Calendar Query

[JoG1]

I have a much more detailed query about the Calendar.

Since COVID my service business (and many others probably) has moved online and I have acquired international clients but a) the calendar only shows bookings in Australian time zones, and b) will only take Australian mobile phone numbers which means that foreign clients can't book appointments with me unless they put in a bogus phone number (most give up at this point). Then if they do put in a bogus number they don't get a text reminder prior to the appointment (only an email reminder comes to them). I would greatly appreciate if anyone has any ideas about this or whether the developers would ever consider adjusting the system to at least take foreign mobile phone numbers.

Thank You.

[Laurie_]

Hi, @JoG1, thanks for reaching out to us to provide your feedback.
 

At this time, the customer details fields are determined by the country in which you have activated your Square Account. In this instance, the online booking flow will default to Australian formats. While you can update your online booking settings to allow customers to choose their preferred timezone, this won't impact the other requested information, such as their contact number. 

Are you able to provide some more information here as to the types of services international clients are booking? Additionally, are these appointments taking place virtually or in person? I can certainly check in with our Appointments Team once I know more to ask about any available workarounds we can offer in the meantime.

However, my instinct here says that this is more of a feature request at this time. I'll circle back to you here either way once I have more information!

[JoG1]

Hi Laurie

I am a Life Coach/quantum healer and offer this service face to face, but MOSTLY online to clients around the world. My sessions are around 1.5 hours in duration and are carried out on Zoom. I recently started an international marketing campaign and many have contacted me saying the system would not allow them to book a session because it wouldn't take their non-Australian mobile number.

As an initial work-around, I put a note in my 'description' of services offered saying that the system won't take international numbers and to put in a bogus number if they wish to book a session with me. But this doesn't sound very professional, unfortunately.

I'm surprised that Square hasn't moved with the times that are now the 'new normal' with regards to COVID. Here in Australia the number of businesses that were prompted to move into the online arena increased dramatically over the last year or so.

I would urge your development team to consider international clients for services offered more than a 'feature request'. Even simply allowing people to enter a non-Australian mobile would be a HUGE help for me and a great start.

I'm hoping you'll be able to convey my request. I would prefer to stay with Square as every other part of the system is great and works well.

Kind regards

Jo

[JoG1]

Hi Laurie,

Further to my query..... When I manually put in an appointment for one of my clients I don't need to put in a mobile phone number. If I leave that field blank a pop up comes up and says 'email is preferred method of contact' and the appointment is accepted.

Does a client have to always put in a mobile when when booking it themselves?

Kind regards

Jo

[Laurie_]

Hi, @JoG1, thanks for your patience while I followed this up with my team.

I appreciate you providing additional context about how your business operates. Since touching base with my team I can confirm that at this time, you are unable to allow international clientele (anyone based outside of the country where you activated your Square Account) to select their own time zones and to view your calendar and book appointments. Square Appointments is designed to service your customer base within your country of activation, including all domestic time zones. Customers within Australia are able to select their preferred time zone if you have enabled this option in your Online Booking Settings. To learn more about client-facing tools, visit this page. 

I have passed on your feedback regarding receiving international bookings to our Product Team. At this time, there aren't any available workarounds we can offer you within the Square Appointments ecosystem. The only recommendation I can offer is to have your international customers contact you directly via email to arrange appointments, which you can then manually enter into your calendar. In terms of collecting payment for these services, we can recommend using Square Invoices or Online Checkout Links. 

Regarding your second question, customers are required to enter their name, phone number and email address when booking online.

Let me know if you have any further questions here.