Instant Booking
Comments
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@DustiO Another concept I think would be enticing to say yes to instant booking in addition to what I already mentioned, would be to ask the client ahead of time for the budget. I had 3 clients yesterday go back and forth with me, only to tell me their budget is $1000 or less, and my minimum is $2800. It would have saved time and money and made the experience better for the customer, AND the pro.
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@Joanna this is a totally optional integration with HouseCall Pro, you are not at all required to do so. When you click on the "Connect to Housecall Pro" button, does this screen still remain? If so, please let me know - I flagged for the team as this is not what should be happening.
This integration would help to manage your leads, bookings, and calendar via Housecall Pro, but certainly is not mandatory. You can learn more about Housecall Pro and other available partner integrations here, just in case you want to learn more. Sorry for the confusion, and again, please let me know if this screen does not disappear after you have clicked on it! THANK YOU!
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Hi all! I was enrolled in instant booking. It start October 16. I require a walkthrough before I give my quote to clients. I do not see anywhere I can opt out this process. When I have an opening on a single day doesn't mean I'm in the city that people are booking. Thumbtack needs to ensure the client does not go with another company once they book with us. There should be some type of an agreement for the client. My questions are do Thumbtack set the price for the job or do we? Are the fees for us higher? Will we be allowed to stay inside a certain amount of miles?
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There is actually supposed to be a "dismiss" button, flagged for the team to let them know! Once you click it should disappear, but please let me know if it doesn't. Thanks for bringing this to our attention and again, sorry for the confusion!
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I have had most of my instant bookings cancelled and customers have cared less. Is anyone else having this same problem? It's booking up my calendar which makes me unavailable to potential jobs and it's using all of my lead money which isn't refundable. Any advice on how to handle this issue?
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Long story short cancel instant booking use to get refunded back den like automatically after the client cancel you get your money back. They change it on us out of no where by telling us to try to contact the client instead of refunding the money. Why would I want to contact someone that cancel their appointment what would be the purpose of contacting them. I’m pretty sure by now they own me over 500-1000$ worth of cancellations of instant booking
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Thumbtack was one of my primary resources to gain new clients. Now with the instant booking, which will not work for me in my area because of traffic and distance, I will have to move on from Thumbtack. I do not like to fact that they are forcing me to accept a model that will not work for my business. I think thumbtack forgot that we business owners are the ones who pay to keep this app going. NOT HAPPY....LOOKING FOR A CHANGE NOW!!!!!
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Hi! Could we please read some success posts with the Instant Booking ? Have anyone in house cleaning started yet? How they are doing with this?
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Like many of you, I have enjoyed using Thumbtack as a resource to get leads for my business. I don’t believe that making instant booking a required service is a good idea. I understand Thumbtack needs to grows and increasing lead cost 3 TIMES looks good on paper, ultimately I feel like if the platform continues on the road it’s on it’s going to alienate all of it pros. The main reason I use Thumbtack is because of how modular it is and how I can make it fit my needs. By making everyone instant book regardless of their business model. It makes me feel like they are no longer interested in their pros and more interested in a bottom line.
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@EAI There will still be direct leads as well as Instant Book leads - if the customer chooses not to book a time, they can choose to reach out to the pro directly, the same as before. I would recommend making sure that the Max Lead Price you have set is a price that is doable for you in both Instant Book and direct leads. Hope this helps, if even just a little. Thank you for the feedback.
@Sherry6 we will have some pros who have a lot of success using Instant Book sharing their tips & tricks soon!
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@auds912 I am sorry to hear, this and this is great feedback about the calendar. @chilogm1 we do have a 15 minute cancellation refund for customers who book and realize they can't do it. We've also introduces the ability to reschedule bookings if the original time & date do not work for the customer. Hopefully those things are helpful to you. And thank you for the feedback!
I'm moving this post over to our Instant Book thread to keep all Instant Book feedback in one place - let me know if you have more questions. Thanks!
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As a pro, I am a customer of Thumbtack. If Thumbtack forces me to do business a certain way, they are not treating me like a paying customer. I will be hiding my business account and eventually deactivating it unless Thumbtack decides to give me the option to turn instant booking "off" . I cannot run my business with instant bookings. I prefer to speak with customers first to make sure we are a good fit, and then schedule them when I think it's best. I cannot have customers just book my services without talking to me first!
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@DustiO cancellation doesn’t have a grace period 15 minute es. Pro getting punish for clients who don’t cancel on time. That doesn’t seat well with me if that’s a policy they should start looking into it cause it makes no sense. A client cancel is a win win on thumbtack side. I take multiple lost lost of potential income and lost of budgets that I won’t get a refund back for because of policy lost on other potential clients that could have pick the open slot while searching for a pro. For example this booking here was booked by a client and after one messages saying ok it was cancel. It cost $20 just for a cancel booking.
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@RCKSTR1864 Please review our Community Code of Conduct.
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@chilogm1 This is great feedback. So I make sure I am understanding correctly, there are two separate feedback items here. 1) 15 minutes isn't long enough and 2) Once cancelled the open time slot is still showing as booked so other potential clients cannot book it?
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@Dianne_Collins What services do you offer? And are there any things that could be improved to help Instant Book work for you?
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@DustiO that is correct and last one is once an instant booking is cancel pro should automatically get a full credits refunds. This booking was made today cancel today I request a refund this what I get back as an answer. And also once a booking is cancel is pro definitely do not want to go back and speak with the client on why it was cancel. It was different back den where if the booking is cancel we cannot speak with the client for any reason I did like that way better.
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That's great that customers have a 15 minute window to cancel LOL! Most of my instant book people completely forget that they booked me. They decide that they're going to be on top of things and browse Thumbtack, instant book and then make other arrangements in the mean time. There is no consequence for them flaking yet we as small business customers are the ones that end up paying for it and having our schedules blocked off so that we're not able to get other opportunities. This is my livelihood!
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Having the ability to respond to an instant book in 15 minutes is not realistic. When I am on a job I am considerate of my clients time and don't have the ability to hold my phone and text while I am working. My business suffers the financial consequences of instant book which does not feel fair. There needs to be culpability for the customers who instant book. There are sooo many customers who have no idea how Thumbtack works yet they book us anyways, ask questions about information that is clearly posted on our profiles and then flake. Thumbtack should have a mandatory tutorial.
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I’ll join the chorus against forced participation in instant booking. As far as I can tell, it’s totally unanimous. Every change thumbtack has made over the past several years has taken away control from the pros and made it more expensive.
There are several issues which were not thought out. I have multiple services with different employees. Yet there is not a separate calendar to update for each service. It just doesn’t work.
I’ve been a top pro for 6 years, have over 100 5 star reviews, and have spent thousands of dollars on Thumbtack. This new policy is the final straw for me. The only way to force Thumbtack to reverse this decision is to vote with our wallets. I encourage everyone to turn off their targeting. Maybe that will get their attention.
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I have a question. Today the cost of instant booking for TV installation has become at least $52. at my price of $70 per installation, I will earn $18. Do I understand correctly, in order to earn at least something, I have to increase the price? that is, I need to increase the cost by more than 50% to earn at least as much as your company will earn from this order? I think this leads to uncompetitive prices for this type of service. and the further departure of professionals from this site..
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