Taking deposits in cash or by bank transfer

1. Switch it on

Go to Settings, choose Payment Settings, and scroll to Deposits. Under How do you take deposits?, choose Cash or bank transfer, set a default amount, then click Save Deposit Settings.

The amount is only a starting point — it's filled in for you each time, and you can change it on any individual booking.

One way at a time. Choosing cash turns off card deposits through SumUp, and the other way round, so a customer can never pay a deposit by card and in cash for the same appointment. If you use SumUp for the card reader, Quick Sale or your shop, that carries on as normal: only deposits change.

2. Holding a booking

With it switched on, every booking you make offers Hold until deposit received, already ticked, with the expected amount underneath. Untick it for a walk-in, a same-day appointment, or a regular you'd never ask a deposit from — the choice is yours on every booking. For a client who never pays a deposit, tick Bypass deposit requirement on their client record, and it starts unticked for them.

When you save, PetDesk confirms what it's about to do and offers to text the customer asking for the money. The message names the pet, the date and the amount. There's no payment link, because there's nothing to pay online. If you've saved your bank details in Settings → Payment Settings, it tells the customer to pay by bank transfer, with your account name, sort code, account number and a reference made of the pet's name and the booking number, so you can spot the payment on your statement. Without bank details it asks them to get in touch, which is what you want if you only take cash.

Bookings customers make online

When a customer books through your customer portal, they're told a deposit of your default amount is needed and that you'll be in touch about paying it. Their request arrives in Pending Booking Requests as usual. When you click Accept, PetDesk asks about the deposit first:

• Deposit received: enter the amount and how it was paid. The booking is confirmed, and you can send the customer a confirmation.
• Accept, waiting for deposit: the booking is held, exactly like one you held yourself, and moves to Awaiting Deposit. No confirmation goes out. You can text the customer asking for the deposit.
• No deposit needed: the booking is confirmed and the confirmation sent, as Accept always did.

Customers marked Bypass deposit requirement on their client record aren't told about one, and Accept doesn't ask.

3. What “held” actually means

A held booking keeps its slot. It's on the diary, and nobody else will be offered that time. What it doesn't do is behave like a confirmed appointment: no reminders are sent, and no confirmation goes out, until you record the deposit. That's the whole point — nobody gets texted "see you Thursday" for an appointment they haven't secured.

These are not the same as Pending Booking Requests. That orange bar is customers waiting on your answer. Held bookings are yours, waiting on their money, so they have their own list and their own buttons.

4. Where they wait

Held bookings collect in an amber Awaiting Deposit card on your dashboard, showing who, which pet, what for, and how much you're expecting. Each one has four buttons: Deposit Received, Ask for Deposit to chase them, Cancel, and View Details.

The same controls appear on the booking's own page, so you can deal with it from wherever you happen to be.

5. Recording the money

You don't have to hold a booking first. Once offline deposits are switched on, every open booking has a Deposit Received button in its deposit details, so you can record a deposit a customer handed over when they booked at the counter.

When the cash is handed over or the transfer lands, click Deposit Received, check the amount — change it if they paid something different — choose Cash or Bank transfer under Paid by, and click Record Deposit. You can send the customer their booking confirmation at the same time.

That confirms the booking and starts its reminders. The deposit comes straight off the balance, so when they come in you're asking for the right money rather than working it out in your head.

In your reports (the Payment Methods report and the accountant’s tax summary) the deposit is counted under the way it was paid, and the rest of the booking under the way the customer paid at the end. A £10 cash deposit on a booking settled by card shows as £10 cash and the balance as card. If a booking is cancelled and you keep the deposit, that deposit still counts as money taken.

6. Recorded it by mistake?

If you recorded a deposit on the wrong booking, or typed the wrong amount, click Undo next to the Taken offline badge and confirm. The deposit comes off the booking and the full price is due again. Then click Deposit Received to record the right amount, or record it on the right booking.

Undo is for mistakes, not refunds. The booking stays confirmed and keeps getting its reminders. If the customer really is getting their money back because they cancelled, cancel the booking instead and record what happened to the deposit. Undo isn't offered once a booking is completed or cancelled, or on a deposit paid by card.

7. Refunding one

A cash deposit has to go back the way it came, so instead of a Refund button you get a Taken offline badge. When you cancel the booking yourself, PetDesk asks what happens to the deposit: refunded, kept as credit for the customer, or kept by you.

If the customer cancels through the portal, or you approve their cancellation request, nobody is asked at the time. The booking appears in a Deposits on Cancelled Bookings card on your dashboard instead. Click Refunded once you've handed the money back or transferred it, Credit to add it to the customer's credit balance, or Keep if you're keeping it. Kept deposits count towards your revenue.

8. If the deposit never turns up

Nothing is cancelled for you. Once the appointment date has passed, the booking turns red in the Awaiting Deposit card and says so plainly — the deposit never arrived, no reminder was ever sent, and the slot is still being held. Record the deposit if it turned up after all, or cancel it to free the time. The decision stays yours, because “they haven't paid yet” and “they're not coming” are not the same thing.