Refunds are issued directly from your Stripe dashboard. Clinic App does not have a refund button. This article covers when to refund, how to do it, and the difference between issuing a refund and cancelling a membership.
When a refund makes sense
Refunds are appropriate in a limited set of situations:
- Charged in error (e.g. a patient was billed twice due to a technical issue)
- Duplicate charge (the same billing cycle was collected more than once)
- Exceptional circumstances at your discretion as the clinic owner (e.g. a patient who was in hospital during their billing month and never used the app)
Use your judgment. Refunds are a business decision, not a system requirement.
When not to refund
A patient contacting you because they forgot they had a membership is not a refund situation. In that case, the right action is to cancel the membership going forward, not to reverse past charges. The distinction matters because a refund reverses a completed charge, while a cancellation stops future billing.
If the patient is simply dissatisfied, handle it as a cancellation through the Memberships section of the dashboard. Refund only when there has been a genuine billing error.
How to issue a refund via Stripe
- Log in to your Stripe dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com
- Go to Payments in the left sidebar
- Find the charge you need to refund. Use the search field to look up the patient's email address or the payment amount
- Click on the charge to open the payment detail page
- Click Refund payment in the top right corner
- Choose a full refund or enter a partial amount
- Select a reason from the dropdown (optional, but useful for your records)
- Click Refund to confirm
Stripe will send the patient a confirmation email automatically. You do not need to contact them separately unless you want to.
Full versus partial refunds
Stripe supports both. Choose a full refund to return the entire charge. Choose a partial refund to return a specific dollar amount (e.g. if you want to refund for half a month).
Partial refunds are useful when a patient used the membership for part of the billing period but had a valid reason for the issue during the remaining period.
How long refunds take to reach the patient
Refunds typically take 5 to 10 business days to appear back on the patient's card. This depends on their bank and card type, not on Stripe or Clinic App. Let the patient know this upfront so they are not chasing you after two days expecting the money to be there.
Refund versus cancellation
This is a common point of confusion.
- A refund reverses a payment that has already been collected. It does not affect the membership itself. The patient's membership stays active after a refund unless you also cancel it.
- A cancellation stops future billing. It does not reverse any past charges.
In most error situations, you will want to do both: refund the incorrect charge AND cancel or pause the membership if appropriate. Do them as separate actions.
When to escalate to the Clinic App team
If you are dealing with a billing situation you are unsure about, message the Clinic App WhatsApp group before taking action. We can check the payment history on our end and advise the right course of action.
Do not process a refund on a charge you are not certain about. It is always faster to check first.