Awaiting Check Payment and Status

I was wondering, what happens now when a check is checked off as the customer wanting to pay by check? Does the system now treat it as a BOOKED transacation, thus changing status' to PREEMPTED? If so, can there be a separate status instead, maybe Awaiting check?

Some times customers change their minds, without telling us, and we lose out on other bookings. I am trying to figure out which is the best way of not losing a second person inquiring for dates we are waiting for the check.

Ideally, it would be nice to have the system create a status for these scenerios. We can let the potential customer know that we are awaiting a check from a potential guest. But, what if they asked first, a second party BOOKS using a check, and the first customer comes back a couple of days later, ready to book? I guess it goes back to sending an ALERT to the owner, that someone tried to book. However, ALSO, letting the potential customer know that a check is being awaited and we will notify them if it opens up again.

Thus, under this new status (awaiting?) have the screen come up stating this fact. Instead of it just being PREEMPTED and the dates are closed and booked. The dates are not always closed and booked when a check is "being" sent.

You know what I mean?

Claudia

At the moment, bookings block out dates with no exceptions. There is no way to create quotes for the same dates or to give new inquirers any hope of getting them. You have to wait until the pending bookings expires and is auto-canceled (or you manually cancel/remove it yourself). I don't believe we could implement what you're referring to because of the complexity involved, but I'll definitely pass it along for more review.

You're right about the alert to the owners - it would be very useful to see if someone else crashed into the PREEMPTED warning and had to go away. Likewise, sending them an alert with "your current quote was just preempted but the same dates are open at our other [x] cabin".

-Michelle

PS. I think this is one of the reasons the vast majority of our uses require payment by credit card and don't even bother with checks. It creates too many waiting games and complexities. Nowadays, anyone with a checking account also has a debit/check card too.

"You're right about the alert to the owners - it would be very useful to see if someone else crashed into the PREEMPTED warning and had to go away. Likewise, sending them an alert with "your current quote was just preempted but the same dates are open at our other [x] cabin"."

Or... sending them an alert with "your current quote was just preempted please email the owner and see if those dates are still available or if we have availability to another townhouse."

They won't know what preempted/expired means, as it is. This will encourage people to notify us, after receiving that screen. It might have expired, but the dates might still be available, they just can't book online, because it is EXPIRED. I, personally, would think the dates are no longer available and move on.

Claudia

Michelle,

Could an email,(/action on the website since not sure where they would see the above events/status's,) be sent for different events?
If the quote expired means the dates are still open just that the quote provided may no longer be valid - could something like:
Please contact the owner again your previous quote may have changed - why? special ended, etc whatever possible reasons that a quote would change.
If the quote is preempted and the renter tries to rent - maybe something like:
Please contact the owner because the dates you requested may no longer be available. Why? Waiting on a check from another renter, part of your dates have been booked, maybe owner has a similar rental that is available for your dates, etc.


Not sure if I made myself clear and not sure if that is possible either.
Silvia

I have another question - not sure what the customer sees but when I am in the check method window I see -

If the check hasn't arrived "AFTER" 7 days, the booking will be auto-canceled, shouldn't this say "Within" or "before". It almost sounds to me like the check should arrive after 7 days else it will be cancelled..?? or am I misunderstanding it?

Also is there a legal reason we need to wait no less than 7 days prior to canceling the booking?

Most of my renters are within the USA and up to now they are able to get me the checks in 4 days, I would like the option to make that lower than 7 days, I understand people that are accepting international funds (Canada or people in other countries with USA checks) need more time but that's why they can modify that to as many days they want. I personally don't want to hold up my dates for a check that may never arrive. As just happened to me and lost a bookings waiting for this check, granted this had nothing to do with your system but until you are able to send a response to the preempted action(?)/email. I would like the option to shorten the window. On the other hand if the renter is legit and can't for some reason get me her check until after the 4 days - what is my option - does the system allow me to go and extend the date per booking or it's not possible and I have to let the system cancel the reservation and we need to start all over again? Does the system allow you to resurrect a quote and/or booking?

Silvia

Hi Silvia,

Yes, that is very clear and I think that would be the plan, should this begin development. When the quote changes statuses (to EXPIRED or to PREEMPTED), the email would contain an explanation with several solutions for each of those statuses.

-Michelle

You're right. That is unclear. The word "after" there means "after 7 days, this is what we're going to do" but it's not worded very well. We'll change that to "within".



No, we just assumed internally that 7 days was the least amount of time that a pending booking should have before being auto-canceled. If it takes the guest a day or two to put it in the mail, and they live across the country, it would be a minimum of 4 or 5 days before it showed up in your mailbox. You (the owner) then have to deposit it into your bank account and make sure it clears before entering the payment and removing the PENDING flag.

You're correct though - this is something the owner should be able to determine. I just ran this up the flagpole and was told that we'll be lowering the requirement to 3. Evidently, two other users have asked about the same thing.

To be clear, you CAN cancel the booking any time you want - even a few seconds after it was made. Just navigate to the booking in the control panel and click the Cancel link on the top right.



Yes, you can extend/shorten the pending period at any time. Play with it a little so you can see how it works.

Add a manual booking. Then go into General Info and set a pending date. You'll notice that the booking shows as "pending" everywhere you see it. Notice the red spat at the top of the booking that persists between pages. Click the Remove Pending link (or go into General Info again) and you can see that you have options to remove it, extend it, shorten it, etc.

-Michelle

"Yes, you can extend/shorten the pending period at any time. Play with it a little so you can see how it works.

Add a manual booking. Then go into General Info and set a pending date. You'll notice that the booking shows as "pending" everywhere you see it. Notice the red spat at the top of the booking that persists between pages. Click the Remove Pending link (or go into General Info again) and you can see that you have options to remove it, extend it, shorten it, etc."

Great to know just in case the check doesn't come in on time..I didn't think about the check cashing part that you mentioned above but that could be dealt with the extending the pending
date you mention above.

Thanks, Silvia