Appointments - service based on location and user provided info

[and_breathe]

I want customers to be able to self book appointments for me to visit their home, however i'd like to automate/filter a couple of things, but i'm not sure if it's possible to do currently?.

1. I want customers to be able to enter their POSTCODE, and if the first 3 characters match my service zone ie NE1. If match is true, I want them to be able to select appointment+options and booking slot. If false - i want them to fill in a form for a custom visit or lead to perhaps another service. The reason for this is I want to try and keep my service area small, but perhaps have certain days where I travel further...

2. For either of the above services and some of my other services, I want customers after making the initial booking slot to then complete a form to declare they can obtain and supply information ready for my visit. Would that be possible?

You see, If some information is difficult to receive from the client - I may want to charge more to help them. Even better, I'm not sure if there is a checklist that client can keep referring to within their booking and during the time leading up to their appointment they have to have all ticked otherwise the appointment needs to be postponed would be amazing.

I'm sure I can cope within the basic account, and ideally need to keep this simple until the business is up and running, so also don't want to complicate too much or cost more. So just need to know what I can easily do.

many thanks 

[Twiggy]

I’m not sure what you requesting is possible, Square only offers England Ireland Scotland & Wales  You might need to create a form in online - we have similar issues - we work all over the UK and there are extra charges like Ulez CC bridge charges etc depending on their postcode - we also charge an hourly rate on top of travel and goods costs for which we suggest you call about.  I would to keep things simple if you are starting out and want a “free” service.  You will need to upgrade if you want your calendar to sync across google etc  which will avoid double bookings.  Have a bit of blurb to say call/ DM or email for this service if you are outside your service area - especially as you are starting out.

[Sineaid · Accepted solution]

Hi @and_breathe! Welcome to the community!

Just to add to what’s already been mentioned - Thanks @Twiggy!

While there's no way to automatically filter clients by postcode, you can choose the option, "Business must accept or decline all appointment requests''. This way, every online booking requires acceptance, to ensure no appointments outside of your service area are actually booked.

You can also add a custom field for address information to your booking flow, from: Appointments > Settings > Calendar & Booking > Customer Profile Fields.

With regards to adding a digital form to your bookings, you can choose to either automate this once a new appointment is booked, or manually send a Form from your Contracts Dashboard. You can learn more about the options available for digital forms and contracts here.

[and_breathe]

Hi, I’m Matt. I’m just starting out with  Square for a property surveys business, but I’ve a few basics questions and I just want to speak with a human! as can’t find an answer. 

I posted in the seller community earlier this week and got a

helpful answer which was good, but now square want me to jump through hoops and join this that and submit feature requests, etc etc and I don’t seem to be able to just ask another question. Why is this necessary?

im neurodivergent and I just don’t have the capacity to work all these puzzles out, just to use a service, but to do that I have to make sure it’s setup as I wants, and if its too hard I’ll just abort. This can’t be right for mental health or success. 

can anyone offer any guidance of best way to get support? It’s basically things like on Appointments, can client who self book online choose a property address for me to survey, and will that then offer a different address the receipt / invoice is populated with. Also if say I have someone who uses me for serveral properties, can they do that? I don’t want to turn the directory on just yet. 

[and_breathe]

And why would I want to join beta testing, I can’t even use stable yet. Again I can’t seem progress until I do, and that’s giving me great anxiety.  

[Lou8]

Hi @and_breathe, thanks for posting - I apologise for the delayed response.

I understand it can feel a bit overwhelming to get asked to file feature requests or join Beta when you're only getting started with Square and still learning about what we offer. I'm sorry you felt that way, and I can assure you this was not the intended outcome.

We're always working on improving our products, and feature requests are a way for our Product team to better understand what our sellers need. Some of our sellers also enjoy testing new features and sharing their feedback with the Beta Community. You have no obligation to get involved, but know you'll always have the possibility to join if you feel ready 🙂.

If you have any questions about a particular feature, you can post directly on the Community, or contact our Support Team through these different mediums:

• phone (at 0800 098 8008, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)
• email
• social media (Facebook, Twitter and X)

Since this query is related to your previous one, I've merged your two posts to keep them in context. 

If you've set your Appointments settings to take place at the customer's location, they'll be prompted to add their preferred address at checkout. However, they won't be prompted to enter a different billing address. 

If a customer wishes to use your services for multiple properties (addresses), they can simply enter a different address under the location section when booking a new appointment.

Also, note that when a new customer book an appointment with you, they'll automatically be added to your Customer Directory. You'll find more information here.

I hope this answer your questions !