When a guest says they’ve been charged twice, check before you refund. Usually there are two different payments, two bookings, or a payment plus an attempt that never went through. Here’s how to tell, and how to put a real duplicate right.
Check what was actually taken
1. Find every booking for them. Search by their email address and phone number, not just their name. Two bookings for the same evening is the most common cause. See Finding any booking by name, reference, phone or email.
2. Open Card & Payments on each booking. Each payment shows its amount, the card, and when it was taken. A charge that wasn’t the deposit is labelled No-show charge, Final bill or Cancellation fee, and money you recorded yourself shows Card reader or Cash. See Reading a booking’s Card & Payments tab.
3. Check Stripe. An admin can open Settings → Stripe → Manage Account and search for the guest’s email address. Only a payment Stripe shows as Succeeded took money. An Incomplete or cancelled one took nothing (see Why Stripe shows "Incomplete" payments).
In NomNom Web: double-click the booking (or click it, then Full details) → Card & Payments. In the phone app: tap the booking → Card & Payments.
The usual reasons
- Two bookings. The guest booked twice, often because they thought the first attempt hadn’t worked, and each booking took its own deposit. Ask which one they want to keep and cancel the other. If Automatically refund deposits is on, cancelling refunds its deposit unless it’s inside your no-refund window (see Setting your cancellation and no-show policy). Otherwise, refund it as below.
- A deposit and a later charge. A no-show or cancellation fee, a payment link, or a final bill charged to their card are separate payments on top of the deposit.
- The deposit wasn’t taken off the bill. If they paid their whole bill at the till, the deposit was paid on top. See Taking the deposit off the guest’s final bill.
- An attempt that didn’t go through. A banking app can show a pending amount for a payment that was declined or never finished. If Stripe doesn’t show it as Succeeded, you didn’t receive it; their bank can tell them when the pending amount drops off.
- Going back and paying again. If the booking page stalls after a guest pays, and they go back and press the button again, NomNom recognises that the deposit has already been paid and doesn’t take it a second time.
- A charge that seemed to fail. If NomNom says Connection problem — the charge may have gone through, it refreshes the payment list. Check the list before you charge again.
Refunding a genuine duplicate
Only admins can give refunds.
1. Open the payment. On the booking’s Card & Payments tab, click or tap the payment to refund. Payments that can be refunded say Tap to refund.
2. Check the amount and refund. The Refund payment window shows Max refund, the most you can give back. Enter the amount and click Refund. The guest is emailed Refund Issued, which says refunds usually take 5 to 10 business days to reach their statement.
3. Money taken on your card machine or in cash? The window is called Record refund instead. Give the money back on your machine or from the till first: this only records it.
A payment in Stripe that’s on no booking: contact NomNom support, or refund it in your Stripe account. See Refunding a deposit or card payment.
Good to know
- Stripe refunds show in NomNom. A refund made in your Stripe account appears on the booking once NomNom support has switched that on for your account. Refunding from NomNom is still the simplest, and it emails the guest.
- Already disputed? If the guest has asked their bank to take the money back, read Dealing with a disputed card payment (chargeback) before you refund anything.
- Two gift vouchers? Each purchase is its own voucher. See Refunding, cancelling or voiding a gift voucher.