Service billing, payments and refunds

Every customer repair order is billed through your accounting invoices, so service money shows up in the same place as the rest of the dealership's. You take payments on the RO itself: deposits, full payments, split payments across several methods, and refunds. Card numbers are never typed into or stored in MotoDealerHQ.

Before you start #

• Taking payments needs service.payments.process; refunds need service.refunds.process.
• For online card payment, connect your own Stripe account under Integrations › Online payments (Stripe). See invoices and payments.

The invoice #

• Select Create invoice in Billing and payments on the RO, or take a deposit, which creates it too. Closing a customer RO always creates its invoice if it does not have one yet.
• Until the RO is closed, the invoice follows the RO: add or change a line and the invoice updates.
• Only approved customer-pay lines (customer, fleet, insurance, custom) are billed. Warranty, internal and goodwill work is never billed to the customer.
• Printable invoice opens a print-ready page (use your browser's print or "Save as PDF"). It shows the dealership and rooftop, customer, unit, VIN, mileage or hours, RO and invoice numbers, advisor and technicians, all lines, discounts, tax, payments and refunds, the balance, warranty notes and claim numbers, recommendations, the customer's authorization and your invoice terms.
• With accounting.view you can also open the invoice in Accounting.

Take a payment or deposit #

1. Open the RO and scroll to Billing and payments.
2. Under Take a payment or deposit, choose Payment or Deposit.
3. Choose the Method: cash, check, credit card or debit card (on your own card terminal), financing, store credit, gift card or other.
4. Check the Amount (it starts at the balance due) and add a Reference such as the check number or the terminal's authorization code. Never enter a card number; MotoDealerHQ refuses anything that looks like one.
5. To split the payment, fill in Split 2 and Split 3 with other methods and amounts. All parts are saved together or not at all.
6. For a gift card, enter its code. For store credit, the customer's balance is used.
7. Select Record.

(open full size)

1. Create invoice.
2. Balance due, with deposits, payments and refunds so far.
3. Payment or deposit.
4. Method of the first payment.

Let the customer pay online #

When your Stripe account is connected and live, the billing section shows a pay link once the invoice exists. The customer pays the balance by card on Stripe's secure checkout, and the payment is recorded on the invoice and the RO automatically.

You can also give the customer a customer link: select Create customer link (tick Email it to the customer to send it). The link shows the RO status, the estimate to approve, the invoice and a Pay the balance by card button, with no account needed. The link is shown only once; creating a new link turns off the old one.

Discounts #

Open Add a discount on the RO and enter a Percent or an Amount, with a description. A percentage applies to parts, labor, sublet and fees.

Refunds #

1. In the payments table on the RO, open Refund on a payment.
2. Enter the amount (part or all), choose The way it was paid or Store credit, and give a reason.
3. For card payments, give the money back in your card terminal or the Stripe dashboard first. MotoDealerHQ records the refund but does not send it to Stripe.
4. Select Record refund. Gift card and store credit refunds are credited back automatically.

If the balance goes below zero, the customer has a credit: refund it or give store credit.

Service payments, gift cards and store credit #

• Service & parts › Service payments lists payments received and refunds for a date range, with totals.
• Gift cards (button on that page): sell a card (the code is shown once, so give it to the customer right away), check a balance by code, or void a card.
• Store credit: each customer's ledger opens from their service history. Staff with service.refunds.process can add or remove credit with a note.

(open full size)

1. Date range.
2. Gift cards.
3. Method of each payment.
4. Refunds in the same period.

Tips #

• Take a deposit at check-in for big jobs or special-order parts.
• Use the reference field every time. It makes end-of-day reconciliation with your terminal easy.
• If the RO and its invoice ever stop matching, the billing section shows a warning. Check the payments or contact support.

Permissions #

Limitations #