Some companies require a deposit from their clients when their clients are requesting services, such as boarding or overnight-based facility services. In this article, we'll discuss how to take deposits from clients, and how your clients can make deposits in Facility.

While it's not possible to require a deposit when a client is booking a service, it is possible to require a payment method on file before a client can request services. The "Require Payment Method to Request Services" setting is located in the Scheduling section in Settings > Client Settings > Portal Settings:

We recommend adding a note about your company's deposit policy to your Client Invoice Message email in Settings > Company Settings > Messaging and to your default Invoice Note in Settings > Invoicing & Payments > Invoice Settings. It's also possible to add a custom message on the Service Request Form in both the portal and the app, this setting is the "Portal & App - Service Request Form" in Settings > Company Settings > Messaging.

When making a payment via the Client App, pet parents have the ability to edit the amount they would like to pay. From here, they can select a percentage of the total amount or a flat dollar amount. For example - your client can submit a payment for 50% of the total amount due or a payment of $100 on their $300 invoice.

Adjusting The Invoice For Partial Payment

Here, we'll show an example of how this process would work in Facility. In this example, the company's policy is 50% of the total invoice is due the day services are requested, and the balance is due the first day of service.

Steve Jones has requested dog boarding for the week of June 1st-5th. We're processing the request on January 16th. According to the company's deposit policy, 50% is due on January 16th, and the balance is due on June 1st, the day services start.

Just as a reminder, we have a help article on Pending Requests that goes over processing requests: Facility: Approving Pending Requests.

Here is the original request from the client:

This is the approval screen after the request has been processed. Click on the "Open Client Hub on Calendar" button to open this client's Client Hub to create an invoice:

On the following screen, click on "Invoice Events" in the Un-Invoiced Events tab and select the services for which you'd like to create an invoice:

On the following screen, click on the services you'd like to move to an invoice:

From there, click on "Invoiced Events" tab in the client's hub. Click on the invoice number to open the invoice:

The Edit Invoice screen is open, and it's now possible to change the date of the invoice, the due date of the invoice, and then email the invoice to the client for payment. Here, we've changed the invoice due date to January 16th so the invoice will show that it is due on the client's end. After changing the due date, click "Email" to email the invoice to the client:

This is what the client will see in the Invoices tab of their Portal. The client will first need to click "Make A Payment", and then they can edit the payment to 50% of the invoice and follow the steps to submit their payment:​
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Now that the client has paid their 50% deposit, we'll go ahead and change the invoice due date to June 1st since the company policy is 50% due at the time the request is made, and the balance is due the day services start, June 1st:

Here is the final result. The client has made a partial payment (50% deposit), and we have changed the due date to June 1st, the first day of service for this client, and the due date for the remainder of the invoice to be paid. While the client can pay the balance on their invoice at any time, the invoice shows that it is due on June 1st.