Customer Cancel & No-Show Policy

Configure Customer Cancellation & No-Show Policy

Set rules for customer cancellations and no-shows, and define how drivers or suppliers are compensated when a ride is canceled late or when a customer doesn’t show up.

GoodJourney.io supports separate configurations for Reservation, On-Demand, and No-Show penalties. When customers attempt to cancel the booking we will also show them a message if a cancellation penalty fee is applied.

Understanding How Penalties Are Charged

Online Payments

The system automatically charges or captures the penalty amount from the customer’s saved payment method.

Offline Payments

The penalty is added to the customer’s outstanding balance.
You can also set:

• Outstanding balance warnings
• Booking restrictions if the customer exceeds the threshold (e.g., must clear balance before future bookings)

How to Create a Customer Penalty Policy

1. Navigate to Settings → Customer Penalty Policy → Add.
2. Enter the policy name.
3. Configure the rules under each tab.

Reservation Tab

Free Cancellation Buffer

How long the customer can cancel for free after booking (e.g., 10 minutes).

Included Fields

Choose whether to include:

• Tax
• Tech fee

Cancel Duration Tiers (Before Pickup Time)

Create tiers based on how far in advance a customer cancels.

Example tier setup:

• More than 3 hours before pickup: No penalty
• 1–3 hours before pickup: 30% of fare or fixed $15
• Within 1 hour of pickup: 100% penalty

You can choose:

• Fixed amount
• Percentage of total fare

Driver/Supplier Compensation

For each tier, choose how the driver or supplier is compensated:

• % of customer penalty
• % of supplier payout
• Fixed amount

On-Demand Tab

Free Cancellation Buffer

Typical example: 5 minutes after booking.

Included Fields

Select whether tax or tech fee applies.

Penalty Type

Choose:

• Fixed amount
• Percentage

Driver/Supplier Compensation

Set compensation by:

• % of customer penalty
• % of driver payout
• Fixed amount

Example:

• Customer pays a $5 penalty
• Driver receives $3 (fixed amount)

No-Show Tab

Included Fields

Choose if tax or tech fee should be included in the penalty.

Penalty Type

Set as:

• Fixed amount
• Percentage

Driver/Supplier Compensation

Compensation choices:

• % of customer penalty
• % of driver payout
• Fixed amount

Example:

• No-show penalty = full fare
• Driver compensation = 50% of supplier payout

Setup No-Show Free Wait Time Policy

Navigate to Settings > General > No-Show Section

• Configure how long drivers must wait at the pickup point before they are allowed to mark a job as a no-show. 
• You can set different free wait times per area and define a radius to ensure drivers are physically near the pickup location before using the no-show action. 
• These controls help prevent misuse and keep the policy fair for both customers and drivers.

Recommended Best Practices

1. Keep buffers simple

• Reservations: 10–15 minutes free cancellation is standard.
• On-Demand: 3–5 minutes is widely used across ride-hailing platforms.

2. Use time-based tiers for reservations

Common structure:

• 24+ hours: No penalty
• 3–24 hours: Small fixed fee or 20–30%
• <3 hours: 50–100%

3. Always compensate drivers fairly

Ensure drivers receive a portion of the penalty, especially for:

• Late cancellations
• No-shows

This improves driver satisfaction and acceptance rates.

4. Warn customers about outstanding balances

Use the offline payment threshold to prevent abuse from frequent cancellers.

5. Keep policies transparent

Display cancellation rules to customers during booking to avoid disputes.

Linking Cancellation Policies to Rates

You can manage cancellation rules at two levels:

1. Default Policy
   A system-wide cancellation policy that automatically applies to all rates.
2. Rate-Specific Policy
   Within a rate, navigate to penalty tab. Assign a custom cancellation policy to each rate if you need more granular control—for example, different rules for corporate clients, VIP tiers, or special pricing structures.

This allows you to maintain a simple global setup while still having flexibility for unique agreements or advanced corporate pricing.