Portal sign-in, links and expiry

Summary

Customers get into the portal with a link: either a sign-in link they request from the login page, or a link the garage sends them by email, text or WhatsApp. They never need a password. Each link and each sign-in runs out eventually. This article covers how long each lasts, the exact message a customer sees when one has run out, and the quickest way to get them back in. It is written for whoever answers the phone when a customer says “the link doesn’t work”.

Prerequisites

The customer has an email address or a mobile number on their record.
To send a link yourself, open the customer record or the work order.

Steps

Know how long things last

A portal sign-in lasts 90 days. It runs from the moment the customer signs in and is not extended by using the portal. A customer who uses it every day is still asked to sign in again after 90 days. When that happens the login page simply appears, with no message. Most customers signed in again in the week of 28 August 2026, so expect a cluster of them being asked to sign in again around late November 2026.
A link the garage sends works for up to 90 days. Tapping it signs the customer straight in. The same link keeps working until it expires, so re-sending does not break an earlier one.
Signing out, or clearing the browser, ends the sign-in straight away. The customer signs in again the normal way.

Know where links take the customer

Links now open the page they are about, already signed in:

Quote ready email (Review your quote): the quote approval page for that job.
Standalone quote email (View Quote): that quote.
WhatsApp updates (status update, car ready, quote ready, something found during inspection): the job’s status page, or the quote page for a quote.
Text message sent when a WhatsApp update could not be delivered: the same page, through a short link.

Quote emails sent before 3 September 2026, and WhatsApp and text updates sent before then, did not open the right page. If a customer is holding an old one, send them a fresh link.

Recognise the short link

Text messages carry a short link such as tflow.link/p/0f3a91c47b2e5d68. Links sent before 31 August 2026 were shorter, such as tflow.link/p/abc12345.

Both work. An old short link keeps working until the customer’s link expires, or until 27 November 2026, whichever comes first.
Nothing staff do breaks an old link early. Sending a new link, emailing a quote or an AI reply by text all leave it working.
After 27 November 2026 an old short link stops working and asks the customer to get a new one from the garage.

Get a customer back in

Open the customer record (or the work order) and select Send Portal Link.
Choose how to send it: email, SMS or both. SMS is the one to use for a customer with no email address on file.
Select Send Link. A message confirms Portal link sent.
The customer taps the link and is signed straight in.

If the message says Could not send link with “Please wait … seconds before sending another link”, nothing was sent. Links are limited to one a minute per customer, and that minute is shared with the customer’s own Send sign-in link button on the login page. So if they have just tried it themselves, wait a minute and press Send Link again.

If the customer has an email address, they can also help themselves: on the portal login page they enter their email and select Send sign-in link.

Expected Outcome

The customer is signed in again within a minute, on a link that works for up to 90 days, and you know from the message they read out exactly which situation they are in.

Troubleshooting

Problem: The login page says “We’ve made a security update, so everyone needs to sign in again.” Cause: Their browser still held a sign-in the portal would no longer accept. Every customer who was signed in on 28 August 2026 was signed out this way once, when portal security was tightened. Fix: Nothing in their account has changed. They enter their email and select Send sign-in link, or you use Send Portal Link.

Problem: The customer tapped a text link and sees “This link has expired. Ask your garage to send you a new one.” Cause: The link is more than 90 days old, or it is an old-style short link used after 27 November 2026. Fix: Use Send Portal Link. It takes a few seconds.

Problem: The customer tapped a text link and sees “This link is no longer valid. Ask your garage to send you a new one.” Cause: The link was mistyped or cut short when copied, or it belongs to a record that has since been merged or deleted. Fix: Use Send Portal Link. If it happens again, check you are on the right customer record.

Problem: The customer clicked an email link and sees “Your link has expired. Request a new one below.” or “That link is no longer valid.” Cause: The link in the email has run out or been replaced. Fix: They enter their email on that page and select Send sign-in link, or you use Send Portal Link.

Problem: The customer sees a page that says “Too many requests. Please wait a minute and tap the link again.” Cause: The link was tapped many times in a short spell, or several people are using the same office or shop connection. Fix: Wait a minute and tap it again. If several unrelated customers report this on the same day, or it does not clear after a few minutes, contact support.

Problem: The customer says it showed a green “If an account exists with this email, you will receive a link shortly” box, but no email arrives. Cause: That box appears for any address, including one the garage has never recorded. It stops strangers finding out who your customers are. Often the address they typed is not the one on their record, or there is no email on file at all. Fix: Check the email on the customer record. If there is none, use Send Portal Link by SMS.

Problem: The login form answers “Unable to process request. Please try again later.” Cause: The login page was opened on an address that does not belong to your garage, for example after following a broken text link, so the form cannot tell which garage to send a link from. Fix: Use Send Portal Link. The new link signs them in on your garage’s own portal address.

Problem: The login page also shows “No email on file, or the link isn’t arriving? Call … and they can text you a sign-in link.” Cause: Expected. That line is always there, for customers the email form cannot help. Fix: When they call, use Send Portal Link by SMS.

Problem: A customer was in the middle of something and saw “You have been signed out, so that didn’t go through.” Cause: Their sign-in ended while the page was open. On the quote approval page and the booking form, the message adds that their answers have not been saved. Fix: They select Sign in again. After signing in they land on the portal home page, so they may need to open the page again. On the quote approval page or the booking form they start their choices again.

Problem: The messages page says “You have been signed out, so this page has stopped updating.” Cause: Their sign-in ended while the page was open, so new messages from the garage will not appear. Fix: They sign in again. Nothing sent to them is lost.

Problem: The customer says a quote or invoice PDF link opened the sign-in page. Cause: PDF links need the customer to be signed in. A PDF link forwarded to someone else asks that person to sign in too. The sign-in page it opens says “We’ve made a security update”, even when nothing has changed, because that is the wording used for any PDF link opened while signed out. Fix: The customer signs in and downloads the PDF from the portal. To share it, they can send the file itself.

Problem: A customer tried the Password tab and gets “Invalid email or password”. Cause: Password sign-in on the portal is not working at the moment. Customers do not need it. Fix: Ask them to use the Email link tab, or send them a link with Send Portal Link. Their account and password are not affected.

Problem: A customer clicked a password reset email and sees a page in your garage’s colours with a Continue to reset your password button. Cause: Expected. Reset links open this page first so that email security scanners cannot use up the link before the customer clicks it. Fix: They press the button once. Even after a reset, the Password tab still does not work at the moment, so point them at the Email link tab or use Send Portal Link.

Problem: A customer’s reset link says “This link has expired or was already used”. Cause: The link has been used once or has run out. Fix: The page offers Request a new link and Sign in with an emailed code. The emailed code is the quicker route back in.

Problem: “We can’t find your account with this garage any more. Please contact the garage - signing in again won’t help.” Cause: The customer record behind their sign-in has been merged into another record or removed. Fix: Find the record they now belong to and use Send Portal Link from there.

Notes

A link the garage sends signs in whoever taps it. Customers should not forward portal emails or texts. To share a quote, they can send the PDF.
An expired or broken text link asks the customer to contact the garage rather than use the form, because the form cannot always tell which garage they belong to from a text link.
A customer with no email address who has opted out of texts cannot be sent a link. With their agreement on the call, add an email address and send the link by email. A customer who has asked for all contact to stop cannot be sent a link by any route until contact is turned back on.