Heyllave has four distinct reversal operations for a work order. Picking the right one is most of the job: each requires a different starting status, produces a different accounting document, and leaves the order in a different state.
The first thing to establish is whether you have already invoiced. That one question decides half the path.
Choosing the operation
Has the order been invoiced?The four operations, in one table
| Operation | Starting status | Document produced | Inventory | Final status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | Completed and not invoiced | None — nothing had been billed | Parts go back | Returned |
| Full refund | Invoiced | An issued, unpaid invoice is voided. In any other case → credit note, plus the cash refund when the invoice has payments | Restockable lines go back | Refunded |
| Partial refund | Invoiced or partially refunded | Credit note per line | Restockable lines go back | Partially refunded |
| Amend | Invoiced | The original is reversed first (voided if issued and unpaid; otherwise a full credit note) | Unchanged | Amended, with lines editable again |
All four are recorded in the order’s reversal history, newest first. Before recording anything, open that history: it is how you check it was not already done.
What each reversal requires
A reason, always. None of the four is recorded without one. Write the agreement, not the feeling: “2 of 4 spark plugs returned, agreed with the customer on 7 November”.
An idempotency key — on return and refund. Amend does not ask for one; the other two do, and it is what prevents a double record. If the same operation is retried with the same key, Heyllave returns the order without refunding again. So when a screen seems unresponsive, do not blindly press the button again: open the reversal history and check whether it already landed.
An order’s path, and where it exits
The order has one main route and several exits. States marked final do not continue.
Returned, Refunded and Closed are final: the order does not continue from
there. Amended and Partially refunded stay open, and an amended order is
billed again with Re-invoice.
Case 1 · The customer receives only part of the order
Example: the order has four units; the customer receives three and one stays outstanding.
- Open the order and confirm the agreed lines and quantities.
- Keep the order open while you agree whether to send the outstanding unit or cancel it. Do not complete a job with an outstanding delivery.
- Record, in an internal note, the quantity agreed, sent, received, outstanding or rejected; the date; the reason; and who owns the next step.
- Keep the physical count in whatever delivery record your team uses.
The order does not record dispatched and received quantities per line, and does not produce a delivery note. Work-order backorders cover parts your team needs in order to work; they do not represent the outstanding balance of a delivery to a customer.
If the customer cancels the outstanding unit, do not record an inventory return as though that unit physically came back.
Case 2 · The customer returns everything before you invoice
- Open the completed order and go to Payments.
- Select Record return and give the reason.
- Check the final status and the inventory movements. Lines configured as restockable go back into stock.
No accounting document is created, because nothing had been billed. It requires refund permission. The screen returns the whole order: it does not let you pick a line or a partial quantity.
Case 3 · The customer paid and wants their money back
The date of the request does not by itself decide whether to approve it. Confirm what was agreed first.
- Open the order and review Payments, the invoice and the reversal history. Check it was not recorded before.
- If a full return was approved, select Refund, write the reason and confirm.
- Go back to Payments and confirm the invoice balance and the new history entry.
- Verify the actual movement of money separately with the payment method used. Heyllave’s record does not on its own confirm a bank transfer or a gateway movement.
Which document comes out depends on the invoice’s state, not on your choice: an issued and unpaid invoice is voided; in any other state a credit note is issued and, when the invoice has payments, the refunded cash is recorded too.
Case 4 · The invoice was wrong
This is not a refund, it is a correction. Use Amend.
The original invoice is reversed first — voided if issued and unpaid, otherwise
a full credit note — precisely so the customer is never billed twice. The
order moves to Amended and its lines become editable again. Correct them, then
use Re-invoice to issue the right invoice.
Use it when a wrong quantity or price was invoiced. Do not use it when the work was fine and you are only returning money.
Case 5 · The customer asks for a replacement
Example: they paid for four parts, one arrived damaged, and the agreement is to replace that part rather than refund the purchase.
Heyllave has no exchange action that deducts the returned item and creates its replacement in one step. You do it with two orders:
- Record the claim and the agreement on the original order.
- Create a separate order describing only the part and the replacement work.
- If Relationships is enabled, relate the new order to the original and explain which part it replaces.
- Before completing the new one, confirm whether automatic invoicing on completion is active in your workspace: if it is, completing the order can issue an invoice on its own.
- Confirm on both orders who covers the cost and what happened to the damaged part. A warranty replacement must not produce a duplicate charge.
Do not confuse these flows
| Situation | Use | Do not use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer parts arrived than you purchased | Receive supplier deliveries | Counting items your customer received |
| Parts are missing to carry out an order | Work-order backorders | Recording a partial delivery to a customer |
| You send a faulty part back to the supplier | RMA, with its own setting and core-charge / restocking-fee tracking | A customer return or refund |
| The customer returns everything before invoicing | Payments → Record return | Returning a single line or quantity |
| The customer wants their money back | Payments → Refund (full) | Correcting a wrongly issued invoice |
| The invoice went out with an error | Amend, then Re-invoice | Refunding work that was fine |
RMA is a separate flow and arrives disabled: returning a part to a supplier is not returning stock to your own inventory.
What to verify in a trial
- A return on an uninvoiced order produces no accounting document.
- A refund on an issued, unpaid invoice voids it; on a paid invoice it issues a credit note.
- Only restockable lines go back to inventory; check the stock movement, not just the order’s status.
- Repeating the same operation does not duplicate the refund.
- An amended order accepts edits and requires re-invoicing before you can collect again.
If something doesn’t work
Updating an order, refunding and creating a credit note are separate permissions, across two different modules. If the operation is refused, the likeliest cause is the starting status: a return needs a completed, uninvoiced order, while a refund and an amend need an invoiced order with an invoice attached. If a return does not leave the balance you expected, check which step it stopped at — receiving, recording the supplier bill and marking the payment are separate actions, each leaving its own trace. And before retrying, open the reversal history: it may already be done.
For module settings, permissions and the general flow, see Work orders, Invoices and payments and Repair shops and workshops.