Payment for services and refunding a deposit via a bank terminal: how to close a repair or rental in Torgsoft
The service sector, particularly product rental and maintenance services (repairs), requires business owners to take a special approach to financial accounting. Unlike a standard sale, it often involves concepts such as a security payment (deposit) or a partial prepayment for spare parts or diagnostics.
Business owners usually have the following questions:
«How can a deposit be refunded correctly and quickly directly to the customer's bank card after the rental ends?»,
«How can part of a repair prepayment be refunded if the actual cost turns out to be lower?»,
«Can a repair be closed without payment if the customer pays later under the contract?», as well as
«What should be taken into account when processing cashless payments and refunds for services via a POS terminal?».
All these processes are clearly regulated and automated in Torgsoft, helping prevent confusion in financial records and maintain customer loyalty.
Accepting payments and deposits via a bank terminal
Torgsoft supports integration with bank POS terminals using popular protocols (BPOS, JSON, PosApi, etc.), making it possible to automate not only product sales but also payments for services.
When a customer rents an item, the software may require a mandatory deposit if this has been configured in the directory.
To accept these funds by cashless payment, the salesperson selects a cashless payment method in the "Rental Deposit Receipt" window and specifies the appropriate settlement account. The amount is automatically sent to the terminal, and after a successful transaction, the deposit is recorded in the system.
A repair prepayment is accepted in a similar way: the "Repair Payment" button creates an invoice that the customer can immediately pay by bank card through the connected terminal.
Refunding the deposit and prepayment to the customer's card
One of the most important rules of financial discipline is that funds must be refunded using the same payment method through which they were received. If the customer paid a deposit or made a prepayment by cashless payment through the terminal, the refund must also be sent to their bank card.
In the «Rental» mode. When the customer returns the rented item, the salesperson changes the document status to «Rental completed». The software automatically opens the «Rental Deposit Refund» window and fills in the details: the settlement account to which the deposit was paid and the amount. The "Reduce the deposit amount by the rental cost" function can also be enabled in the rental settings. In this case, the software automatically deducts the cost of the services from the security payment, and only the remaining amount is refunded to the customer's card.
In the «Repair» mode. Refunds for repairs can be more complicated. In Torgsoft, a repair prepayment can be refunded in two cases:
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No sales invoice has yet been created for the invoice, meaning that the repair has not been completed and, for example, the customer has declined the service.
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The prepayment made against the invoice exceeds the final amount linked to the sales invoice, for example, if diagnostics show that the repair will cost less than expected.
Important technical detail: Torgsoft allows a repair payment to be refunded directly to the customer's bank card through a POS terminal, but only if the original payment or prepayment was made as a single transaction. If the customer paid for the repair in instalments through several cashless transactions, it is currently not possible to refund the money automatically through the terminal.
Closing a rental and repair
Completion of the service is accompanied by the closing of the relevant documents. If the repair prepayment initially exceeded the repair cost, the overpayment can either be allocated to the sales invoice when the repair is closed, thereby overpaying the invoice, or left as a prepayment to be refunded to the customer. If the repair already has a completed status, the overpayment amount is automatically linked to the invoice and can no longer be refunded. The software will display an appropriate warning.
The software also supports closing a repair without payment. This is particularly relevant for service centres that work with legal entities (B2B) under a contract and receive one monthly payment for all completed repairs, or when a repaired product is sent to the customer by cash on delivery.
In this case, the sales invoice created from the repair invoice remains open. Payment, as well as a payment refund, remains available for a closed or completed repair and does not depend on its stage. The system simply records the customer's debt, which can be settled later when the funds are received in the settlement account or at the cash desk.
Possible issues with cashless refunds
Business owners may occasionally experience technical delays. For example, when attempting to refund money, the terminal may take a long time to respond or display the "DeviceBusy" error or "Timeout exceeded". This usually means that the terminal is currently processing another operation or that a service menu, such as an X-report, is open, preventing it from accepting the refund command from Torgsoft. In such cases, specialists recommend checking the terminal screen, restarting the terminal if necessary, and repeating the refund operation in the software.
For refunds to be processed correctly on some terminals, particularly PrivatBank terminals, the so-called "refund merchant" must also be configured correctly. If the merchant settings have been reset, the software may reject the cashless refund.
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