Applicable to: Association and Club Administrators
Applicable to: Rugby Canada
Application(s): Admin Portal > Refund Requests
This article will cover the following:
- Overview of the Admin Approval Flow
- Understanding the Refund Requests inbox
- Reviewing a refund request in detail
- Approving a refund request
- Declining a refund request
- Expiring a membership (Rugby Canada and Provincial Unions only)
- Cancelling a participant's registration
Related articles:
Overview
When a participant requests a refund and is not eligible for automatic approval — because they registered more than 15 days ago or have already played in a game — their request is routed to the Admin Approval Flow for manual review.
Every organisation that receives a portion of the registration fee sees the request in their own Refund Requests inbox at the same time and decides independently. For a Rugby Canada competition registration, that typically means three organisations: Rugby Canada, the relevant Provincial Union, and the relevant Club. No organisation needs to wait for another before acting.
Approved refund slices are processed automatically through PlayHQ's payment gateway. The participant receives an email each time an organisation makes a decision, so they stay informed throughout the process without needing to contact Support.
Partial refunds are a normal outcome. A participant can receive a refund from one organisation while another declines, and a third is still reviewing — all within the same request.
Tip: This article covers the Admin Approval Flow only. If you're looking for information about how a participant requests a refund please see Request a Refund
Understanding the Refund Requests inbox
Navigate to the Refund Requests section from your Admin Portal to see all refund requests associated with your organisation.
The list view displays one row per request and includes:
- Participant Name — the person who submitted the request
- Date Created — when the request was submitted
- Last Updated — when the most recent change was made
- Amount — the fee slice your organisation is responsible for reviewing
- Organisations — the list of organisations involved in the request
- Overall Status — the request's combined state across all organisations
- Our Status — your organisation's specific approval decision
Reading the traffic-light approvals indicator
Each request row includes coloured circles representing each organisation in the approval chain, shown left-to-right from the national body to the club:
- Yellow — decision is still pending
- Green — the slice has been approved
- Red — the slice has been declined
Hover over any circle to see the name of the organisation it represents.
Filtering and sorting
Use the Status filter dropdown to focus on requests that need attention. Available filter values are: All, Pending, Completed, Failed, and Cancelled.
Click any column header to sort the list by Participant Name, Date Created, Last Updated, Amount, or Overall Status.
Reviewing a refund request in detail
Click any row in the list to open the refund request detail view.
The detail view contains:
- Request Details — the participant's name (linked to their participant profile), registration details, membership category, and the fee amount your organisation is responsible for reviewing.
- Approvals table — shows each organisation's slice with its current status, decision, and any reason or comments provided. The Requested row at the top shows the participant's original reason for requesting a refund.
- Internal Notes — a shared workspace where administrators from all organisations in the approval chain can read refund context and notes left by other admins. Internal notes are visible to all organisations involved in the request but are not visible to the participant.
- Action buttons — Approve and Decline appear at the top of the page. A Done button returns you to the list view without submitting a decision.
Tip: Open the participant's profile in a new tab by clicking their hyperlinked name in the Request Details section. This lets you check their registration history or membership status without losing your place in the queue.
Approving a refund request
When you approve a refund request slice, your organisation's portion of the participant's fees is automatically refunded through the payment gateway. The participant receives an email confirming your decision and the reason you provided.
Follow these steps to approve a refund request:
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Open the refund request
From the Refund Requests inbox, click the relevant request row to open the detail view. Review the participant's reason, the approvals table, and any internal notes from other organisations before making your decision.
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Review line items (if the Refund Composer is enabled)
If an Items section appears below the action bar, you can see each line item on the order with the amount available to refund. Each row is expandable to show refund history. The New Refund field is pre-populated with the full refundable amount.
To issue a partial refund, edit the pre-populated amount in any row. To refund the full amount, leave the values unchanged.
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Click Approve
Click the Approve button at the top of the page.
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Enter a mandatory reason
Enter a reason for your decision in the required field. This reason is included in the email sent to the participant and is recorded in the approvals table for other administrators to see.
- Apply any additional toggles that apply to your organisation tier (see the following sections for detail on Expiring a Membership and Cancelling a Registration).
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Confirm your decision
Click Confirm to submit your approval. Once confirmed, the refund slice is processed automatically and these fees are refunded back to the participant.
Once processed, the participant receives an email from PlayHQ confirming your organisation's approval and the amount refunded. If other organisations are still reviewing their slices, the participant may receive additional emails as those decisions are made.
Declining a refund request
When you decline a refund request slice, your organisation's portion of the fee is not refunded. The participant receives an email with the reason you provided.
Follow these steps to decline a refund request:
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Open the refund request
From the Refund Requests inbox, click the relevant request row to open the detail view.
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Click Decline
Click the Decline button at the top of the page.
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Enter a mandatory reason
Enter a clear reason for your decision. This is sent to the participant in the decline notification email and is visible to other administrators in the approval chain.
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Confirm your decision
Click Confirm to submit your decline. Your decision cannot be reopened from this surface.
Important: Declined decisions are final from this surface. If a refund was declined in error, the resolution path is through the ad-hoc invoice refund flow.
Expiring a membership (Rugby Canada and Provincial Unions only)
Rugby Canada and Provincial Union administrators can choose to expire a participant's membership as part of their approval decision. The Expire Membership toggle appears in the decision panel for these tiers only.
When you can expire a membership
Examples of these include the following:
- The player is registered in another competition using the same membership (e.g. a season permit)
- The player is registered as a player in multiple competitions
- The player has purchased multiple memberships in the same season (e.g. upgraded, and both are active)
When the Expire Membership toggle is disabled
If the toggle is greyed out because the participant has other active registrations:
- Navigate to the participant's profile by clicking their name in the Request Details section.
- Cancel the other active registrations via the participant tab.
- Return to the refund request and revisit your membership decision.
Important: Expiring a membership is not reversible from the refund request surface. Review the participant's full registration history before enabling the toggle.
Using the Expire Membership toggle
When the toggle is available:
- In the decision panel, enable the Expire Membership toggle.
- A notification banner appears confirming that the participant's membership will be expired as part of this decision.
- Enter your mandatory reason, then click Confirm.
On approval, the refund slice is processed and the membership is expired on the same date.
Cancelling a participant's registration
Registration cancellation can happen in two ways: as part of an approval decision, or independently via the participant tab.
Cancelling a registration as part of an approval decision (Club Administrators)
Club Administrators see a Cancel Registration toggle in the decision panel when approving a refund request. Enabling this toggle cancels the participant's registration at the same time as processing the fee refund.
The toggle is optional. You can approve the refund without cancelling the registration if the situation calls for it — for example, resolving a fee dispute while keeping the player on the roster.
To cancel a registration as part of your approval:
- In the decision panel, enable the Cancel Registration toggle.
- Enter your mandatory reason, then click Confirm.
On approval, the refund slice is processed and the registration is cancelled. The participant receives both a refund confirmation email and a registration cancellation email.
Tip: Club Administrators cannot expire memberships. Membership expiry is managed by Rugby Canada and Provincial Union administrators only.
Cancelling a registration independently of the refund decision (all tiers)
Any authorised administrator can cancel a participant's registration directly from the participant tab, regardless of whether a refund request is in progress. This is useful when you need to free up a roster spot before all refund slices have been decided.
Cancelling a registration via the participant tab does not affect any pending refund slices — each organisation still needs to act on their portion of the request.
Frequently asked questions
Who can review and action refund requests? Association and Club Administrators with access to the Admin Portal can review and decide on refund requests for their own organisation. Each administrator only sees requests where their organisation is a receiving party.
Do I need to wait for other organisations to decide before I can action a request? No. Each organisation in the approval chain acts independently and simultaneously. Your decision does not depend on — and does not affect — the timing of other organisations' decisions.
Can I approve a refund for a different amount than the participant requested? Yes, if the Refund Composer is enabled for your organisation. In the detail view, expand each line item in the Items section and edit the pre-populated refund amount before confirming your decision. The participant's originally requested amount is not retained separately; the canonical record is the amount actually approved.
What happens if I approve the refund but don't enable the Cancel Registration or Expire Membership toggle? The participant is refunded for your organisation's fee slice, but their registration remains active and their membership is unchanged. If this was an oversight, the registration or membership will need to be actioned separately via the participant tab or by revisiting the refund record.
What if the Expire Membership toggle is greyed out? The toggle is disabled because the participant has other active registrations that use the same membership. Cancel those registrations via the participant tab first, then return to the refund request to revisit the membership decision.
Can I add a note for other administrators without making a decision? Yes. Use the Internal Notes section in the refund request detail view to leave context or coordinate with other organisations. Notes are visible to all administrators in the approval chain but are not visible to the participant. Adding a note does not constitute a decision.
What happens if the participant submits a refund request for a registration that has already been cancelled? The request is still routed through the Admin Approval Flow normally. Each organisation still needs to review and decide on their fee slice.
Can a participant cancel an in-flight refund request? Currently, there is no in-product surface for a participant or administrator to cancel a pending refund request once submitted.
Is this feature available to all PlayHQ organisations? At this stage, the Refund Requests (Admin Approval Flow) feature is live for Rugby Canada organisations only. Multi-tenant availability is planned as part of the ongoing refunds initiative rollout.