You tried to refund a member or issue a credit note and it didn't seem to apply. Here's how the refund flow actually works and what to check.
What's happening
Base Control handles money-back on a single invoice through one action: Issue Refund. There is no separate "credit note" button — the Issue Refund dialog is the supported path for both full and partial refunds, and it records the reason for your audit trail.
A refund returns money through the original payment provider. If the original charge never settled, or the amount you entered was outside what's allowed, the refund won't go through.
How to fix it
- Open Billing, find the invoice, and open it.
- Select Issue Refund (top right of the invoice). The dialog opens with the customer and Invoice Total shown.
- Enter the Refund amount ($). For a full refund, use the invoice total; for a partial refund, enter a smaller amount. The amount cannot exceed the invoice total — if it does, the dialog won't let you submit.
- Add a Reason (for example, "Membership cancelled early"). This is stored with the refund.
- Select Issue Refund to confirm. A success message confirms the refunded amount.
If it still doesn't work, check these:
- The charge hasn't settled yet. You can only refund money the provider has actually collected. If the invoice shows no recorded payment in Payment History, there's nothing to refund — this is an unpaid invoice, not a refund case.
- You entered more than the invoice total. Refunds are capped at the original amount. Enter the total or less.
- You retried after an error. If the first attempt failed, leave the dialog open and submit again — the system reuses the same request so you won't accidentally double-refund.
If the dialog confirms success but the member says they haven't seen the money, that's normal: refunds can take several business days to appear on the member's statement, depending on their bank.