By Monica Hayes, field-service payment operations analyst with 9 years of experience reviewing refunds, ACH returns, customer disputes, and invoice reconciliation
Last reviewed: July 21, 2026
FieldPulse Payments lets service businesses collect card and ACH payments, connect them to invoices, and track later refunds or disputes. A refund is initiated by the merchant, while a chargeback begins when a customer disputes a payment through the card issuer or bank.
This independent guide is not operated by or affiliated with FieldPulse.
Find the original invoice and payment first. Skip creating a negative invoice, deleting the payment, or asking the customer to pay again until the transaction status is confirmed.
What is FieldPulse Payments?
FieldPulse is field service management software that connects scheduling, jobs, estimates, invoices, customers, and payment activity. Its embedded payment service supports card, debit-card, ACH, and other available processing methods under the applicable merchant agreement.
The payment product can collect money in the field or through an online payment link. FieldPulse also describes centralized payment histories, transaction statuses, customer-record updates, and supported accounting integration.
One customer payment can later generate several connected records:
- Original invoice
- Payment transaction
- Processor deposit
- Refund
- Chargeback or dispute
- Accounting sync
- Customer balance adjustment
Those records should not be collapsed into one changing line.
A refund does not erase the original sale. A chargeback does not prove the contractor performed no work. Each event needs its own date, amount, reason, status, and supporting record.
Refund, void, or chargeback?
These terms describe different actions.
A refund returns all or part of a completed payment through the merchant’s FieldPulse payment workflow. A chargeback starts when the customer disputes the transaction through a financial institution. A void generally refers to stopping a transaction before final completion, but the available control depends on the processor and transaction state.
FieldPulse’s published refund workflow focuses on refunding an existing collected payment. Its chargeback documentation describes a separate bank-led process with inquiry, dispute, processing, and decision stages.
Do this first: open the payment record.
Skip using the words interchangeably when speaking with the customer or accounting team. “We issued a refund” means something materially different from “the customer opened a dispute.”
How to issue a FieldPulse refund
FieldPulse documents two refund paths.
The first begins inside the Invoice Record. Open the Payments tab, select the collected payment, and use the Refund button shown near the lower-left area of the payment-edit screen.
The second begins in the FP Payments area. Open the payment, select the green Refund button in the upper-right corner, then choose a refund reason and amount in the popup.
Verify these fields before confirming:
| Refund check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Customer | Prevents refunding a similar payment from another profile |
| Invoice | Confirms the commercial record |
| Original payment | Identifies the actual transaction |
| Amount | Distinguishes full and partial refunds |
| Reason | Creates usable operational history |
| Prior refunds | Prevents returning more than intended |
Search the customer’s payment history first. Skip refunding from memory when several invoices carry the same amount.
A duplicated $250 payment can look identical until the date, invoice, and payment method are compared.
How partial and repeated refunds appear
FieldPulse creates a separate refund line item beneath the relevant payment. If a payment receives several refunds, multiple refund line items appear, each marked with a red number in the payments section.
This is useful because one payment can be refunded in stages.
For example, a contractor may return a trip fee first and later refund a material charge after a supplier credit. Those should remain two separate refund events rather than one rewritten original payment.
Check the existing refund lines before issuing another amount.
Do not reduce the original payment manually to represent what remains. Preserve the collected amount, then let the refund records show what was returned.
FieldPulse also added refund visibility to invoice internal activity and reporting. Its changelog says refund events can show who processed the refund and the amount, while transaction reports can distinguish statuses such as paid, refunded, and partially refunded.
That audit trail should be reviewed when an employee says no refund was issued but the customer reports otherwise.
Marked payments can also be refunded
FieldPulse’s May 2025 update expanded refunds beyond payments processed through FieldPulse Payments. The company says marked payments, including cash, check, or other recorded forms, can also be refunded in the system.
The accounting meaning needs care.
Refunding a marked cash payment in FieldPulse records the business event, but the company must still return money through the appropriate real-world method. The software entry does not physically hand cash back or reverse an external check deposit.
Record and money movement are separate.
Do not mark a cash refund complete merely because the FieldPulse line item exists. Confirm that the customer actually received the agreed return and that accounting recorded the movement correctly.
This treatment may vary according to the company’s bookkeeping method and jurisdiction.
What happens during a chargeback
FieldPulse describes four chargeback stages.
An inquiry requests evidence while funds have not yet been removed. An unresolved case may become a formal dispute, at which point funds are pulled. The case then moves into processing while the issuing bank reviews the response, followed by a decision that may be won, partially won, or lost.
A provisional result can later change.
The inquiry stage matters most because the merchant can respond before the payment amount is removed. FieldPulse advises responding to every inquiry and warns that missing a dispute deadline results in an automatic loss.
Respond first. Skip waiting for the customer to call again.
A dispute is controlled by the financial institution’s process, not only by the FieldPulse invoice status.
Chargeback fees and deposit impact
FieldPulse’s current Payment Processing Agreement lists a $25 chargeback, ACH return, and dispute fee under its standard processing schedule. The agreement says custom merchant pricing controls when FieldPulse has provided a separate pricing arrangement.
The FieldPulse chargeback guide also says the fee is billed when the chargeback is created and applies whether the business wins or loses. When a case reaches the dispute phase, the chargeback amount and fee can reduce a next-business-day deposit; recovered funds may appear in a future deposit after a successful outcome.
Check the signed merchant agreement.
Skip treating a public fee table as the final amount for a business with custom processing terms. FieldPulse also reserves the right to change processing fees with notice through the billing summary.
Accounting should reconcile the original payment, withdrawn dispute amount, dispute fee, and any later recovery as separate events.
Evidence for a FieldPulse payment dispute
FieldPulse identifies several high-value evidence types for field-service chargebacks:
- Signed work order
- Before-and-after photos
- Dispatch or GPS records
- Customer texts and emails
Its reason-code guidance also lists signed estimates, itemized invoices, change-order approvals, completion forms, cancellation terms, warranty records, and proof of prior refunds where relevant.
Match the evidence to the claim.
A customer alleging an incorrect amount requires different support from someone claiming the service never happened.
| Customer claim | Useful records |
| Duplicate transaction | Separate invoices and work orders for distinct jobs |
| Incorrect amount | Signed estimate, final invoice, approved additions |
| Service not received | Completion form, photos, dispatch and GPS history |
| Refund not processed | Refund confirmation and customer communications |
| Subscription canceled | Agreement, billing terms, cancellation timing |
| Unrecognized merchant | Recognizable DBA, invoice, address, appointment history |
Do not submit a pile of unrelated files without explanation.
FieldPulse recommends a rebuttal letter connecting the evidence to the reason code because the reviewer does not know the business.
Why a recognizable billing descriptor matters
A customer may dispute a legitimate charge because the statement name does not match the contractor they remember.
FieldPulse specifically identifies “Unrecognized” as a dispute reason and recommends comparing the billing descriptor with the company’s DBA, then supplying the signed work order, invoice, service address, photos, dispatch history, and customer communications.
Use the name customers recognize where the processor setup permits it.
Skip assuming that the legal parent-company name is obvious to a homeowner who hired a differently branded service business.
The invoice, text messages, payment page, and statement descriptor should be as consistent as the applicable processing rules allow.
This small detail can prevent an avoidable dispute.
Refund before chargeback
A contractor should investigate a direct customer complaint promptly before it becomes a formal bank dispute.
FieldPulse’s prevention checklist recommends clear refund and cancellation terms, reachable customer communication, written approvals, signed records, and complete dispatch documentation.
When the customer is entitled to a refund, processing it through the documented payment workflow can create a cleaner record than waiting for a chargeback.
Do not issue both a refund and accept a dispute blindly.
That can create a double return if the refund and chargeback are processed independently. Check whether the dispute is still an inquiry, has become formal, or has already removed funds. Coordinate through FieldPulse support or the processor route shown in the account when the timing overlaps.
One payment. One controlled resolution.
Recurring payments and cancellation disputes
Recurring plans create another chargeback risk.
FieldPulse identifies Subscription canceled as a dispute category. Suggested evidence includes the signed maintenance or membership agreement, billing terms, cancellation policy, cancellation timing, service records for the billed period, and enrollment communication.
FieldPulse also added the ability to set an end date or a fixed number of occurrences for recurring billing.
Review those fields before activation.
Skip creating indefinite billing when the signed agreement ends after twelve months or a defined number of visits.
A customer’s cancellation request should be timestamped and connected to the relevant plan. The business should then follow its written policy and any applicable law.
Deposits and accounting records
FieldPulse’s June 2025 update says deposits collected on estimates are treated as liabilities in QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop until the project is completed and the final payment is received.
A refund of a deposit therefore needs more than a customer-facing payment update.
Review:
- Estimate deposit
- Payment record
- Refund line
- Invoice or project status
- QuickBooks treatment
- Remaining customer balance
Do not leave the project showing a deposit credit after the money was returned.
The exact bookkeeping treatment depends on the accounting setup. FieldPulse provides the integration behavior, but the business’s accounting professional should confirm how liabilities, income, fees, and refunded amounts are recorded.
Payment processing fees
FieldPulse’s standard Payment Processing Agreement currently lists a 3% card volume fee, 1% ACH volume fee, a $0.25 per-item transaction fee, a $0.25 card or ACH refund fee, a $25 chargeback or ACH-return fee, and other possible charges. Custom pricing replaces that schedule where provided.
These are merchant-side processing terms, not necessarily customer-facing prices.
Do not present them as universal FieldPulse subscription pricing. The payment agreement is separate from the broader software package and may be updated.
Confirm the billing summary and signed agreement before estimating the cost of a refund or dispute.
Getting FieldPulse payment support
FieldPulse’s refund documentation directs users to support@fieldpulse.com or in-product chat for additional questions. Its contact page lists customer support at (469) 382-5668, with phone availability Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time.
Before contacting support, note:
- Customer and invoice
- Original payment amount
- Transaction date
- Refund amount
- Existing refund lines
- Chargeback phase
- Reason code
- Response deadline
- Deposit affected
- Accounting-sync status
Do not send credentials, authentication codes, or full payment-account information in an unsolicited message.
Frequently asked questions
Can FieldPulse issue partial refunds?
Yes. The refund popup allows an amount to be selected.
Where is the refund button?
Open the invoice’s Payments tab and select the collected payment, or open the payment inside FP Payments.
Can cash or check payments be refunded in FieldPulse?
FieldPulse says marked payments can now have refund records, including cash, check, and other forms.
Is a refund the same as a chargeback?
No. The merchant initiates a refund; the customer initiates a chargeback through a financial institution.
How long should chargeback records be kept?
FieldPulse advises keeping supporting records for at least 180 days because it says a chargeback can be filed within that period.
What happens if a dispute deadline is missed?
FieldPulse says the case is lost automatically and the funds cannot be recovered through that dispute.
Does winning remove the chargeback fee?
No. FieldPulse says the $25 fee applies whether the merchant wins or loses, subject to the applicable processing agreement.
What should be checked before refunding a payment?
Confirm the customer, invoice, original transaction, prior refunds, amount, reason, dispute status, and accounting record.
