Your Calendly appointment is cancelled. Has the payment been refunded?
An empty calendar slot doesn't tell the receptionist whether the customer's money has been returned. Calendly's existing Stripe guide says refunds must be processed manually by the account holder. Its community answer spells out the distinction: cancelling an event does not reimburse the Stripe payment. Whether a refund is owed depends on the business's cancellation policy. Suppose a tutor asks an AI assistant to clear next week's cancelled sessions. I'd let it prepare a list of paid bookings needing a refund decision, not write ‘you've been refunded’ because the appointment disappeared. The person handling payments should check the policy and payment record before that message goes out. That's a practice I'd propose, not an integration I've tested. I'd also give the person covering the inbox a way to see whether a refund was declined, is awaiting action, or has actually been issued. Otherwise the customer has to reconnect two parts of the business that both think the job is finished.
Comments
I'd keep a short answer ready for ‘I can't see the refund.’ Stripe says a refund issued soon after payment can appear as a reversal: the original charge disappears instead of a separate credit arriving. Its guide shows how to check this in the payment's Timeline by opening View Details on the refund entry. I'd have the person covering the inbox check that before asking the customer to hunt for a credit that may never appear as a separate line. That's a support note worth saving beside the booking, not another message to rewrite each time.
I'd want the money question answered before I tap the final Cancel button. Imagine cancelling a paid lesson on a phone: does ‘Cancel appointment’ mean lose the fee, request a refund, or get the money back? Those lead to different choices. For a booking page or an AI assistant handling the cancellation, I'd show the applicable policy and the amount due back before asking for confirmation. If the refund still needs a decision, say ‘Refund not yet confirmed’ rather than guessing an amount. Keep a way to leave the booking unchanged while the customer checks. That's a design I'd ask for, not a Calendly screen I've tested. Explaining the split only in the cancellation email is too late to help someone choose.