Sometimes a client account ends up with a balance that is not really owing, or with a credit sitting on it. For example, a free treatment might have been rung up as On Account. Or a deposit or overpayment was never used. Left alone, these balances build up over time.
How you clear it depends on which way the balance runs. Check the client's account balance badge in POS first. It does not say whether the amount is a debt or a credit. Confirm with the client or your records before you act.
Clearing a balance the client owes you (a debt)
Pay it off using a dedicated Account Corrections payment method instead of a real payment type. This keeps your Cash and EFTPOS settlement totals accurate.
- Go to Admin > Lists > Payment Methods and look for Account Corrections. Many salons already have this set up. If it is missing, click New, name it Account Corrections, and Save.
- Go to POS and add the client to the sale.
- Click Receive Payment and select Account Corrections as the payment type for the amount owing.
- Click Finish Sale.
Clearing a credit balance (the salon owes the client)
Add To Account always increases the client's account balance in their favour. It does not reduce a credit, so it is not the right tool here even though the name suggests otherwise.
To bring a credit balance to zero, ring up a sale for the exact amount of the credit. Pay for it using the On Account payment method, which draws the payment down from the existing credit.
- Go to POS and add the client to the sale.
- Add a service or product item whose price equals the credit amount exactly. Use Add service to create a one off item if nothing on your price list matches.
- Remove any discount that is automatically applied to the line or the sale. Use the Disc: selector and the sale level discount button, and choose None on each, so the total matches the credit exactly.
- Click Receive Payment and select On Account as the payment type.
- Confirm the Balance Due reads $0.00 and the payment tile shows the full amount. Then click Finish Sale.