you receive “Payment refunded”.
In both cases, the client is also notified, and the charge or invoice appears in the list as Refunded.
If the refund fails or is cancelled in Stripe, the amount stays in your Stripe account and you receive “Refund not completed”: “The refund of {amount} to {client} did not go through and the money went back to your Stripe account. Return it to them another way.” The client receives an email saying you will return the amount to them another way.
Paid request recorded by hand: To return
If you decline or block a paid request to join, if the client cancels it or if they start coaching with another professional, and the payment was recorded by hand, outside Stripe, MyFitnessClient cannot refund it. You receive “Payment to return” and, in the list, the charge appears in red with To return. Return the money to the client yourself, directly.
The mark stays while the charge is paid. After you return the money, the workspace owner can remove it: select Edit on the charge, choose Cancelled in the Status field and save. The warning “It no longer counts as received.” reminds you that the charge no longer counts as money received. See Edit a charge: amount, due date, status and notes.
Withdrawal from a plan within 14 days
When a client withdraws, within the 14 days of the right of withdrawal, from a plan they subscribed to with automatic payment, the subscription ends right away and is not charged again. You receive the notification “Client withdrew from a plan”, which says what you have to refund and by when. MyFitnessClient does not make this refund: you make it in the Stripe dashboard. The right itself is explained in Right of withdrawal: withdraw from a purchase within 14 days.
What you cannot change on a charge paid online
The amounts of a charge paid online come from Stripe. That is why, in the list, that charge has no actions: it cannot be edited, cancelled, deleted or marked as paid by hand, and the details do not show the Edit button. It stays that way after a refund. After a lost dispute, while the charge is unpaid, only Cancel charge appears, so you can close it. To return money from an online payment, make the refund in Stripe.
Questions
Can I make a refund inside MyFitnessClient?
No. MyFitnessClient has no refund button: refunds are made in the Stripe dashboard.
I made the refund in Stripe and the charge did not change. Why?
The charge only changes when Stripe reports the refund as completed and tells MyFitnessClient; a pending refund does not count. Reload the page. If the refund already shows as completed in Stripe and the charge is still the same, contact support with the client's name, the amount and the payment date.
The client paid the same charge twice. What do I do?
The charge becomes Paid with the first payment, and the Internal notes get a line that starts with “[Stripe] Online payment” and ends with “Check the refund in the Stripe dashboard.”. Refund the second payment in the Stripe dashboard. That refund does not change the charge.
Is the client notified when I make a refund in Stripe?
Not by MyFitnessClient: a refund you make in Stripe does not send the client any notification in MyFitnessClient.