Policies allow you to define comprehensive cancellation and rescheduling policies for customers to self-serve existing purchases made with you. Using the automated system the customer can cancel and reschedule their purchases and based on your established policy and fee windows the system will automatically charge any applicable penalty fee for taking action within certain windows of time you have defined previously.
This article covers the following topics:
- Creating a Policy
- Edit an Existing Policy
- Deleting a Policy
- Translating a Policy
- Assigning a Policy to a Scheduled Product
- Self-Modify Option
- Frequently Asked Questions about Policies
Creating a Policy
The ability to create policies are found under the Products > Settings area of the system. If you do not see this your user account may not have the permissions required to access this area. Once within the policies area you will see all existing policies you may have already created. In the top right corner is an Add button. Select this to create a new policy.
Once on this screen you will see a few fields.
The Name field is the name of this policy. This is a public-facing property so please name your policy something appropriate and intuitive to a customer.
Next is a text editor field for Description. This is the bulk of your policy text. This allows for text formatting and other items as well. A good description is through and well thought out. Remember this is where the primary legal policy content is located so make sure it's accurate because your customers will be agreeing to abide by this policy during purchase.
Lastly is an Included on new products by default? field. This field, if checked, will automatically assign this policy to all new scheduled products created after this policy is created. You can only have one default policy.
Fee Windows
The next area of this form is for Fee Windows. This allows you to define windows of time when certain fees will be assessed to the customer if they perform the action within this window.
The first field in this area is the Cut Off Window field. This is where you define the time frame after purchase that this fee will become active. You are able to select an Always Valid option or several other options between one hour and 120 days.
The second field is the Cancellation Fee Percent field. This is where you define any penalty fee to be assessed to the customer if performing the action within this window. This is a percentage based off the sub-total of the participant of the activity in question.
There is no need to include the fee windows within your description field above as the system will display these to the customer automatically. You may have multiple fee windows, however you are required to have at least one. Additionally you are not allowed more than one Always Valid fee window and you cannot have overlapping fee windows: i.e. you cannot have two fee windows assigned for 7 days.
An Example
Say you have defined the following policy:
28 days: 10% fee
14 days: 25% fee
7 days: 50% fee
1 day: 100% fee
A customer makes a purchase for your product that you've assigned this product to on September 1st for an activity date of September 30th.
If they were to cancel on September 2nd, since this is 29 days prior to the activity taking place, they are charged no cancellation fee for cancelling this reservation.
If they were to cancel on September 5th, this is 25 days prior to the activity taking place. This is within the 28 day window, so they would be charged a 10% cancellation fee.
Looking further, if they were to cancel on September 30th this is the day of the activity. This is within the 1 day window so they would be charge the entire cost of the participant.
Edit an Existing Policy
Editing an existing policy is very similar to creating a new policy. Navigate to the Products > Settings area and select Policies. Find the policy you wish to edit and select Edit from the actions menu. Make any required changes and select Save Changes to continue.
Deleting a Policy
You sometimes have the option to delete old policies. If this policy is assigned to a product, and that product you are not able to remove the policy. In order to remove a policy that is currently in use you are required to remove or replace the policy on those products.
Translating a Policy
You are able, and encouraged, to translate your policies to other supported languages. You have the ability to translate the policy Name and Description fields. For reference please refer to the create section of this help document for details about each of these fields.
Assigning a Policy to a Scheduled Product
If you have created at least one policy you have the ability to assign those policies to scheduled products.
Find the scheduled product you wish to assign a policy to and navigate into the Advanced Settings area of that product set up. If you have policies there will be a Policies section. If you do not see this section you may not have any existing policies created.
On this screen you have a dropdown of the existing policies in your account. You have the ability to select a single policy or no policy at all for this product.
Self- Modify Option
Adding the option for buyers to "self-modify" allows them to be able to cancel or reschedule their activity without having the client have to do this. You will find this option under the description of the cancellation policy. Products > Settings >Policies > Cancellation Policy
Once this box is checked, this option will be available for your buyers. (see image below)
Once the box "Allow customer to self-serve" is checked, your buyer will receive a clickable link in their booking confirmation email. The link will allow the buyer to change the date and/or time of their scheduled activity, if need be. You will also be notified when a change is made to a booking. This feature can be helpful if there is inclement weather or a cancellation of a tour/event for any reason. This can save the client a lot of time.
Frequently Asked Questions about Policies
Can I create more than one policy?
Yes, you can have as many policies as you wish. You can also have no policies, however we highly recommend that you utilize policies.
Can I have more than one policy assigned to a product?
No, a product can only have one policy assigned to it. If you have a product with specific policy requirements or complex requirements we recommend creating a unique policy for that product and assigning the special policy to it.
Can I have a policy with no fee windows?
No, if you have a policy you must have at least one fee window.
Can I have a policy with overlapping fee windows?
No, you are not able to have overlapping policies. This is because offering multiple fees for the same window of time is confusing to customers and the system is not able to determine which fee to use in the given window if there are multiple.
Can I have a policy with multiple always valid fee windows?
No, you can only have one Always Valid fee window. This is because offering multiple fees for the same window of time is confusing to customers and the system is not able to determine which fee to use in the given window if there are multiple.
Where does the customer see the cancellation policy?
The customer is able to view the cancellation policy in the review step of check out. They will also receive a copy of the cancellation policy within their buyer confirmation email.
Do all policies display to the customer always?
No, the system will determine which policies to show a customer based on which products they are attempting to or have purchased. If you have a policy assigned to a product that the customer does not have in their cart or has purchased it will not be displayed to them.
Furthermore, if multiple products utilize the same policy and multiple are purchased, the policy will only be displayed once to the customer. The system will display which products apply to which policy to the customer automatically.