Allow clients to cancel online when a deposit is required (with automatic refund rules)

[Kymj]

I’ve identified a limitation with Square Appointments when deposits are used, specifically for appointments booked online by clients.

At the moment, if an appointment requires a deposit, clients are not able to cancel their appointment online at all, even when they try to cancel outside the cancellation cut‑off window. Our cut‑off window is 24 hours, but it appears this only applies to appointments without deposits.

Because clients cannot cancel online, they must call us. We are often too busy to answer the phone, which leads to missed appointments, clients losing deposits unfairly, complaints, and extra manual admin work.

What we need:

1. Clients should be able to cancel their own appointments online, even when a deposit has been taken.

2. If the cancellation is outside the cut‑off window (e.g., more than 24 hours before):

   • The deposit should be refunded automatically, and

   • The appointment should be marked as Cancelled.

3. If the cancellation is inside the cut‑off window (less than 24 hours before):

   • The deposit should not be refunded automatically, and

   • The appointment should be marked as a Late Cancellation.

This would reduce no‑shows, prevent unfair deposit loss, reduce phone calls, and significantly cut down on manual admin.

This feature would be extremely helpful for businesses using deposits and would improve the client experience as well.

[TCSlaguna]

Totally agree with this. The less phone calls we get, the more efficient our operations (Square should know this from their own customer support. 

[arickrtattoos]

Yes this is one reason I haven't started using the deposit feature yet. My clients praise my booking setup and say it's one reason they choose me over my competitors, and I don't want to take away any of the features that are already there.