# Cancellations & Rescheduling

Allow customers to cancel or reschedule their appointments, and manage bookings from your admin.

## Customer Self-Service

Customers can manage their own bookings through links in the confirmation email:

* **Reschedule** — change appointment time (subject to availability and your policies)
* **Cancel** — cancel the appointment and receive a refund (subject to your policies)

### Enabling Self-Service

Customer cancellation and rescheduling is configured **per service**.

{% hint style="info" %}
Customer self-service cancellation and rescheduling is available on the **Pro** and **Premium** plans. See [Pricing](/get-started/about-sesami/pricing.md).
{% endhint %}

1. Go to **Sesami > Services** and open a service
2. Scroll to **Cancellation and Rescheduling**
3. Turn on the options you want:
   * **Allow customers to cancel their appointments**
   * **Allow customers to reschedule their appointments**
   * **Number of hours customers can manage their appointment before the start time** — the notice window (e.g., 24 hours)
   * **Automatically refund money on cancellation**
4. **Save**

Repeat for each service where you want to allow self-service.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Reschedule limit**: a customer can reschedule the same booking up to **6 times**. After that, only the cancel option is shown. If they need to reschedule again, an admin can reschedule on their behalf from the Sesami Calendar.
{% endhint %}

### How It Works for Customers

1. Customer receives booking confirmation email
2. Clicks **Reschedule** or **Cancel** link
3. For reschedule: selects a new available time
4. For cancel: confirms cancellation and sees refund eligibility
5. Receives confirmation email of the change

{% hint style="info" %}
You can enable rescheduling without enabling cancellation — customers can change their time but must contact you to cancel.
{% endhint %}

## Admin Management

Admins can manage any booking from the **Sesami Calendar** or **Upcoming Appointments**:

### Reschedule

1. Open the booking details
2. Click **Reschedule**
3. Select new date and time
4. Customer receives an updated confirmation email

### Reassign Resource

Change which resource is assigned to a booking (e.g., team member is sick):

1. Open the booking details
2. Click **Reassign** or **Change Resource**
3. Select a different available resource

{% hint style="info" %}
Customers are not automatically notified when a resource is reassigned. Contact them if the change is significant.
{% endhint %}

### Cancel

1. Open the booking details
2. Click **Cancel**
3. Choose **Full refund** or **No refund**
4. Confirm — refund is processed automatically (if enabled) or manually in Shopify

## Refund Handling

| Method        | How it works                                                                                                     |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Automatic** | Sesami creates the refund in Shopify when a booking is canceled. Shopify refunds to the original payment method. |
| **Manual**    | You go to **Shopify > Orders**, find the order, and process the refund yourself.                                 |

Choose automatic for efficiency or manual for more control. You can switch between them at any time.

## Group Appointment Cancellations

For [group bookings](/booking/booking-features/group-appointments.md), each participant is managed individually:

* Cancel or reschedule one participant without affecting others
* Canceled spots become available for new bookings
* To cancel an entire session, cancel each participant's booking

## Defining Your Policies

Set clear policies and communicate them on product pages, confirmation emails, and your terms of service:

* **Cancellation deadline** — how much notice is required (24h, 48h, etc.)
* **Refund rules** — full refund before deadline, no refund after
* **Rescheduling limits** — free rescheduling, or only within a deadline

{% hint style="success" %}
Offering rescheduling as an alternative to cancellation reduces lost bookings and keeps customers happy.
{% endhint %}

## Reducing No-Shows

* Require a [deposit](/payments/deposits.md) at booking
* Set a strict cancellation deadline
* Send reminders via [Sesami Flows](/automations/sesami-flows.md)
* Use a no-refund policy after the deadline

## Troubleshooting

<details>

<summary>Customer can't find reschedule/cancel links</summary>

* Verify self-service is enabled in Sesami Settings
* Check the confirmation email was delivered (check spam)
* Admin can reschedule/cancel on behalf of the customer

</details>

<details>

<summary>Refund not processing automatically</summary>

Check that the Shopify order exists and is paid. If automatic refund fails, process manually in **Shopify > Orders > \[order] > Refund**.

</details>

## Related

* [Group Appointments](/booking/booking-features/group-appointments.md) — managing group cancellations
* [Notification Emails](/notifications/notification-emails.md) — cancellation email templates
* [Deposits](/payments/deposits.md) — reduce no-shows with upfront payment


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