Customer Support

How to process refund and return requests as Event Agency Founders

Customer SupportFor Event Agency Founders2 apps12 steps~24 min to set up

When a client cancels a corporate dinner two weeks out or a wedding couple disputes a vendor deposit, you're suddenly managing a chain of emails across Gmail, a PDF contract buried in Google Drive, and a HoneyBook or Dubsado record that doesn't talk to any of them. Figuring out what the refund policy actually says, which vendor deposits are recoverable, and how much of the agency fee is earned versus returnable takes 45 minutes of digging — minimum. You write the same refund explanation email three different times because there's no template that matches what the contract actually said. Meanwhile the client is waiting and getting angrier.

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Customer SupportFor Event Agency Founders2 apps12 steps~24 min to set up

Outcome

What you'll set up

A refund and return tracker that pulls contract terms, payment history, and vendor deposit status into one view — so you know exactly what's refundable before you reply to a single email

An email drafting workflow that reads the client's message, finds the relevant contract clause, and writes a refund response in your voice — ready to send or edit in seconds

An automated follow-up chain that tracks whether refunds were issued, vendor credits were recovered, and the case was closed — so nothing stays open indefinitely

The Starch recipe

Apps, data, and prompts

The combination of Starch apps, the data sources they pull from, and the prompts you use to drive them.

Apps used

CRM

Data sources & config

Starch connects directly to Gmail (scheduled sync) so email threads load into the refund tracker automatically and the Email Agent can read prior correspondence before drafting a reply. Payment history from Stripe or Square is queried live from Starch's integration catalog when the app needs to verify what a client actually paid. HoneyBook, Dubsado, or Aisle Planner — whichever you use — is automated through your browser with no API needed, so Starch can pull contract details and update records there without waiting for a native integration.

Prompts to copy

Build me a refund and cancellation tracker for my event agency. Each record should have: client name, event date, event type (wedding, corporate, social), cancellation date, total contract value, amount paid to date, refund amount owed per contract terms, vendor deposits outstanding and whether they're recoverable, current status (pending, partial refund issued, resolved), and a notes field for anything unusual. Pull email threads from Gmail so I can see the client's original refund request attached to their record.

When a new email arrives in Gmail that mentions 'cancellation,' 'refund,' 'deposit back,' or 'cancel my event,' flag it as a refund request, summarize the ask in one sentence, find any prior thread with that sender, and draft a reply that (1) acknowledges the request, (2) states our cancellation policy timeline based on how far out the event is, and (3) tells them when they can expect to hear back with a final number. Use a professional but warm tone — this is a hard moment for most clients.

Run these in Starch → or paste them into your favorite agent

Walkthrough

Step-by-step

1 Connect Gmail to Starch (scheduled sync) — Starch syncs your inbox on a schedule so email threads from clients requesting refunds are available to both the refund tracker and the Email Agent without you forwarding anything manually.

2 Connect Stripe or Square from Starch's integration catalog — the agent queries payment records live when it needs to confirm what a client paid and when, so your refund math starts from real numbers, not your memory.

3 Tell Starch to build your refund tracker using the prompt above — describe your cancellation tiers (e.g., 50% refund if cancelled 60+ days out, no refund inside 30 days) so the app knows how to classify each incoming request automatically.

4 Wire up browser automation for HoneyBook, Dubsado, or Aisle Planner — Starch reads contract details and payment schedules from your existing platform through your browser, so you're not re-entering data into a new tool.

5 Set up the Email Agent using the second prompt above — test it against a real cancellation email to confirm the tone, policy language, and summary match what you'd actually send.

6 When a cancellation request arrives, the Email Agent flags it, surfaces the client's payment history and prior thread, and drafts a first response while you're doing something else — you review and send, or send with one click.

7 Open the refund tracker, find the new record the Email Agent created, and fill in the vendor deposit column — which vendors hold deposits, what their cancellation policies say (Starch can pull this from your vendor email threads automatically), and what's realistically recoverable.

8 Calculate the net refund owed: total paid minus earned agency fee per your contract tier minus non-recoverable vendor deposits. Starch does this arithmetic and writes the number into the record so you're not doing it in a spreadsheet.

9 Draft the formal refund breakdown email from inside the tracker — the Email Agent pulls the numbers from the record and formats it as a clear, line-by-line breakdown the client can read without calling you to ask questions.

10 Issue the refund through Stripe or Square; Starch can automate the browser steps on your payment portal if it doesn't have a direct API action available for refund issuance.

11 Set an automated follow-up reminder in the tracker: if the status hasn't moved to 'resolved' within 14 days, Starch sends you a Slack message or Gmail reminder so open cases don't age silently.

12 Once resolved, close the record and let Starch tag the client in your CRM with the cancellation outcome — useful if the same client inquires again or if you want to review your cancellation rate by event type at the end of the quarter.

See this running on Starch

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Worked example

Riverside Corporate Dinner Cancellation — February 2026

Sample numbers from a real run

Contract value (150-person corporate dinner)	18,500
Amount paid by client (two installments)	12,000
Agency planning fee earned (per 45-day-out cancellation clause)	4,625
Venue deposit — non-recoverable	2,800
Catering deposit — 50% recoverable	1,200
Net refund owed to client	3,375

A corporate client emails on a Tuesday morning to cancel a February 28 dinner — 47 days out. The Email Agent catches the word 'cancellation' in the subject line, surfaces the client's prior Gmail thread, and has a draft acknowledgment ready before you finish your coffee. It correctly identifies this as a 45-day-out cancellation, which triggers the 25% earned-fee clause in your standard contract. You open the refund tracker: Starch has already pulled the two Stripe payment records ($7,000 and $5,000), calculated the $4,625 agency fee owed to you, and flagged two vendor deposits — a $2,800 venue hold marked non-recoverable per the venue's 60-day policy, and a $2,400 catering deposit where the caterer's 50% return policy gets you $1,200 back. The math resolves to $3,375 owed to the client. The Email Agent drafts the breakdown email line by line, you read it, adjust one sentence about the catering timeline, and send. Total time from receipt to client reply: 22 minutes. The follow-up reminder is set for 14 days out to confirm the refund cleared.

Measurement

How you'll know it's working

Average time from refund request received to client response sent (target: under 24 hours)

Percentage of vendor deposits successfully recovered on cancelled events

Open refund cases older than 14 days (should be zero)

Net agency revenue retained across all cancellations in a quarter (earned fees minus any goodwill refunds given beyond contract terms)

Cancellation rate by event type (wedding vs. corporate vs. social) — useful for adjusting deposit structures

Comparison

What this replaces

The other ways teams handle this today, and how the Starch version compares.

HoneyBook or Dubsado alone

Both handle contracts and invoices well, but neither can read a refund request email, find the payment record, do the math, and draft the response in one flow — you're still doing that manually across three tabs.

Gmail + Google Sheets

Most small agencies run refunds this way today; it works until you have four open cases at once and you realize nothing is tracked, nothing follows up, and you have no idea what your cancellation rate actually is.

Zendesk or Freshdesk

Built for high-volume e-commerce support queues, not an agency handling 30-80 events a year — the setup cost and per-seat pricing don't match the problem size, and they don't know what a catering deposit is.

Hiring a VA for client communications

A good VA handles the emails, but they still need you to do the math on what's refundable and tell them what to say — Starch does both so the VA (if you have one) only needs to hit send.

On Starch RECOMMENDED

One platform — crm, founder inbox all running on connected data. Setup in plain English; numbers stay current via scheduled syncs and live agent queries.

Try it on Starch →

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can Starch actually read my HoneyBook or Dubsado contracts to find the cancellation clause?

If your contracts live as PDFs in Google Drive or are attached to Gmail threads, yes — Starch can read them as part of building the refund record. HoneyBook and Dubsado don't have scheduled-sync integrations today, but Starch automates them through your browser with no API needed, so it can navigate to a contract record and pull the relevant details the same way you would.

What if a client paid through Venmo or a check — not Stripe or Square?

Stripe and Square are queryable from Starch's integration catalog. Venmo and checks aren't tracked in a system Starch can reach automatically — you'd enter those payment amounts manually into the refund tracker, but the rest of the workflow (drafting, follow-up, status tracking) still runs the same.

Will the Email Agent draft refund emails in my voice, or will it sound like a chatbot?

The Email Agent learns from your existing Gmail threads. The more examples of your actual writing it has access to — especially any past refund or cancellation emails — the closer the drafts will match. You should plan to edit the first few before sending and give Starch feedback on tone; it improves quickly.

Is Starch SOC 2 certified? I have corporate clients who ask about this.

Not yet — Starch is not SOC 2 Type II certified today. If a corporate client requires SOC 2 compliance from every tool in your stack, that's an honest gap to flag. It's on the roadmap.

Can I use the Customer Support Agent to handle refund requests automatically?

Customer Support Agent is coming soon — it's in development and not available today. When it launches, it'll be able to handle repetitive refund inquiries 24/7 using your cancellation policy as the source of truth. For now, the Email Agent (available today) handles drafting and triage so you're responding in minutes instead of hours.

What if a client disputes the refund amount and it turns into a back-and-forth?

The tracker keeps the full email thread and every number in one place, so you're not hunting for what you said in email three of seven. You can also ask the tracker 'what did I promise this client in writing about deposits?' and get a real answer from the thread history — useful when a dispute gets tense and you need to know exactly what the record shows.