How a customer joins
When a day has no time left for the service a customer wants, your booking page offers "Join the waiting list". Joining costs nothing. The customer chooses the barber they want, or Any barber, and a last day: the list covers the days from the first day to the last, up to 7 days in all. Only days with no free time can be chosen. It then asks for a name, an email address and, if they want, a phone number. It asks for no payment details. The form also has a box to get offers by WhatsApp. Offers do not go out by WhatsApp yet, so an offer still goes by text message or email.
You can also add someone yourself from the waiting list in the Calendar, with an email address or a phone number, and remove them or book them from the list.
The waiting list is part of Booking, so every option has it. Each location has a switch, "Waiting list on full days", under Online, Booking page. It is on by default.
How offers go out
The list works first come, first offered.
- When a time opens up, it goes to the first person whose days include that day, whose service fits it and who asked for that barber or for Any barber.
- They have 30 minutes to take it. An offer never runs later than an hour before the time starts, and a time that starts within the hour is not offered.
- If they say "No thanks" or the 30 minutes pass, they keep their place on the list and the time goes to the next person.
An offer goes by text message when the person gave a phone number and text messages are on, and by email otherwise. It never goes by both. Texts are counted with your other texts. An offer keeps to the quiet hours of your country, so a time that opens up at night is offered in the morning if it is still available.
Taking an offer is an ordinary booking. It follows the same rule as any booking for what the customer pays when booking.
While an offer is held
The offered time is not shown to anyone else on the booking page. You can still book over it in the Calendar, where it shows as offered with the person's name and the time it runs until. If you do, the offer books nothing, so a time is never booked twice.
Every message from the list carries a "Leave the list" link. It opens a page with one button, so an email scanner that opens links cannot take someone off the list by accident.
How long the details are kept
An entry and its offers are deleted 3 days after the last day of its range. When the person leaves the list, is removed or books, they are deleted the next day.