Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

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Hardwood
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Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by Hardwood »

How do we get rid of the option to show "drop off time"? Drop off, Start and End are all auto-populated unless you change them. I understand how to change the start and end times, but there is no way to eliminate the drop off time. This is confusing as my customers are getting appointment reminders in their emails that don't coincide with the time thought I scheduled them.
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timsince
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by timsince »

I think the Drop Off Time is a good field, but i wish it would auto populate with the appointment time when appointment state "Waiting" is selected. We miss it a lot when we are making appointments on the fly. For us, if a customer is dropping off, the time is not absolutely important, but for waiting customers it is. Thanks.
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by ricmorin »

Hardwood wrote:How do we get rid of the option to show "drop off time"?

Drop off, Start and End are all auto-populated unless you change them. I understand how to change the start and end times, but there is no way to eliminate the drop off time. This is confusing as my customers are getting appointment reminders in their emails that don't coincide with the time thought I scheduled them
The drop off time is not an option field. It is hard coded in the program.

You can change the default drop off time in the scheduler setup screen.

If you're customers are confused, try entering the correct drop off time in the field; at least that's what we do. We make it a point to KNOW the drop off time of every appointment so we control our day, not the other way around.
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Hardwood
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by Hardwood »

The drop off time is not an option field. It is hard coded in the program. You can change the default drop off time in the scheduler setup screen. The drop off time has a default setting in settings, but is indeed an "option" field as you can see in my screen capture. It's a drop down menu item and completely useless to me. It's making another unecessary step, much like the "Are you sure you want to exit" prompt when exiting ProDemand.
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by ricmorin »

I refer to 'option' regarding you can't turn it off. It cannot be turned off. This field was needed for CRM integration issues with the new scheduler. I love the fact that I can designate a drop off time independent from where the work will be slotted in my day. Most of my work is drops, very few waits.
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by Hardwood »

ricmorin wrote:I refer to 'option' regarding you can't turn it off. It cannot be turned off. This field was needed for CRM integration issues with the new scheduler. I love the fact that I can designate a drop off time independent from where the work will be slotted in my day. Most of my work is drops, very few waits.
Made me laugh. If I could get my customers to actually drop off at the time they said they would, or be able to "slot" a repair job that would be wonderful. My days are dynamic and it's almost impossible to put that stuff on a schedule. That said, it's a case of "too much information" for me, but nice for you. Well written software would accommodate both of us.
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by Hardwood »

Just got off the phone with a customer who asked if her appointment was changed? She got an email saying her appointment was at 8AM but thought she made it for 11AM. I checked and her "drop off time" was at 8AM and her appointment time is 11AM. I am so frustrated that the CRM folks apparently don't talk to the scheduler folks when making changes like this! How hard can it be to have a setting that ties the two together? Now me and my employees have to be EXTRA CAREFUL to make sure the drop off and appointment times MATCH.

This is ridiculous. FIX IT!
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Jeff @ Able Auto
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by Jeff @ Able Auto »

This is my take:
Drop off time-Time set for customer to drop off car and review with service writer. That would be the time I set for the customer to come in. And I believe this the time CRM uses for the reminders.
Start time-The time I expect to get it into the shop.
End time-The time I anticipate the vehicle to be ready for pick up.
I cant speak for others but it works great for me. Most of my business is drop off anyway. I may have a car dropped off at 8 A.M. as the client is heading to work but not get into the shop till 2 P.M.
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Hardwood
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by Hardwood »

Jeff @ Able Auto wrote:This is my take
Drop off time-Time set for customer to drop off car and review with service writer. That would be the time I set for the customer to come in. And I believe this the time CRM uses for the reminders.
Start time-The time I expect to get it into the shop.
End time-The time I anticipate the vehicle to be ready for pick up.
I cant speak for others but it works great for me. Most of my business is drop off anyway. I may have a car dropped off at 8 A.M. as the client is heading to work but not get into the shop till 2 P.M.

My point is and has been that I didn't change anything, Mitchell did. What works for you may not work for others, as I am clearly in the midst of. We have a lot of waiting oil changes, and now there is a redundant step that wasn't there before. I don't write software. I fix cars. Now I have to make sure that the two times match. I'd prefer to link the two if I could, but I can't. No settings for that. Explanations as to why don't help. Action does.
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by ricmorin »

The current setup works great for me as well. It adds a finer dimension as well as addressing CRM issues previously mentioned. I was elated when they introduced this.
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timsince
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by timsince »

I agree with Hardwood. The drop off time having a hard default of 8 am caused much confusion and a lot of added time scheduling an appointment. the CRM reminders should be tied to appointment time, since that is when the appointment is. Please change this back.
Tim
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by jhenry »

I get at least two phone calls every day from customer's who have scheduled "wait" appointments at specific times....and have received an email confirmation for an appointment at 8:00am. An at least 3 out of 10 customer's think we have changed the appointment and show up at 8:00am instead of their original appointment time. At least give us the option to turn off drop-off time. I mean come on here...we are the subscribers and we all pay a lot of money for this software. The last thing we need is to upset our customer's because the software we so heavily rely on was not well thought out....
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by timbre4 »

Please be advised that a discussion about this issue is taking place. We apologize for any inconvenience.
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by Gerald Martin »

I also have been flooded with phone calls for clients that are getting emails that their appointment is at 8:00 AM.

Since we figured out that CRM started using the drop off field instead of the appointment time, I have tried to watch it. Sometimes I still miss it. We do lots of client waiting services.

1: Epic Fail: CRM made a change this critical without informing their shops a change was coming. This in inexcusable. It caused me lots of hassle, phone calls, and loss of creditibility.

2. My shop's needs are different from other shops at times, so I don't want to get in the way of progress. If there would be a setting to link drop-off time and appointment start time by default, that would do it for me. I used to be able to drag and drop appointments in the schedule when a customer called in needing to move an appointment. The addition of the drop off field, for me, has added extra clicks and steps, every way.

I've talked to Dan Johnson about my concerns, as well as my CRM rep. I hope Mitchell is listening.

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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by timbre4 »

We have identified a development fix to be added that will allow SE users to configure the Drop Off Time in the Scheduler Options as follows:

NEW Checkbox unchecked = Drop Off Time remains as it is today; a separate time value in advance of the Start Time for the work
NEW Checkbox CHECKED = Drop Off Time will be the SAME time value as Start Time

NOTE: We will likely include an option that allows override to any individual appointment by adding this to the Appointment Editor.

Since the Manager SE 7.2.3 release is now imminent, this change will NOT be included in that release. However, we are committed to delivering this change during Q4 of this year. That translates to a delivery time-frame of mid-to-late October.

Again we apologize for any inconvenience.
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by timsince »

Thank you!! That sounds like it will solve that issue nicely.
Tim
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by jhenry »

Thanks for listening and responding!!!
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by Hardwood »

Another phone call, another customer wondering if they should be coming in at 8:00 or at 3:00 PM like they thought.


I am so angry about this, and to add insult to injury, we all just received a nice letter saying the price of the software is going UP.


It's disgusting when you make a change to something that makes US look bad. You don't have to field these calls, we do.


And no fix until Q4 of this year? Really?
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by timbre4 »

If we could offer this fix as a patch right now we would have absolutely done that immediately; this is not possible.
Please monitor your drop off times until the option appears and that will prevent these situations.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience.
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Re: Option For 'Drop Off' To Follow Start Time?

Post by GUTHTIRE »

Shouldn't the drop off time be automatic or another field like "Time-in"? Customer walks in and you enter the RO. Upon printing the RO a timestamp should AUTOMATICALLY be taken and printed on the RO regardless of the schedule. This is very important especially for waiters. If you launch the customer from the schedule, even though it's a waiter the time stamp on the printed RO should AUTOMATICALLY reflect "time-in" or "drop-off" time, i.e. the time the RO was first printed.
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