A cancellation is also a money decision: deposits, late fees and credit all follow from how and when it's canceled. The same rules apply whether reception cancels or the patient uses the link.
Cancel from the calendar
Open the appointment and select Cancel
Add a reason if you have one; it's shown on the grayed card afterward and kept in the change history. The patient doesn't see it.
If money has been paid, choose what happens to it
The form says, for example, $30.00 has been paid on this appointment via Card, and offers Keep the payment (no refund) or Refund it, naming where the money will go: the patient's account credit, or back to the card for a card payment. A card refund needs the refund permission, so a receptionist sees it marked (needs refund permission) and chooses credit or leaves it. See the fee rules below for what happens when you keep it.
For a repeating appointment, decide about the rest
Check Cancel all future to cancel this and every later occurrence. Leave it off to cancel this one only.
Select Confirm cancellation
The card stays on the calendar, grayed and marked Canceled with the reason. The slot is free to book over.
Once canceled, an appointment's status can't be changed back. If the patient turns up after all, book a new appointment. A canceled appointment can't be deleted while it has an invoice or a treatment note; canceling is the record, deleting is only for a booking made by mistake.
Fees and deposits
Each location sets a Cancellation fee, a No-show fee and a Cancellation fee window in hours under Business Information. ClinyPal applies them the same way whether staff cancel or the patient cancels from their link:
| When | With a deposit | Without a deposit |
|---|---|---|
| Canceled before the window, or by the clinic | Deposit goes to the patient's account credit, or back to the card if you choose Refund it | Nothing is charged |
| Canceled inside the window | The fee is kept from the deposit; the rest goes to credit or the card | A fee invoice the patient owes |
| Staff mark a no-show | The fee is kept from the deposit; the rest goes to credit | A fee invoice the patient owes |
The fee is never more than the appointment's price, and a fee of 0 means none. The fee is its own invoice with one line, Late cancellation fee or Missed appointment fee, so the visit's invoice is voided and the patient's statement shows the fee plainly. To waive a fee, void that fee invoice. Canceling a whole group session, a practitioner's whole calendar when they leave, or a series counts as canceled by the clinic: no fee.
Telling the patient
The appointment type's cancellation message goes out when you confirm, by email if the patient allows it, otherwise by SMS, so a patient who has switched off automatic messages is still told. Where money moved, a sentence is added saying what happened to it. If the patient has no email or mobile the message can't be sent, and the clinic should call. A patient who is waiting for a slot is offered the freed time; see Manage the waitlist.
When the patient cancels from their link
Confirmations and reminders carry a link that lets the patient cancel without calling. The link shows the appointment and asks Are you sure you want to cancel this appointment? with an optional Reason and a Cancel my appointment button; Your appointment has been canceled confirms it. How late they may use it is the clinic's Minimum notice period under General Settings, Cancellations: No restriction, 1 to 12 hours, or 1 to 10 days. Inside that period the page says the appointment can't be canceled online and they have to call. The fee window above is a separate setting: a patient may be allowed to cancel 2 hours before and still owe the late fee if the window is 24 hours.
Inside the notice period the page says This appointment can't be canceled online: Please contact your clinic directly to cancel — it's too close to your appointment time to cancel online. A link that has been used, or belongs to an appointment that has passed, shows This appointment has already been canceled or has passed. Online cancellations appear on the calendar like any other and in the dashboard's Online activity.