Online booking

Summary

Online booking lets a customer pick a service, choose a time, and book it themselves. No phone call, and no account to create. You decide which services can be booked, how they are described, whether a deposit is required, and which bays can take each job.

Your booking page lives at your own web address followed by /book. If your garage is yourgarage.torqueflow.app, customers book at yourgarage.torqueflow.app/book. You can share that link, or drop the booking page straight into your own website.

This is the self-service counterpart to the Voice AI, which already books on a caller’s behalf. See Voice AI bookings and payment links for the phone route.

Prerequisites

1. You are signed in as an Owner or Manager.
2. Your services are set up with durations and prices. See Manage services and pricing.
3. Your bays and opening hours are configured, so the system can offer real slots. See Managing bays.
4. To take deposits, your garage has a connected Stripe account. See Online payments.

Steps

Choose which services can be booked online

1. Go to Settings > Services.
2. Open a service you want customers to be able to book.
3. Turn on Bookable online.
4. Set how the service appears to customers:
   • Display name is the name the customer sees. You can make it friendlier than the internal name.
   • Description is a short line explaining what the service includes.
   • Display order is where it sits in the list of bookable services.
5. Save. Repeat for each service you want bookable.

Leave a service’s toggle off to keep it off the public list. Customers only see services you have marked bookable.

Set which bays can do which work

1. Go to Settings > Bays.
2. Set the capabilities of each bay. For example, mark which bays can do an MOT.
3. Match each bookable service to the bays that can perform it.

When a customer books, the available times are worked out from the bays that can actually do the chosen service. So you never get a booking into a bay that cannot take it. If no bay can do a service, the public page shows “no availability” for it rather than offering a slot you cannot honour.

Require a deposit (optional)

A deposit protects you against no-shows. The customer pays it when they book, and it is credited against their final bill.

1. Go to Settings > Services and open a bookable service.
2. Turn on Requires deposit.
3. Set a fixed deposit amount and a short deposit description explaining your policy.
4. Save.

A few things to know:

1. Deposits need a connected Stripe account. If a service needs a deposit but Stripe is not connected, you will see a warning, and that service falls back to booking without payment rather than promising a deposit you cannot collect.
2. The deposit is credited against the final invoice automatically. If the deposit is larger than the finished job, the invoice shows as paid and the difference is recorded as owed back to the customer.
3. The slot is not held until the deposit is paid. If two customers try the same slot at once, only the paid booking keeps it. The other customer is offered the next available time.

Add booking to your own website

You can put the booking page straight onto your existing site so customers never leave it.

1. Go to Settings > Embed.
2. Copy one of the two snippets, each pre-filled with your own web address:
   • The script snippet resizes itself to fit your page, with no inner scrollbar. Use this one if you can.
   • The plain iframe snippet is a simple fallback for site builders that block scripts.
3. Paste the snippet into your website where you want the booking form to appear.

The embedded form carries a small “Powered by Torqueflow” line. When a customer pays a deposit, they are taken briefly to a secure payment page and then returned. By default, anyone can embed your booking page. Locking it to your own domains is coming in a later update.

What your customers see

A customer opens yourgarage.torqueflow.app/book, or your booking form embedded on your own site, and works through a few short steps:

1. Pick a service from the list you set up, with its description, duration, and price. A deposit is flagged here if one applies.
2. Choose a location, if your garage has more than one. Single-location garages skip this.
3. Choose a time from the available slots for that day.
4. Enter their details: name, phone, email, and vehicle registration.
5. Accept your terms. First-time customers tick to accept your terms and conditions. The tick is never pre-filled, and any marketing opt-in is off by default.
6. Review and confirm. The customer checks everything on a final step before anything is booked. If a deposit applies, they pay it on a secure payment page, and the booking confirms once payment goes through.

The customer gets a confirmation on screen and by email. The booking lands in your scheduler and on the workshop board, exactly like a Voice AI booking, with the work order set to awaiting drop-off.

Expected Outcome

• Only the services you marked bookable appear to customers.
• Each bookable service shows the name, description, and price you set, in the order you chose.
• Available times reflect the bays that can actually perform the chosen service.
• If you require a deposit, the customer pays it at booking, and it comes off their final bill.

Notes

1. Online booking and the Voice AI use the same scheduler underneath. A booking from either route shows up in your calendar and on the workshop board.
2. Marking a service bookable does not change anything for staff creating jobs by hand. It only controls the public list.
3. The booking page and embedded widget work in both English and Polish, following your garage’s language setting.

Troubleshooting

Problem: A service is not appearing for customers to book. Cause: Its Bookable online toggle is off, or no bay is set up to perform it. Fix: Turn the toggle on under Settings > Services, and check a bay is matched to that service under Settings > Bays.

Problem: Customers see no available times for a service. Cause: No bay that can do that service has open hours in the period, or opening hours are not set. Fix: Check the bay capabilities and your opening hours under Settings.

Problem: A service should take a deposit but does not. Cause: Stripe is not connected, so the deposit cannot be collected and the service falls back to booking without payment. Fix: Connect Stripe under Online payments, then re-check the service.

Problem: You want to be sure deposits charge correctly on your embedded form. Cause: Test mode confirms the form and flow, but does not take a real deposit yet. Fix: Place one real low-value booking through the embedded widget to confirm the deposit is taken end to end.