Category timing suddenly changed / stopped working?

[KingstonBread]

Hello, help! Has the way timed categories works suddenly changed?  We run a bakery and restaurant, and we let customers order bread and pastries the night before for pickup the next day from our website. We do NOT let them preorder sandwiches from the kitchen, because it would be too overwhelming to get a bunch of sandwich orders overnight and have to make them all when we open.  

To make this work, we have used the "timed categories" function for our Sandwiches, Soups, and Salads. The items in these categories are available "Only during certain days and times," and has always been visible but with a little clock icon that told people they couldn't order until the next day.

Today, after we closed, someone was able to order sandwiches for pickup the next morning. In order to stop this, we had to remove those two categories from site visibility. I would prefer not to have to do this manually every morning and afternoon, however. Has this function stopped working for anyone else, or is there something I'm missing here? 

Thank you for any insight! 

[southforkbake]

Mine just did this too and we are so bummed - everything was automated and them all of a sudden it's not working. Literally the EXACT same issue. 

Hoping for a solution or answer soon!

[KingstonBread]

Update: I tried to get this resolved today via the Help/Support chat.  The person helping me told me that my business address was not formatted properly (not sure what this means) but that the advanced team "fixed it" and my website issue should be resolved in a few hours. It's now a few hours later, and I am now able to see the text under the Timed Category saying "available from 9 am to 3 pm." However, I am still able to order these items outside of the time window, which was NOT how this worked previously. I do NOT want people to be able to order from these categories outside of the window; how do I get back to this?  

[southforkbake]

Right! Ours is doing the same thing - categories are showing the limited/correct timing but items can be added to cart and ordered any day. We have items specifically Monday-Friday and folks have been able to order for weekend days. 

[RobynR]

Hey @KingstonBread  @southforkbake ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community.

To ensure you receive the most accurate information, I’ve escalated this to our Advanced Support team for further review. I’ll follow up here as soon as I have more details.

I appreciate your time.

[RobynR]

@KingstonBread @southforkbake Our ECOM team would like some additional information.

To better assist, could you provide the order number in question? Additionally, can you confirm if you previously enabled scheduled orders for buyers?

It looks like your categories use the Time-Based Category feature, with pickup available on Saturdays from 9 AM - 3 PM. If the scheduled pickup option was enabled, it’s expected that buyers would place advanced orders within that TBC window.

I look forward to your reply.

[KingstonBread]

Hi Robyn, 

Things seem to be back to normal now, as of mid-day yesterday. To recap, starting last Friday afternoon, customers were suddenly able to order sandwiches outside of the timed category window.  We saw an order come in at 4 pm for two sandwiches, even though the category is set for 9-3.  The pickup time listed was for the next morning, but that seemed to coincide with the entire site / overall pickup hours, versus the timed category timeframe. It remained that way throughout the entire weekend up until yesterday morning.  Even when I experimented and adjusted the timed category start time to 11 am (from 9 am), I was given a pickup time of 9 am the next day when I put items in my cart the night before. 

I was initially told over the phone from an E-Commerce support person that "that's how timed categories work" -- that you could order outside of those timeframes but that the pickup time would be adjusted.  After a while, when I told him that has never been the case before, he changed his story to "well that musth have changed recently, with all of the other category changes that have rolled out." Even if that was true, it didn't seem to be working correctly, as evident by the 9 am / 11 am discrepency.   

Anyway, at some point yesterday the issue seemed to finally be fixed. As of last night and this morning, people were not able to order sandwiches outside of the 9-3 window, which is the way we are used to and the way we would prefer things to stay.  I just wish someone could have been straightforward with me from the beginning and let me know that there WAS something wrong and that it was being worked on, rather than trying to tell me that my experience using these categories for the last four years was incorrect or that things had suddenly changed with no notice and I would now have to find a new way to run my business.  It would have saved me a lot of time and stress over the weekend. Thank you for your attention.  

[RobynR]

@KingstonBread Thank you for sharing the detailed recap; I’m glad to hear the ordering and pickup windows are functioning as they were before. Your feedback is invaluable, as it highlights a couple of critical areas for improvement—especially around clear and timely communication during unexpected changes. Thank you again for your patience and for helping us improve. 

Please let me know if I can help you with anything else.