Blocking just a time period (not the entire day) on the calendar

ladyvincenza

Hi everyone, this used to be easy to do, but I don't see how to block a set of time (such as 10:00-4:00) on my calendar to avoid paying for unwanted leads. I've tried this on both my desktop and my phone. Can anyone advise me? Like I said, it used to be easy:) Thanks!

Danielalai

same here! That’s not good

ladyvincenza

So it's not just me, then?

DustiO

Ok, sorry for the delay here—I wanted to make sure I had the right context before answering!

Even though the calendar previously allowed you to set specific hours, customers haven’t been seeing or booking exact times since Instant Book was removed. Since then, matching has been based on the day, not the hour.

The hourly settings were essentially left over from that earlier experience, but they haven’t actually impacted which leads you receive. This recent update was made to remove that confusion and better reflect how matching already works.

Going forward, I’d recommend only blocking off a day if you’re fully unavailable. If you have any availability that day, it’s best to leave it open so you can still receive leads.

Hope this helps clear things up!

ladyvincenza

OK, thanks. My problem is, if I'm booked for just one gig during a day and I want to leave myself open for other gigs not during that time frame, what should I do? If I'm busy from 10:00-2:00, for example, I don't want to close the door on other potential gigs later in that same day.

On the other hand, I wouldn't want to pay for leads that conflict for that time.

I hope I explained that OK:)

Danielalai

exactly my concern and same situation.

DustiO

I would just only block the day if it's totally booked — it shouldn't make a difference since customers were never seeing your available hours, only available days. I hope that makes sense!

ntorrelles

I understand how the system works now, but it’s not fair to be charged for leads that come in during times I’m already booked. Yesterday alone I received two leads that conflicted with my existing schedule, and given the cost of leads, this becomes a concern.

ntorrelles

I received two leads totaling around $120 for time slots when I’m already booked for a 3-hour event—not the full day. I still have availability later that day, but now I feel forced to block the entire day to avoid paying for leads I can’t take. This creates an inefficient system and negatively impacts freelancers. There should be a better way to handle partial availability without penalizing us financially. :(

Danielalai

It’s like we are forced to block the calendar for the whole day or take the chance and hope no one else book is at the same time. The freelancers pros can’t work like that and that will also limits the businesses for both sides. We don’t have the opportunity to suggest “different dates” as a makeup artist I am requested for specific dates and events.

DustiO

I totally understand the frustration - I am just clarifying that there was actually no change to how a customer sees your availability. You should continue to use the same process you used before if a customer requests a time when you are unavailable (ie suggest other times).

I would recommend sending your availability feedback to support@thumbtack.com just to be sure it gets logged. I will also pass the feedback along.

Danielalai

but if we block the whole day when we just got on lead…..how can the clients see that we are available if the whole day is blocked?

DustiO

I meant, block the day only when the whole day is booked - sorry that wasn't clear! Again, customers were never seeing your hourly availability, they were only seeing available days, so even when you were blocking hours off, customers were not seeing that. So it is still the exact same experience for customers.

Danielalai

but our calendar becomes blocked for the whole day automatically even if we get one gig! How can we fill up the day if the calendar is already blocked?

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand?:(

DustiO

If a customer reaches out and you arrange a time with them, it does not block the day. You would need to go to your calendar and block the day manually. So you don't need to worry about days getting blocked when you still have open times! You can read more about that here if it helps. I hope this makes sense - sorry this is so confusing!

ntorrelles

@Danielalai I understand what you’re explaining, but I’d like to share my experience because it’s directly impacting my business. Previously, I personally tested this by using another account as a customer. When I blocked a specific time range, the platform showed me as unavailable during those hours, and I did not receive leads for those time slots. Now that only full days can be blocked, I’m receiving leads at times when I’m already booked. This is where the financial impact comes in; we are being charged for leads we realistically cannot take. As a result, we’re forced to either accept losses or block entire days, even if we only have a 2 to 3-hour booking. If many of us take that approach, it not only limits our own opportunities but could also reduce overall availability and activity on the platform.

That’s the main concern here. The current setup creates an inefficient and costly situation for professionals. I’ve also sent this feedback to support@thumbtack.com as suggested, so it can be formally reviewed and logged.

ntorrelles

To close the loop, I wanted to share a real example. I’ve had to mark two days as “unavailable all day” in May to avoid receiving additional leads, even though I’m only booked for about 3 hours on each day. This is the situation we’re trying to highlight, as it forces us to limit our availability to avoid unnecessary costs. Have a great day, guys.

DustiO

Thank you for sharing more context here. When you did the test as a customer and were able to see hours, when was that? Was that recently?

ntorrelles

@DustiO No, I wasn’t able to see my available hours. What I did was test a time slot that I knew I had already blocked. For example, I had blocked my availability from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. I then tried to submit a request as a customer during that same time, and the system showed that I was not available and did not allow me to send the lead. So I wasn’t seeing specific available hours, but when I selected a time I knew was blocked, the platform correctly prevented the request from going through. This was some time ago, before the recent changes, when we were able to block specific time ranges, and I was not receiving leads during those blocked times.

ntorrelles

@DustiO I understand that customers may not see hourly availability, but my concern is not about what is displayed; it’s about how leads are filtered. Previously, when I blocked specific time ranges, I did not receive leads during those hours. Now, without the ability to block time ranges, I’m receiving leads that conflict with my existing bookings, which creates a financial impact. That’s the main issue I’m trying to highlight.

DustiO

Yes, @ntorrelles this was only true when Instant Book was live, but since that rolled back (in 2024) we have not actually filtered leads by specific time slots, so it makes sense that you would have seen that then.

DustiO

I will be sure to share this thread with the team working on our availability features, too.

Howie

Hi @DustiO, I’m experiencing the same problem. I have been using the Thumbtack calendar as my only calendar for everything, and it used to work really well. I understand that there may be some logistics behind the system and that you think blocking whole days is equivalent, but it’s actually very different for us as pros. I used to be able to block any personal or other commitments, and whenever jobs came in, I could check my calendar to see what time I was busy and whether I had time to take on new jobs. However, there’s no way to do that anymore.

You suggested only blocking a day if the calendar is completely full, which means I wouldn’t block it if I only have a 1-hour job scheduled. But then, how do I remember that this job has already been scheduled? In that case, the availability calendar no longer serves its purpose.

Danielalai

@DustiO its not only that.

I spoke with the thumbtack support and they answered me saying that the only way we have is hide the service temporarily while we are working on a gig and then put it back on.

But this is not the problem for us, the big issue is listed above from many of us who are now being forced to leave the platform basically.

Danielalai

@Howie exactly my thought.

So we basically need to have a personal calendar where we wrote the lead we booked from thumbtack and then if another lead comes at the same window time? Are you gonna investigate with the clients and then refund us?

No…because we “had to block the whole day”.

So who exactly are gonna benefit from this? Just asking