Card on File + No-show Protection + Appointments - how do they work together?

[HollyA]

Hi im in the salon & spa industry & we deal with no-shows quite often & currently use square invoice to collect no-show fees. however clients can choose not to pay so its really not the best way to protect your business against no-shows. I am interested in the Card on File feature but i am wondering about gratuity and no-show protection 

The title of this post has been edited from the original: "Card on file" for no-show protection?

[#2]

Hi there @helenabrooke78 and @RMConsultingLLC 👋 Thanks for reaching out to us here on the Seller Community. I consulted with our Appointments Team to help answer your questions. Here's the information they've provided me:
 

With Square Appointments, your client has the option to add a Card on File for future appointments, as well as providing their card information for No-Show Protection. While these options are similar, it’s important to understand the differences between the two.

Card on File: This is an optional selection that your client can make when booking an appointment that will allow them to save their card for future purchases. Card on File saves the card to the customer’s profile in your Customer Directory and allows you to charge it whenever you want. This is always optional to the customer and they can unlink their card at any time.

No-Show Protection: This requires clients to provide the card information to book appointments so that you can determine whether or not to charge them based on your cancellation policy. Card information provided through No-Show Protection can only be used for cancellations up to 14 days after the appointment and isn’t applicable on separate purchases or appointments.

A client can not remove the card from No-Show Protection, but they can, however, remove their Card on File from the Customer Directory.

For more information on No-Show Protection, please visit this section of our Support Center.

I hope this information is helpful but please do let us know if you have any additional questions.
 

[Tom · Accepted solution]

Hey @HollyA, thanks for bringing this up!

My best suggestion for no-shows is to go with Square Appointments and set up a cancellation policy. When you create your cancellation policy, you can require that a credit card be used to book online and set the expectation that your customer will be charged a cancelation fee if they do not show up.

Check out our Support Center for specifics, and let us know if you have any other questions! Hope this helps. 🙂

[Valentina · Accepted solution]

I wanted to drop into this thread to clarify a bit more! ✨ 

No-show Protection and Card on File are different features. A client does have the option to remove a Card on Fiile for future purchases, which is typically done when the appointment is booked and they select the Card on Fiile opt-in check box. However, a card cannot be removed from an appointment, as it is saved to that specific appointment for no-show protection.

We store the information we need to charge the card for a no-show fee with the appointment details, not a direct reference to the Card on File, exactly for this reason. Even if a client unlinks a card, we still have the information on hand in order for you to charge a no-show fee to that card if necessary.

You may think that your client unlinked their no-show card because you are unable to charge the no-show fee. What is most likely happening here is that you have selected Fee for each service within the Cancellation Fee settings section, and never assigned a cancellation fee to the particular service being booked. In this case, the booking system will not ask for a credit card:

[_Violet · Accepted solution]

Hi there @helenabrooke78 and @RMConsultingLLC 👋 Thanks for reaching out to us here on the Seller Community. I consulted with our Appointments Team to help answer your questions. Here's the information they've provided me:
 

With Square Appointments, your client has the option to add a Card on File for future appointments, as well as providing their card information for No-Show Protection. While these options are similar, it’s important to understand the differences between the two.

Card on File: This is an optional selection that your client can make when booking an appointment that will allow them to save their card for future purchases. Card on File saves the card to the customer’s profile in your Customer Directory and allows you to charge it whenever you want. This is always optional to the customer and they can unlink their card at any time.

No-Show Protection: This requires clients to provide the card information to book appointments so that you can determine whether or not to charge them based on your cancellation policy. Card information provided through No-Show Protection can only be used for cancellations up to 14 days after the appointment and isn’t applicable on separate purchases or appointments.

A client can not remove the card from No-Show Protection, but they can, however, remove their Card on File from the Customer Directory.

For more information on No-Show Protection, please visit this section of our Support Center.

I hope this information is helpful but please do let us know if you have any additional questions.
 

[Mikedtattoos]

When I customer cancels last minute and I try to charge them a cancellation fee I keep getting a message that the card was declined and to contact to customer to update their card info. This happens almost every time lately. How can I verify the card on file is good when they’re booking?

[Valentina]

If you have a lot of clients who are using bad cards when booking their appointments, you may want to consider requiring prepayment for your appointments. I hope this helps, @Mikedtattoos - let me know if any questions come up!

P.S. Welcome to the Seller Community ✨

[Valentina · Accepted solution]

I wanted to drop into this thread to clarify a bit more! ✨ 

No-show Protection and Card on File are different features. A client does have the option to remove a Card on Fiile for future purchases, which is typically done when the appointment is booked and they select the Card on Fiile opt-in check box. However, a card cannot be removed from an appointment, as it is saved to that specific appointment for no-show protection.

We store the information we need to charge the card for a no-show fee with the appointment details, not a direct reference to the Card on File, exactly for this reason. Even if a client unlinks a card, we still have the information on hand in order for you to charge a no-show fee to that card if necessary.

You may think that your client unlinked their no-show card because you are unable to charge the no-show fee. What is most likely happening here is that you have selected Fee for each service within the Cancellation Fee settings section, and never assigned a cancellation fee to the particular service being booked. In this case, the booking system will not ask for a credit card:

[RADBeauty]

We really need separate cancelation and no-show fees. I end up losing out on my late fees because the individual fees listed for each service are 100% no-show pricing. Then here and there when I get a late cancelation which is 50% of the service price I cannot charge it!! Twice today I have lost out on income because they canceled just before their appt and didn't no-show so I don't get paid.

[RADBeauty]

I have no show protection setup up and the fee is there yet multiple times I have encountered the error message "something went wrong. Customers card could not be charged". What is going on here??

[RADBeauty]

The error will specifically say " A $125.00 fee will be charge and the client will be notified". So the able does not help. My cancellation fees are all set up. But I sometimes still get the message "something went wrong. Customers card could not be charged" I have tried to mark this client a no-show and charge the card twice a day since tuesday and using different devices and still keep getting the error message. 

[Valentina]

Have you tried taking a closer look at your settings, @RADBeauty?

This Best Answer should help guide you in the right direction.
If you still need a hand, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Appointments team by phone.

[RADBeauty]

Yes Ive looked. You can only charge 1 fee. So for example. My no-show fee is not the same as my last minute cancellation fee. My clients service total should be $200 so my no-show fee is $200 because I charge 100% for no call, no-shows. I have the option to charge this. However, my late cancellation fee is 50% so if this client calls 5 minutes before her appointment she is not technically a no-show and I'm not charging the full 100% but there is no option to charge only 50%. So Ive been losing money because I don't want to charge a late cancellation at 100%. This happened 3 times in the same day. 

[Valentina]

It sounds like you would like to be able to set up multiple types of fees related to your appointments, while there is currently only one fee you can charge your clients: a cancellation fee. This fee can be charged as either a flat fee per appointment - or a fee per service, decided by you and set on the individual service level.

It sounds like you have chosen to charge a 100% fee when clients cancel, but would like to see additional fee options to the Appointments No-Show Protection structure (such as a late fee of 50% on top of service). If this is what you are asking, this would be considered a feature request at this time, @RADBeauty. An alternate option that you may want to consider in the meantime is requiring prepayment. Please let me know if I've misunderstood your request!

In regards to the error message - if everything is set up properly, and you are seeing an error message, our Appointments team would be able to take a closer look than we're able to. Have you called our team to ask them to look into this error yet?

[jennelevate77]

Having multiple options would be amazing for teams that have variable prices for the same services. We too charge 50% for any rescheduled or canceled appointment after 48 hours prior to their appointment and 100% for no-shows. I'm also wondering if we can create variations of the same service under the stylist's name for a different fee. We currently use the modifiers. We would still really like to have multiple fee options though. 

[sheerfaces]

Ok. So I just changed the option to “Flat fee per appointment,” today. I had a “person” do a no-show. 

Of course when I went to charge it was declined. I’m not sure if it was because there was not enough money in the “person’s” account, or because I had the box checked for “Flat fee for each service.” 

Will my changing the option to flat fee for the appointment, fix this? Or do I need to start asking new persons for a deposit (can I even filter out clients to do this)? 

Thank you. 

I have blocked the client and sent a message stating they can no longer book…it will be refused immediately. 

[LOCosophy]

Hi Valentina,

I think we are all aware of how to set up a no-show or a cancellation fee. The problem is that clients have discovered a workaround. They will either remove the funds after the card is initially approved OR they are using third-party debit cards like Cash App without a balance. So, when we attempt to charge the fee, the charge is being declined. So, what is the point of even having this feature? Our best bet is to charge an upfront deposit which is non-refundable to avoid this. Or look into Square competitors that understand how much service-based businesses lose from 1 no-show/late cancellation. 

[sheerfaces]

I agree! I don’t want to stop using Square but I had this happen once and the response from Square was not reassuring for me! 

I have decided to look at other options because of their response. I will either have to request a deposit or sign up with another company that does not allow prepaid cards, or CashApp, for a booking. 

If a person uses a workaround to get out of paying me then this is not the type of client I want on a regular basis. It signals they cannot afford certain services currently. 

[Ria]

Hi @sheerfaces - Welcome to The Seller Community, it's always nice to see a new face 😊

I can totally see the need for a feature like this and how beneficial it could be for service providers. I'll be happy to move this over to a feature request board so that our engineers have visibility of your suggestion. We appreciate you sharing your request. While there is no time frame for when it will be implemented, i'm happy to make sure our engineers have eyes on your request. 

As always, feel free to stop by The Community with question, concerns and even feature requests. We are more than happy to assist. ✨

[jennelevate77]

Yes, please. This would be a total game changer and make Square a major competitor in the beauty industry which is targeted to grow into the billions in the next 7 years!!!

[jennelevate77]

Hello, We have multiple service providers with variable rates on the same services. We charge a percentage for cancellations (50%) and no-show (100%). This means that we are still unable to collect a fee because there is no option for a percentage. Only a flat-based dollar amount. I'd like to request this as an option in the price and duration box for the cancellation fee. Is this possible?

[Shereadynail]

I dont get it...so if you have no show protection or pre-payment but the customer can still choose rather or not to add their car... how is that helping us? Because i charge a no show fee... now that option is basically taken away from us

[Valentina]

I went ahead and moved your post to this thread so you can see @Tom's explanation of how to set up a Cancellation Policy, @Shereadynail. Another great suggestion was made by @Kelly in this thread - if you'd prefer to have your customers pre-pay, you can avoid needing to charge no-show fees altogether!

[wpearson]

How do we stop clients from removing their credit card from a booking. I need this for no show protection. I have had several clients book with me, remove their cards, and then no show! Very frustrating!

[AshleyK]

Hi @wpearson!

The customers are not technically removing their credit card from booking. During the booking process there are 2 boxes they can check - a required one which holds that card to that booking for up to 14 days to be attempted to be charged in case of cancellation.That does not always pan out because we can only test/charge the card for 1 dollar and a lot of the time the bank declines the attempt. That drops the card from that appointment, hence removing your ability to charge for no-show.

The second box is to hold the card to their profile and that is an option for the customer. By law they do not have to add that. Also, if you book through google reserve then it will not even ask for a card due to Google limitations.

I recommend considering using the prepaid option so you can get your funds upfront.

[HCSalon]

With Square Appointments, you can enable "Booking with No-Show Protection" which requires client's to provide a Credit Card at time of booking, should a Cancellation Fee be required.

When the client books online, at page "Reserve your appointment with a card" they are given 2 checkboxes:

1. (non-mandatory) I authorize (Business) to store this card for future purchases until I cancel this authorization.

2. (mandatory) I have read and agree to the cancellation policy of (Business) and Square's privacy policy.

Question: Can the option/checkbox to "...store this card for future purchases..." be removed? I do not want my client's cards stored or purchases charged to their card, EXCEPT for if a Cancellation Fee must be applied.