Bookings · How-to
Book standing appointments and recalls
Set up a visit that repeats weekly, fortnightly or monthly, book a single follow-up months ahead, and end a series when the client stops coming.
Start a standing appointment
On Bookings › Waitlist, under “Standing appointments”, press “New standing appointment”. Or open a client's visit in the diary and press “Make standing”, which fills in the details from it.
Describe the pattern
Choose the “Client”, the “Place”, the services and the person under “Staff”; group classes are not offered here. Under “Repeats”, pick “Weekly”, “Fortnightly” or “Monthly”, then the “First visit” date and the “Time”. For a service booked for a child, a pet or a vehicle, a list such as “Which child” names the one every visit is for.
Give it an end
Under “Runs until”, choose “After” and a number of visits, or “On” and a date. A standing appointment always needs an end.
Book the series
Press “Book the series”. Setvos books the visits as real appointments about four months ahead and tops them up every day. A date that clashes with another visit, or has no published shift yet, is skipped rather than forced, and tried again while it is still ahead.
Each visit is priced and timed like any booking: at that place, with that person's own price and length, less any off-peak discount. The client is sent one confirmation for the series, an email listing the visits if they gave an address and a message saying how many are booked and when the first is, and gets the usual reminders before each visit.
Book a recall
On a finished visit, press “Schedule recall”, set “Months from now” and press “Schedule”. It is a single visit with the same services and person, at the same time of day, listed with your standing appointments. The client gets a confirmation for it as for any booking.
Follow a client's course
The client's record shows each series under “Courses & recalls”, with how many sessions are done and when the next one is.
End it
In the list, press “End”. Choose “Keep booked visits” to stop new ones only, or “Cancel future visits” to cancel the visits still ahead as well. Each is cancelled the usual way: its room is freed and, with the waitlist offer on, its time is offered to your waitlist. The client is sent one email listing the cancelled visits, if they gave an address, and one message, and the person who does them gets one notice.
Common questions
- Why is a date missing from a series?
It clashed with another visit, or nobody had a published shift then. Publish the rota for that week; Setvos tries the date again each day while it is still ahead.
- Why does a standing appointment say “Service off” or “Service deleted”?
A service it books was switched off or deleted, so it books no more visits; the visits already booked stay. For “Service off”, switch the service back on in Bookings › Services and the series books again. For “Service deleted”, end it and set up a new one with another service. Owners and admins get one notice, “A standing appointment stopped booking”, the first time the daily run finds it stopped; each of them can switch that notice off under “Standing appointment stopped” in Account settings › Notifications.
- How do I make a visit standing on the phone?
In Setvos Business, open a visit with a client and choose “Make it standing” under ⋯. The visit’s client, person, services and time are kept. Choose the first date, how often it repeats — Weekly, Every 2 weeks or Monthly — and when it ends: after 2 to 52 visits, or on a date. The result says how many visits were booked and lists each date it skipped, with the reason, such as the person being busy or not on the rota, or the chair being taken.
- Where are standing appointments on the phone?
Under More → Bookings → Standing appointments. Each one is Active, Ended, or stopped because its service was switched off or deleted, and a stopped one says what to do next. End asks whether to keep the visits already booked or cancel the future ones.
- How do I schedule a recall on the phone?
On a visit, choose “Schedule a recall” under ⋯ and pick 1 to 36 months. The recall is on the same day that many calendar months on — the last day of the month, when that month is shorter — at the same time, with the same services and person. If that date is not free, the app says why and asks you to book it from the diary, and nothing is booked.
- Can a group class repeat every week?
Yes, as a class timetable rather than a standing appointment: press “New standing appointment”, choose “Class timetable” and pick the class. Clients then take seats in its sessions or are enrolled for the term.
Read next
Keep a waitlist and offer freed slots
Note clients who want a time that is not free, let them join from your booking page, offer them a slot by hand or automatically when a visit is cancelled, and know when they leave the list.
Check in, finish, move or cancel an appointment
Open a visit to mark each stage of it, note what was done, move it, cancel it or mark a no-show, and know what the client is told.
Plan the staff rota and publish it
Set who works when at each place, a week or a month at a time, and publish it. Only published shifts can be booked, online or at the desk.
Work with a client’s card
Read a client’s history, log notes and calls, and keep their details, files and tasks up to date from one screen.
More in Bookings
- Bookings: your diary, staff rota and online booking page
- Find your way around the appointments diary
- Book an appointment for a client
- Take payment for a visit at the till
- Set up your services, prices and categories
- Visits at the client’s address, and prices by size
- Offer group classes, packages and services that need more
- Cut no-shows with deposits and cards on file
- Run classes: a timetable, enrolment and the register
- Read and answer client reviews
- Review rules, and reporting a review
- Ask clients to agree to a consent form
Open in Setvos
Signed in? This article is also in the Help menu of the app.
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