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We do understand cancelations are sometimes the best choice and we want you to do what’s best for your program.  If you have any questions on how to process a cancelation or partial refund, CourseStorm’s Customer Support team is always here to help you.

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Here are some things to think about and specific features of CourseStorm that can help you through this progress.

You Can Always Issue a Refund Later

Providing a student with a refund is an irreversible decision, so it's worthwhile to think through other options that you may have. 

You can refund a student at any time, as long as their payment is still pending in escrow. Pending funds are the payments you've received for classes that haven't taken place yet --the ones most at risk for cancellation. Once these funds pending in escrow have been paid out to you, refunds cannot be processed within the CourseStorm system. You can check on your pending payouts by navigating to your administrator menu and clicking on the payouts section. 

Suspend/Delay Payouts While You Make a Decision

We are happy to suspend any upcoming payouts while you deliberate strategy for postponement, taking the pressure off your shoulders. This may sound like the last thing you want to do, but it actually gives you more options in the long run. Remember, you can’t refund students through the system if you’ve already received the payout for a registration. You can reach out to CourseStorm support and let us know what date you would like to receive your payout. By removing any unnecessary deadlines, you can take your time and make the best decision on how to move forward. 

Pause/Disable Automated CourseStorm Emails

You will likely want to pause some, or all, of CourseStorm’s automated email notifications during this time to prevent additional confusion for your customers.

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• Instructor emails

• Class Reminder

• Low enrollment

• Abandoned Cart

Communicate With Your Students

You can email students who enrolled in individual classes or all students in your registration system using CourseStorm, and this may be an effective way to reach out to discuss your plans and intentions going forward. 

Alternatives to Canceling Registrations

We recommend that if at all possible, you should postpone, or transfer, any upcoming courses, rather than canceling them. By delaying a class rather than canceling it, you can avoid refunds and preserve revenue.

• Reschedule the activity - Scheduling conflicts happen. Weather, illness, power outages. Instead of canceling, you can change the date of a course at any time in CourseStorm. (To postpone a course with CourseStorm, navigate to your administrator menu, click on the class, click "Edit," click "Schedule, and select your preferred start and end date.)

• Transfer to another class - Suggest another course that may be of interest and offer to transfer their registration. In this situation, a small workaround may be of assistance: you can use a temporary "holding place" class to keep track of folks who can then be transferred to other classes at a later date. 

• Provide a credit for a future class using Promo Codes - Offer a promo code (credit) for the amount of the canceled class for a different course. This means you can cancel the registration but don't need to refund the transaction amount and pay the associated service fees.
  

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