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Feature Request: Option for online booking not to block out time

Feature Request: Option for online booking not to block out time

We would like the option for an online appointment booking not to block out that time so other customers can book appointments for the same time.

Our situation is that we are a bike service company and we want customers to be able to book in their bikes for service by selecting from a list of available service items (we use these items in our POS / Square Invoices to charge the customer) so we know what they want done. The appointment time they book would purely be for the drop off of the bike with the scheduling of the work done inhouse. 

Currently when a customer makes a booking online, and selects multiple services the time allocated against those services is blocked out and not available for another customer to book.

 

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By the way, I tried setting the duration of the services to 0hrs 0mins but this removes the option for customers to book it online altogether. Having the time against the service does help so our staff and customers know roughly how long each service takes to perform

Square Community Moderator

Thanks for taking the time to share this feature request, @simonp!

 

You can get around the limitation of time being blocked out by adding more staff members to Square Appointments. As an appointment scheduling system, it automatically blocks times when you're already booked to avoid overbooking. A service also needs to have a minimum duration of five minutes in order to be bookable online.

 

By adding more staff, more booking slots would become available so multiple appointments can be booked at the same time. Just keep in mind that a subscription would be required for more than one team member. Learn more about appointments pricing here

To add more staff, head to your Appointments Dashboard > Staff > Add Employee.

 

Adjusting your service duration to 5 minutes would also free up some of your availability if you'd like to avoid subscribing. The service description would allow to let your customers know that the time listed for the appointment is only for the drop off, and what actual service duration would be like. 

 

 

 

 

Hi Arie, thank you for your reply and for the suggestion of a work around but this is still not feasible as we want our customers to be able to select from multiple services in one booking. With the work around, each service they choose will add 5mins to the total booking time. The suggestion of adding more staff is not feasible either as paying extra subscriptions for staff that don't exist is a waste of our resources.

 

I guess the feature request still stands for a "Service Booking" option to be made available that doesn't block out time but is for drop off or collection of goods only.

Square Community Moderator

I'm happy to pass on the feature request for a service booking option specifically for the drop off/ collection, without blocking out the timeframe for the actual services performed, @simonp

Thank you