Unpaid bills and the end-of-day close-out: collect what walk-outs owe

Two ways someone leaves, two different records

Left without paying is for someone who walked out. It finishes the visit, opens their bill if it was not open yet (a $0 bill when no services were picked, so it stays on record), marks it as a walk-out and writes it in Activity. The bill stays open, and keeps its walk-out mark after it is paid.

Left without service is for someone who left, or was turned away, before being served. Tap it on their card, pick why (changed their mind, waited too long, we couldn’t serve them, or other with a short note) and confirm. Nothing is charged, nothing is kept as unpaid, and it does not count as a finished visit, so no stamp, review request or visit count. An open bill with nothing paid on it is cancelled. Keeping the two apart matters for your numbers: see what walk-outs cost you.

Cancelling a bill, and who is allowed to

A bill with money on it cannot be cancelled this way: refund the payment first. Who may cancel or refund is the owner’s choice under Settings, then Payments, then Refunds and cancelled bills: the usual rules, managers only, or with a manager’s PIN, which is then asked every time and recorded under that person. On the shared PIN screen, a manager’s PIN may be asked for.

Lowering a price on a bill asks why (a comp, a discount, a price match, fixing a mistake or other), and it is kept with who did it.

Getting paid when they come back

When someone who still owes checks in, the staff screen shows a red alert at the top until you dismiss it and a red Unpaid badge on their card with the amount. It matches by phone number or client profile, across all your locations, never by name alone. Every check-in and booking needs a first and last name, so a bill can always be tied to a person; for a number on every visit, turn on “Require a phone number to check in” for the location.

If a visit has no phone and the same name as an unpaid bill left at the same location, the card shows a muted “Possible match” chip. Tap it to see the date, services and amount, then choose “It’s them” or “Not them”. Check with the person before collecting. Staff see these only; they never show on the TV, kiosk, join page or in a message.

The Unpaid tab and Collect all

On the Checkout page, the Unpaid tab lists every walk-out, every bill left open from an earlier day and every finished visit that was never checked out, across your locations, with a count and a Collect button on each row. A bill with nothing left to pay is not listed.

At the top of a bill, a red card lists the customer’s other unpaid bills, each with Collect, so you pay it on its own with its own receipt. When they owe on two or more, Collect all takes them one after another in the same sheet (“2 of 3 paid”). Nothing is moved onto today’s bill, and Stop ends it. Cash works today; collecting by card comes with card payments, which are coming soon.

Closing out the day

Owners and managers open Close out the day on the Checkout page. At the top, in red and only when there are any, you see who did not pay that day (walked out, left open, or not checked out) with Collect and Cancel bill, then a link to older unpaid bills.

Below is money in (card, cash, other, total and tips) and any refunds given that day. Then the cash drawer: type the starting cash and the cash you counted, and the difference shows at once, green when it matches, red when short, orange when over. “How we got $X” lists the starting cash, each cash payment that day with time, name and bill number, and cash refunds, so you can see why the drawer should hold that much. If the count is off, add a short reason, such as “Short $20: change given wrong”. You can still close the day with unpaid bills, and that day’s unpaid count and total are recorded with it.

Cash tips and the drawer

A tip a customer hands the team member in cash is typed under “Tipped in cash”. It goes to that team member for payroll and is not counted in the close-out drawer, so the drawer reflects the till and not a tip that went into a pocket. Gift cards and store credit are neither cash nor card in the close-out; a bill paid in full by gift card counts as “another way”.

Lock the books once your accountant is done

On the Accounting page, an owner can lock the books through a finished day once the accountant has closed a period. Cash tips and close-outs on or before that day can no longer be added, changed or removed. An owner can reopen them by saying why, and every lock and reopen is listed there and in Activity. Refunds and late payments for a locked day are dated when they happen, so they land in the open period. Each bill also has its own number at its location (Bill 1, 2, 3 and so on), with no gaps. The reports side is covered in the weekly numbers worth reading.