Help · Mobile grooming
Service areas and how far you will go
Where the van goes, and the rules that stop it going too far.
A service area says where you are willing to travel. A driving rule says how far is too far on the day.
The difference, and why it matters
An area is a rough shape and accepts an approximate address. A driving rule measures an actual drive and needs a precise one. That is deliberate: being told a client is "in your area" is a reasonable answer to an imprecise address, but sending a van to one is not.
Rules you can set
- A maximum distance, in miles.
- A maximum drive time, in minutes.
- A buffer, which adds time rather than distance — traffic does not make a journey longer, it makes it slower.
Either the distance or the time passing is enough. A fifteen-mile motorway run and a four-mile crawl across town are both reasonable days, and a rule that demanded both would refuse one of them.
Find a time offers nothing for a mobile client.
The van may not cover their area on the days you are looking at. Days the van does not come are not offered at all, which is usually what an empty week means.
Find a time says the van could not drive to any of the free times.
The calendar has room, but every one of those times would break your limit on distance or drive time, measured from the stop before it and on to the stop after. Look at the limits in Settings, then Mobile, or at the stops the van already has that day.
Which van is a visit in?
A visit the van drives to is booked into a van: the one that covers the address that day, with the driver doing the job first, and then one that can make the drive. With two or more vans, each of those cards on the calendar has a van choice, so you can change it, or take the visit out of its van. Sending a visit to the salon takes its van off, and sending the van instead picks the van from your service areas when only one fits. Visits booked before vans were recorded are still found through their driver.
A time I expected is missing.
When the client's address has been placed on the map, Find a time leaves out any time the van could not drive to. If the address has not been placed, the drive cannot be measured, so the time is still offered and the booking warns you instead. Open the client and press Check the address.
A client just outside the area asks to be booked.
A new booking outside the area, or one that breaks a driving rule, is refused with the reason. Moving an existing appointment is different: somebody with permission is offered "Move it anyway", because you know things the software does not.
Not available yet Booking a new appointment over an area or driving warning from the desk.
See the roadmap — plans, not promises.
See what Bandana does here: Mobile grooming software
Also worth reading
- Finding a time on the phone — Answering "when can you fit Bella in?" while they are still on the line.
More on mobile grooming
- Setting up a van — Your vehicle, where it starts, and which days it goes where.
- The day's round — The stops in order, the drive between them, and the map.
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