Booking Fee/Deposit
under review
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Clapham Cycles Admin
Hi There, we have encountered issues with web bookings where we get no shows.
This messes up our scheduling and staffing levels, although this is meant to be the date of drop off and not the work, customers often see this date as the date for the work to be carried out as mentioned in a previous post.
My suggestion would be a if were able to charge a reservation fee or deposit we could then refund this at the point of collection by taking off the bill after the service work is completed. My feeling is that this would drastically reduce no shows, and worst case compensate us for the time lost if they do no show.
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Drew Jordan
We've been using BMBI for a year now, and this has become an issue for us as well. In our area of the US, bikes are more for recreation than utility so the importance of showing up on the scheduled date is low. I think a nominal fee of $25 is reasonable (but should be adjustable for the given market), and if they don't show up it's retained as a no-show fee.
Obviously this does create an issue for those new bike free checks, but those are typically a little easier to work in to the schedule anyway.
Neil McQuillan - CEO Citrus-Lime
Is there a risk that by adding this feature we deter 'good' customers and drive them back to calling or emailing. I know I book my bike in online when I'm in a rush and another stage would put me off personally. e.g. Would resolving this issue with problem customers, actually deter the decent ones?
Neil McQuillan - CEO Citrus-Lime
under review
Neil McQuillan - CEO Citrus-Lime
What level would the deposit be set at, the full service cost or just say a small amount, say £5? Would this not block those who use Book My Bike In for 30 day new bike checkups?
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Mech Monkey
Neil McQuillan - CEO Citrus-Lime
We would want to charge £20 so that the customer is less likely to walk away from it. And if it is a no show at least you're being compensated for the potential downtime.
I would guess it's quite an individual thing so maybe the ability to turn it on/off and adjust the value would be best?
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Richard Twinn
Mech Monkey we would charge similar too (i think it would also depend on the type of service) so have it optional per service
Corky Lynch
We get people turning up at the wrong store, not a huge issue but the other stores are waiting for the bike to turn up. A deposit mightake them look twice are where they are booked in.
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Richard Twinn
agree, having an option to charge customers would be a great step forward.