Take the fee at booking and fill the diary with patients who have already decided

Deposit or full payment

Take full payment for short visits with a fixed price, such as a GP appointment or a physiotherapy session. The patient pays once and nothing is left to collect at reception.

Take a deposit where the final price depends on the consultation, where the session is long, or where the clinic wants a reflection period before treatment. The deposit secures the time, and the balance follows once the plan is agreed. In both cases the patient sees what happens to the money if plans change before they pay.

What consumer law expects of a deposit

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on unfair contract terms under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, updated in July 2026, sets the test. A term that makes a substantial prepayment entirely non-refundable regardless of the circumstances or the costs caused is more likely to be unfair.¹

A deposit may be kept in full if it works as a binding reservation and the trader makes clear at the earliest opportunity that a deposit is required and exactly when it would not be refunded. Those circumstances must be clear and narrow, and such a deposit will not normally be more than a small percentage of the price.¹

Keeping money is also more likely to be fair where the patient is at fault and the clinic keeps only what covers its unavoidable costs or lost profit from the slot.¹ Other countries word this differently, so check your own consumer rules and professional guidance before publishing terms.

Paying at booking and reminders work together

A BMJ Open meta-analysis of 21 randomised studies found that patients sent digital notifications were 23% more likely to attend clinic than those sent none, and that no-shows fell from 21% to 15%.²

A 2025 costing study of two Australian hospital physiotherapy clinics with non-attendance of 8% and 10% projected labour costs of up to A$114,827 a year for a single clinic.³ Those are public hospital labour costs, and a private clinic also loses the fee for the empty slot. The guide to reducing no-shows sets out the reminder schedule.

How a payment link works

A payment link is a secure checkout page for one booking, sent by WhatsApp, text or email. The patient pays by card or Apple Pay, and the booking is confirmed the moment the payment clears.

Links suit bookings that start in conversation. With wai Admin, the slot is held, the deposit link is drafted into the reply and the team approves it before it sends.⁵ Bookings made on the website take payment in the same three taps as the booking itself.⁴

The confirmation carries the cancellation terms, the receipt and one press to move the appointment, so a patient whose plans change moves the slot instead of missing it.⁴

Reconciliation in minutes

With payments in the clinic's own Stripe account, the clinic is the merchant of record and sees every payment in its own dashboard.⁴ Each payment belongs to one booking and one patient, so the end-of-day check is a match.

wai Checkout also posts a webhook when a booking is started, abandoned and paid, so the clinic's accounting or practice system knows the state of every booking without re-keying.⁴ There is no wai subscription or setup fee, and Stripe charges its published rate.

Where to start

Mark each service full payment or deposit, using the table below. Set the deposit to cover the cost of an empty slot.

Write the refund terms in one short paragraph with the notice period and the exceptions, and show it before payment and again in the confirmation. Measure no-shows, late cancellations, refunds issued and reconciliation time for a month before and after. The guide to taking payment at booking sets out what it gives the clinic.

Frequently asked questions