---
title: Declined Lines on the Invoice
description: See how a declined estimate item appears on the invoice, marked DECLINED with the customer's reason, and why it is left out of the total.
---
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1. [MetaFleet Answer Hub](https://support.metafleet.ai/?hsLang=en)
2. [Estimates & Approvals](https://support.metafleet.ai/estimates-approvals?hsLang=en)
3. [Invoices](https://support.metafleet.ai/estimates-approvals?hsLang=en#invoices)
# Declined Lines on the Invoice
## When a customer declines an item on the estimate, the item stays on the invoice marked DECLINED at $0.00, so the customer pays only for the work they approved.
**For:** Dispatchers and managers · **Permission:** See service orders · **Time:** ~3 minutes
### Quick summary
1. The customer approves or declines each item on the estimate. A decline needs a reason.
2. When the job is finished, open the order's **Invoice** tab.
3. Each declined item shows a **DECLINED** badge, the reason and **$0.00 (not charged)**.
4. The invoice total counts only the approved items.
### Before you start
- The estimate must have been sent to the customer. An estimate at or below the customer's auto-approval threshold is approved without the customer seeing it, so nothing can be declined. See [Auto-Approval Threshold](https://support.metafleet.ai/auto-approval-threshold?hsLang=en).
### How a line gets declined
The customer opens the estimate from the email link or from **Service Orders** in their portal. Each item has **Approve** and **Decline** buttons. When the customer picks **Decline**, a box asks **Why are you declining this item?** The customer has to fill it in. See [Approve or Decline an Estimate](https://support.metafleet.ai/approve-or-decline-an-estimate?hsLang=en).
*The customer declines one item with a reason and approves the other.*
The customer types their name and email, then clicks **Send my decision**. After that, the portal lists the approved and declined items, with the reason under each declined one. It also tells the customer that a declined item shows on the invoice as declined and isn't billed.
The technician sees the declined item as **Customer declined** and works on the approved items.
### See the declined line on the invoice
Open the service order and click the **Invoice** tab. Under **Work Items**, the declined item is shown for the record:
- A red **DECLINED** badge.
- The item name, struck through.
- **Reason:** and the customer's own words.
- **$0.00 (not charged)** on the right.
*The declined line sits next to the approved work, billed at nothing.*
### Check the total
Scroll to **Invoice Summary**. **Subtotal (labor & parts)** adds up the approved items only. Shop supplies and taxes are worked out from the approved items' parts and labor, so a declined item never adds to them. When a job is declined, the order's labor is rounded up once to your shop's rounding step, and the approved jobs share that total. See [Choose How Labor Is Rounded](https://support.metafleet.ai/choose-how-labor-is-rounded?hsLang=en).
> **Declined work is never billed.** The $0.00 line is there so the invoice is clear about what was and wasn't done. The customer is charged only for the approved items.
### Why it works this way
- **Transparency:** the shop sees which items the customer declined next to the approved work.
- **A record with reasons:** the decline reason travels onto the invoice.
- **No accidental charges:** declined lines can't slip into the total.
### Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| I don't see a declined line on the invoice | Nothing was declined, or the estimate auto-approved because it was at or below the threshold | Declined lines appear only if the customer chose **Decline** on at least one item and sent the decision. |
| A line is on the invoice with a price | The customer approved it, or it was never declined | Check the customer's decision on the estimate. Only items set to **Decline** drop to $0.00. |
| The customer wants the declined work after all | They changed their mind | Add the work as a new item on the order's **Estimate** tab and send it for approval again. See [Build and Send an Estimate on a Service Order](https://support.metafleet.ai/build-and-send-an-estimate?hsLang=en). |
| The customer never got the estimate to decide on | No contact on the order can receive it | Under **Members & Contacts**, add a contact who has an email address and a role that is allowed to approve estimates. |
### FAQs
**Does the customer pay for declined lines?**
No. They show at $0.00 and are left out of the total, the shop supplies and the taxes.
**Why show them at all?**
So the invoice is clear about what was declined and why.
**Can I remove a declined line from the invoice?**
No. It stays for the record. If the customer wants the work later, add it as a new item and send it for approval again.
**Does the customer see the reason they gave?**
Yes. The customer sees the reason under the declined item on their decision summary. The shop sees it on the declined line on the **Invoice** tab.
### Related articles
- [Approve or Decline an Estimate](https://support.metafleet.ai/approve-or-decline-an-estimate?hsLang=en)
- [Build and Send an Estimate on a Service Order](https://support.metafleet.ai/build-and-send-an-estimate?hsLang=en)
- [Approve and Send an Invoice](https://support.metafleet.ai/approve-and-send-an-invoice?hsLang=en)
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