What this page is for
A refund gives money back after an approved correction to a bill that has already been settled: a cancelled order, a line taken off, or goods returned. It is raised automatically from that correction, never invented on this page, and it always writes a record here, whichever way the money went back — even where it reduces what a customer owes on a house account rather than paying out cash.
If a correction affects a bill paid by more than one method, Tulindo splits the refund across those methods in proportion to what each contributed, so a bill paid half in cash and half by M-Pesa refunds half each way.
Everyone whose role can view payments sees this list. Sending money back to a phone needs a role that can refund; releasing or refusing that payout needs a role that can approve, and it can never be the same person who asked for it.
The columns:
- Refunded: when the refund was issued.
- Bill: the bill's receipt number.
- Paid back by: the method the money went back through, which may differ from how the bill was paid.
- Amount: how much.
- Reason: why, chosen from your reason codes.
- Refunded by: who raised it.
- Approved by: who approved it, where approval was needed.
- To the phone: the state of an M-Pesa payout, where one applies.
How to…
How to send an M-Pesa refund to the payer's phone
Only where the bill was paid by an M-Pesa prompt or paybill, and the payout has not already been sent.
- Open the row menu and choose Send to the payer's phone.
- Confirm. Nothing moves yet: a second person must release it.
How to release or refuse a payout
- A person other than whoever asked for it opens the row menu.
- Choose Release payout to send the money, or Refuse payout to stop it, giving a reason either way.
Worked examples
Supermarket
A customer at Tumaini Supermarket returns a faulty blender paid for by M-Pesa prompt to the customer's phone. The manager approves the return, which raises a refund here for the full amount. The cashier presses Send to the payer's phone; the duty manager, who did not raise it, presses Release payout, and M-Pesa pays the customer's phone directly.
Restaurant and bar
The Acacia Grill & Bar voids a round of drinks a guest never received, on a bill paid in cash. The refund here shows Paid back by Cash, with no payout column, because cash is handed back across the counter, not sent anywhere.