Are the loyalty stars deducted when a customer has a return and is given a refund?

[giggleblossom]

I am currently using the loyalty program and was faced with a situation yesterday where a customer gained several stars in a transaction two weeks ago, but yesterday returned some of those items.  Will the stars be subtracted in this case? 

[Tom · Accepted solution]

Hey @giggleblossom, thanks for bringing this up. Reward stars are not automatically subtracted when a payment is refunded, but you as the seller can manually make an adjustment from your Point of Sale app.

For step-by-steps, have a look at this section of our Support Center: Manually Adjust a Customer’s Loyalty Status.

1. Tap Customers.
2. Search for your customer by name or phone number.
3. Tap Edit next to their Loyalty status.
4. Adjust stars using the + or - signs.
5. Tap Save.

Hope this helps get you in the right direction! 🙂

[giggleblossom]

Thank you for responding @Tom.  I am having problems however. After I search and locate the customer, it brings up her profile and her transactions (including the rewards she has received) however, there is no "Edit" option.  There is a "Details" tab next to each, but that only provides the receipt information. I have tried clicking on every tab that is related to the customer, and have had no luck.  Do you have any other suggestions?  Thanks again!

[Chad]

Hello @giggleblossom! 

Just to make sure, are you following these steps while in the Square Point of Sale App? Currently this action is not avalible on the Square Dashboard. 

[sciabica1936]

@giggleblossom Be sure you go to the "customer" section of the Point of Sale app.  (click the "three lines" at the bottom left, then click "customers")

You can not edit from the screen where you add a customer to an order.

[sciabica1936]

@Tom

Well, that's a bummer!  This really needs to be addressed – stars should be deducted just the way they were awarded.  It's already time-consuming to deal with customer returns (not Square's fault), but this is an added task that our salespeople shouldn't have to deal with.

Also, you CAN NOT remove rewards.  So if a customer has earned enough stars to be rewarded, that can not be undone!  The most concerning scenario is a customer "exchanging" one expensive item for another (both of which earn enough stars for a reward).  They will earn rewards on BOTH transactions.

We use Square primarily because of how fast and easy it is.  Please keep this issue in mind for a future update.

[Tom]

Thanks for flagging this, @sciabica1936. Sorry to hear about the extra work this is causing—we definitely want to prevent any confusion.

There are not any updates that I can access and share out regarding automatically returning stars when a sale is refunded. In addition, I'll share your experience about what's been happening as a result of not being able to remove a reward altogether. I realize that I'm not giving you much to work with in this reply, but we'll circle back as soon as any other solutions come to light.

Thanks again for pointing this out and for your continued patience on this one.

[Tom]

Hey @sciabica1936, I have one point of clarification from our Loyalty Team—you can void a Loyalty coupon in the online Square Dashboard! Here's how:

1. Head over to your Directory tab.
2. Select the proper customer by searching their name or phone number.
3. In the customer's profile, scroll down to Coupons and Rewards > Manage.
4. Check the proper box for the coupon you’d like to void.
5. Click Void > Confirm Void.

Hope this helps with managing your rewards. More details are available in our Support Center: View and Void Rewards and Coupons.

Apologies for any confusion and please don't hesitate to comment back if anything else comes up!

[jthorvaldson]

I agree that loyalty points should automatically be deducted for returns. We have several customers on a regular basis that will come in and buy for example 4 pair of pants in different sizes for their kid to try on and bring back the ones that don't fit. And having to adjust them manually each time in these situations is time intensive. And I would have to rely on our cashiers to alert me to this, because they do not have authorization to adjust points. That would be a nightmare!

[lilychiang]

@giggleblossom @sciabica1936 @jthorvaldson Good news - we just launched our feature to automatically adjust loyalty points after a refund. You don't have to worry about manually adjust points after the refund. Square will automatically do this for you.