Refunds & Disputes

How to issue a full or partial refund from Financials, what it does to the payment, the invoice, and commission that was already paid, and how to handle a chargeback when the customer's bank pulls the money back.

Written By Support Team

Last updated 44 minutes ago

Refunds and chargebacks both move money back to a customer, but they are different animals. A refund is something you decide to do. A chargeback is something the customer's bank does to you. Rotor handles the first one directly. The second one mostly lives in Stripe. This article covers both and is clear about where the line falls.

Everything here assumes Stripe is connected and showing Ready to Accept Payments. If it isn't, see Stripe.

Issuing a refund

Go to Financials → Payments.
Find the payment you want to reverse. Filtering by customer or by date range is faster than scrolling.
In the action column on that payment row, click the back arrow to start a refund.
Choose a full refund or enter a partial amount. Partial is the common case — say you comped the $45 gutter add-on but the customer is keeping the $150 window clean, so you refund $45.
Confirm the refund.

If the payment was collected through Stripe, Rotor issues the refund through Stripe for you. You do not need to open the Stripe dashboard to refund an ordinary card payment.

What a refund does to the payment and the invoice

The payment is marked Refunded in Financials → Payments.
The related invoice flips back to unpaid or partially paid, depending on how much you refunded.
If you have the Refund issued notification turned on, your team gets pinged. See Notifications.
Because the invoice is unpaid again, it can start showing up in your overdue follow-up lists. [VERIFY: does a refunded invoice re-enter the Overdue and Partially Paid filters and resume automated invoice payment reminders? If it does, turn reminders off for that invoice before refunding so the customer isn't chased for money you just gave back.]

If the refund is a write-off rather than a re-bill, adjust the invoice deliberately instead of leaving a phantom balance on the account.

Timing — when the customer actually sees the money

Rotor submits the refund to Stripe right away, but the customer's bank controls when it posts.

Card refunds typically land in 5 to 10 business days. [VERIFY: confirm the refund window Rotor should quote customers for card and for bank/ACH refunds.]
The refund usually appears as a separate credit on the customer's statement, not as the original charge disappearing. Say this out loud when you tell the customer — it prevents a second angry phone call. [VERIFY]
Refunded money comes out of your Stripe balance, which reduces an upcoming payout. If your balance is too small to cover it, Stripe pulls from your bank account. [VERIFY: how does Rotor display a refund that creates a negative Stripe balance — does it appear in the Payouts tab?]
Whether the original processing fee comes back to you on a refund is a Stripe policy question, not a Rotor setting. [VERIFY: is the card processing fee returned when a payment is refunded?]

Refunds and commission that was already paid

This is the part that bites companies, so read it slowly. Payroll in Rotor pays against visits — commissions are applied based on the scheduled visit date, not the payment date. That means a technician or rep can be paid for a job before the customer's money has settled, and certainly before a refund happens weeks later.

If you haven't run payroll yet: check the payroll lines for that job before you process the period. [VERIFY: does refunding a payment reduce or remove the unpaid commission lines tied to that job, or do the lines stay at the original job value?]
If the line is already marked paid by Run Payroll: assume nothing reverses automatically. [VERIFY: does Rotor create a negative or offsetting payroll line when a job with paid commission is refunded?]
What to do in practice: handle it as a manual adjustment on the next payroll run, and put your policy in writing before it happens — for example, commission is clawed back on any refund issued within 30 days of the visit. Reps accept that rule far better when it predates the argument.

Refunding a payment also does not undo the operational record. The job stays completed, the visit timer stays logged, and revenue-per-hour analytics still count the work. [VERIFY: are refunded jobs excluded from revenue analytics and the tip report?] For how commission is calculated in the first place, see Commission tracking.

Chargebacks and disputes: how you find out

A chargeback happens when the customer calls their card issuer instead of calling you. The issuer pulls the funds back and asks you to justify the charge.

Stripe notifies you by email at the address on your Stripe Connect account, and the dispute appears in the Stripe dashboard.
[VERIFY: does Rotor surface disputed payments anywhere in Financials → Payments, or is the Stripe dashboard the only place a dispute is visible?]
Response deadlines are short and set by the card network, not by Rotor or Stripe. [VERIFY: typical response window customers should plan for.] Treat a dispute email as same-day work.

Watch the email address on your Stripe account. If it points at an inbox nobody reads, you will lose disputes by default.

The evidence Stripe asks for, and where Rotor keeps it

Rotor is your filing cabinet here. Almost everything a card network wants is already sitting on the customer record.

What the dispute asks for	Where to get it in Rotor
Signed service agreement, including cancellation terms	Customer profile → Agreements tab, and the signed PDF in Attachments
The invoice and the receipt the customer received	Financials → Invoices; the emailed receipt is in the customer's Conversations tab
Proof the service was actually performed	Job checklist photos, and visit start/finish times with location data from visit timers
Customer communications showing they knew about the charge	Conversations tab on the customer profile — texts, emails, and automated receipts in one thread
A description of what was purchased	Line items on the invoice, plus the service plan detail
Your refund and cancellation policy	Terms and conditions section of the agreement template. See Agreements

Download those files, then upload them on the Stripe side.

What happens in Rotor vs. in Stripe

Task	In Rotor	In Stripe
Issue a full or partial refund	Yes — Financials → Payments → back arrow	Not needed
See that a payment was refunded and the invoice reopened	Yes	Also visible
Get notified that a dispute was opened	[VERIFY]	Yes — email plus dashboard
Upload evidence and submit a dispute response	No — gather the files here	Yes
Accept a dispute instead of fighting it	No	Yes
See the dispute fee and the outcome	No [VERIFY]	Yes

To get to Stripe, go to Settings → Stripe and click Open Stripe Dashboard. Do not click Disconnect Stripewhile sorting out a dispute — that disrupts active customer payment methods.

Cutting your chargeback rate

Make sure receipts go out. A customer who recognizes the charge doesn't call their bank. Customize the receipt message under Settings → Messaging.
Get the agreement signed before the first service, especially on recurring plans. "I didn't know it was quarterly" is the single most common dispute reason in home services.
Have technicians take before-and-after photos on the job checklist. Photos with timestamps win disputes.
Answer complaints the same day. Most chargebacks are a customer who couldn't reach you.
If the customer is clearly right, refund quickly. A refund costs less than a lost dispute plus the dispute fee.
Check that your billing descriptor is something a homeowner recognizes. [VERIFY: where is the statement descriptor customers see on their card statement configured — Rotor Business Settings or the Stripe dashboard?]

Congratulations! You can now refund a payment cleanly, explain the timing to the customer, and pull together everything Stripe needs when a charge is disputed.

Have additional questions? Our team is ready to help you succeed. Contact us through the chat or drop us an email at support@getrotor.com.

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