Booking protection
The code from the email, a limit on appointments per person, a review of new bookings and blocking, against fake bookings.
On this page
Fake bookings take times away from real customers, and their confirmations go to other people's addresses. The owner sets up protection in Settings → Booking protection. Appointments you enter in the admin are never limited.
The code from the email
Before an online booking is written, the customer can get an email with a six-digit code and enter it on the page. The code proves that the address exists and belongs to the person booking. It is valid for 10 minutes, and after 5 wrong tries a new one is needed.
Under Code from the email before booking you choose:
- Off: the booking is written straight away, without a code.
- New people only (the default): the code is asked for at the first online booking. Whoever has already come to an appointment or confirmed a code with the same phone and email books without one. The phone alone is not enough.
- Always: the code is asked for at every online booking.
The code proves the email, not the time. If someone takes the chosen time in the meantime, the customer picks another and the code is still valid.
Unusually many new bookings
When at least 10 online bookings from new people arrive within an hour, the code is asked of everyone new, even when it is off. The owner gets an email with a link to the review of new bookings. It ends by itself once there are fewer bookings.
Most upcoming appointments per person
Most upcoming online appointments per person limits how many future appointments one person can book online. Appointments with the same phone or the same email count. Whoever reaches the limit sees a message on the page asking them to contact you directly. By default there is no limit.
Review of new online bookings
New online bookings (the Review link in the protection settings) shows upcoming appointments booked online in the last 7 days by new people, newest first. Each shows how it was checked: by the code from the email, by an earlier appointment, or not at all.
Tick the fake ones and click Cancel selected (no email). The appointments are cancelled without a single email, and the times are free again. You can also block online booking with their details at the same time.
Blocking
On a customer's page, in the Customers menu, Block online booking closes online booking and the waiting list for their phone number and for every email address used in their bookings:
- their upcoming appointments can be cancelled at once, without an email;
- their waiting-list entries are closed;
- instead of times, the booking page asks them to contact you directly.
You can still book appointments for them yourself. Blocked customers are shown in the customer list (the Blocked view), where you can unblock them. Blocking and the review of new bookings are for the owner only.
What else protects the page
Every public action, from booking to sending a code, has a limited number of tries per address and per network, and the form has a hidden field that only automated programs fill in. You don't need to switch any of it on.