Cancelling or returning a purchase does more than remove a line from an order. This article explains what Rhythm does after staff submit a cancellation or return, what happens if one step fails, and when Rhythm makes a coupon code available again.
What a Cancellation or Return Does
When staff submit a cancellation or return, Rhythm processes it as one action. Your Rhythm account may use one of two behind-the-scenes methods, but staff see the same result and the customer receives the same outcome either way.
After Rhythm records the cancellation or return, three more things happen:
- Coupon codes may be released. See When a Coupon Code Is Released below.
- Other parts of Rhythm are told to undo their own part of the purchase. For example, entitlements from the order line are reduced or removed; see How Entitlements Are Reduced, Removed, or Expire.
- The customer is emailed a cancellation or return confirmation.
If Something Fails Partway Through
A cancellation or return either finishes successfully or reports that it failed. Rhythm does not leave the request open indefinitely. If Rhythm cannot save the cancellation or return, it rolls back anything already written for that request, so the order stays as it was instead of ending up half-cancelled.
Rhythm tries to release the coupon use before it notifies other parts of Rhythm and sends the customer email. If the coupon release fails, Rhythm does not send that notice or the email. If the coupon release succeeds, Rhythm sends the notice and email at the same time, and it does not automatically retry either one if it fails. If staff see a failure after the cancellation or return was already recorded, the whole action did not necessarily fail; one of the follow-up steps may not have finished. If you see an error after cancelling or returning something, check whether Rhythm recorded the cancellation or return before you assume nothing happened.
When a Coupon Code Is Released
A limited-use coupon code becomes usable again after every line it discounted has been fully cancelled. A partial cancellation of a discounted line releases the code once nothing that code discounted remains active on the order. This rule also applies to group registrations: cancelling one registrant out of a group leaves the coupon's use in place while the discount still applies to the registrants who remain on the order. That retained use stays visible on both the order and the coupon code's own record.
Warning
Returns never release a coupon's use. If a coupon was used on an order and that order is later returned rather than cancelled, the coupon's use stays counted, even though the purchase itself was undone.
Voiding or deleting an order is different from cancelling it, and it does not release a coupon's use the same way. If you need to free up a coupon's use, cancel the order, registration, or application record it came from instead of voiding or deleting it.
An order-wide coupon discounts the whole order instead of specific lines. Rhythm does not release it while any fee line keeps the order partly active, such as a cancellation or restocking fee.
Tip
Releasing a coupon's use frees it up for reuse elsewhere. It does not remove the coupon from the order where it was applied. The coupon stays on the order record as historical data even after that order is refunded or cancelled, and there is no way to remove it from the order.
Cancellations and Returns Stay Within Your Account
Rhythm always confirms that a cancellation or return request belongs to your own account before it processes, reads, or changes the request. Rhythm refuses any request for another account's order.