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How security deposits work on facility reservations (and a deposit-first workaround)

Enter a Security Deposit on a facility's Fee Schedule and customers pay it with the rental fee at checkout, as a separate "-- Security Deposit" line in the same order, once for each reservation. TeamSideline doesn't hold the deposit apart or return it on its own: refund it after the rental, or use the deposit-first workaround below.

Applies to: Admins whose role can edit facilities and add transactions · Organizations with the Facility module (all plans) · Facility reservations

Where: Facility Reservation > Facilities > (facility) > Reservation > Fee Schedule; Customers > Account Management > Search > (customer) > Account Overview > Add Transaction

Add a security deposit

  1. Go to Facility Reservation > Facilities and open the facility customers book.
  2. Open the Reservation tab and scroll to Fee Schedule.
  3. If the facility has no fee yet, click Add Pricing Tier, choose the tier and click Add (see How to set up pricing tiers for facility reservations (Standard, Resident/Non-Resident and Custom)).
  4. In each row, enter the deposit in Security Deposit and the rental price in Cost. Each tier, and each Resident or Non-Resident row, can have its own deposit.
  5. Click Save under the Fee Schedule. You'll see "Fee Schedule saved."

What customers see and pay

  • The facility's page shows the deposit next to the cost, for example "(Security Deposit: $100.00)".
  • Each reservation added to the cart brings its own "-- Security Deposit" line. A customer who books three dates pays three deposits.
  • The deposit is paid with the rental fee, in the same order and the same payment.

Return a deposit after the rental

Nothing returns a deposit automatically. When the rental is over:

  1. Go to Customers > Account Management > Search and open the customer's Account Overview.
  2. Click Add Transaction and choose Refund/Void - Credit Card (Refund - Credit Card on some payment gateways).
  3. In Refund Order, choose the order, and enter the deposit, or the part of it you're returning, in Amount.
  4. Click Add. You'll see "Transaction Added."
  5. Click Add Transaction again, choose Misc - Credit, enter the same amount and click Add, so the account doesn't show the refunded deposit as owed.

For a deposit paid by check or cash, pay it back that way and record it with Refund - Manual. Canceling a reservation doesn't return its deposit either: Cancel Reservation's refund amount starts at the reservation's cost, without the deposit.

Workaround: take a deposit first, the balance later

If the customer should pay only a deposit when booking, the rest later, and get the deposit back after the rental:

  1. On the facility's Reservation tab, under Online Reservation, set Workflow Type to Pending/Approval and click Save. New reservations then wait for you to approve them.
  2. In the Fee Schedule, set the price so that what the customer pays at checkout is your deposit, leave Security Deposit at 0, and click Save. A flat Cost (Day Use or Defined Timeframes) or Varies prices work best, since a Fixed rate is charged for every hour booked.
  3. When a request comes in, approve it. See How to approve or reject a pending facility reservation.
  4. On the customer's Account Overview, click Add Transaction, choose Misc - Debit, enter the rest of the rental fee and click Add.
  5. The customer pays the balance with Pay Balance on their account. This needs Enable Pay Balance set to Yes on Facility Reservation > Configurations > General (the same setting as on Programs > Configurations > General). You can also take the payment for them.
  6. After the rental, return the deposit as described above.

Because you bill the balance yourself, this also lets you take one deposit for a booking of several dates, where the built-in Security Deposit would be charged for each date: work out the Misc - Debit so the customer pays the whole rental plus one deposit in total, then refund that one deposit after the rental.

If it doesn't work

  • No deposit line at checkout. The row for the tier the customer's time uses has a Security Deposit of 0, or the Fee Schedule wasn't saved. Check every row.
  • The order isn't in Refund Order, or Refund/Void - Credit Card isn't listed. The order is past your refund window, already refunded, or your admin user can't issue card refunds. See Why can't I refund this order? (refund window, missing "Refund Credit Card", "No Refund" only, refund errors).
  • "Refund amount cannot be for more than the original credit card payment or the combined total of multiple refunds cannot be for more than the original credit card payment." Lower the Amount to what's left of that payment.
  • The customer has no Pay Balance button. Enable Pay Balance is No. See How customers pay a balance later, and why the Pay Balance button may be missing.
  • A pending request's time was booked by someone else. A reservation waiting for approval doesn't hold its time. Approve requests promptly.

Good to know

  • Card refunds work only within your payment gateway's refund window, normally 180 days after the order. For a rental further out, return the deposit by check and record it with Refund - Manual.
  • If Balance Block is on (Facility Reservation > Configurations > General), a customer who owes a balance can't place new orders until they pay it.

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