This needs online booking set up, because the times come from the same diary. Install it from your Skills page if you haven't already.
Sometimes the job already exists and you just need the person who will be in to say when suits. A landlord raised a gas safety check, an agent sent over a repair, or a customer asked for a quote visit. Send them the job's own booking link. Whatever they pick lands on that job. It does not create a new booking that you then have to match up.
Sending it
- Open the job. It needs to have no date yet, or only be pencilled in. Once a job is booked in, its time is changed from the job itself.
- Under the people on the job, press Send booking link.
- Tick who it goes to, and how:
- Email. The link goes under your message as a proper link.
- WhatsApp, if you have WhatsApp connected. It goes as a message with a Pick a time button. WhatsApp checks this message once, before you can use it, which usually takes a day or two.
- Text, alongside the email only. A text can't carry a link, because phone networks quietly block texts with links in them. So the text just says the link is in their email.
- Check the wording. You can change any of it before it goes.
- Press Send link.
Copy link gives you the same link to paste anywhere else, such as your own WhatsApp or an email to an agent's portal.
Landlords and letting agents
If the job is billed to a landlord or a letting agent, the message to them asks them to pass the link on to their tenant. Their tenant picks a time, and it books against the job you already have for the agent, billed to the agent from the start.
If you already have the tenant's details on the property, you can send it to the tenant directly instead. Emailing or texting tenants has to be switched on in Settings, Customer messages (see Add tenants to a property).
What the person booking sees
A page with your name and logo, what the visit is for, the first line of the address, and the times free in your diary. They see nothing about who pays and no prices. They pick a time and say whether someone will be in or you should collect a key.
If the link was passed on and there is nobody on file who lives there, the page asks for their name and a mobile or email, so you can confirm with them. If someone is already on file, there is a small Just moved in? link for a new tenant to leave their details.
When they pick
Their choice comes to you as a card, the same as any booking, and nothing is booked until you approve it. When you approve:
- the job goes in the diary at that time, no longer pencilled;
- whoever left their details is saved as a current tenant at the property, beside anyone already there;
- the booking confirmation goes out as usual.
Gas safety reminders to landlords
When a gas safety reminder is emailed to a landlord or letting agent and the wording has the booking link in it, Mucka does the same thing for you. It pencils the visit in with no date, so it holds no slot in your diary, and the email carries that visit's link instead of your general booking page. The landlord passes it on, the tenant picks a time, you approve, and the visit is booked and the reminder marked booked. When the job is done, the next one is scheduled as usual.
Other reminders, and gas safety reminders to a homeowner who lives there, still carry your booking page.
Things worth knowing
- The link only offers times for that one visit. Once it is booked, the link says so and gives your number to ring if they need to change it.
- Picking again before you approve replaces their first choice. You won't get two cards for one visit.
- The person booking is saved by their number or email. If that number is already on the property, nothing is duplicated.