PetGroomBossPro Blog — Repeat Appointments

Changing a Repeat Grooming Client's Day, Time or Van Going Forward

“I started a new job, can we do Saturdays now?” Every mobile groomer gets that text eventually. A fixed slot is only useful if it is easy to move when life changes. In PetGroomBossPro, a lasting change to a client's day, time or van is made once, on the series, and every upcoming visit follows.

Lasting Change or One-Off?

The list where this happens is described in The Recurring Clients List: Every Repeat Grooming Series in One Place. Before you open it, ask the client one question: is this for good, or just this once?

• Just this once (“can you come Thursday instead this week?”): move that single visit on Pending Jobs. The series stays on its usual slot.
• For good (“Saturdays from now on”): change the series on the Recurring Clients list. Every upcoming visit moves.

Getting this right keeps the book tidy. If you move one visit when the client meant forever, the next visit shows up on the old day. If you change the series when they meant once, every future visit moves when it should not.

Changing the Day

Open the client's series on the Recurring Clients list and pick the new weekday. The upcoming visits move to that weekday, keeping the same frequency. A client who was every 6 weeks on Tuesday becomes every 6 weeks on Saturday.

Before you change it, look at the new day on Pending Jobs. Is there room on that van? Is that van in the client's part of town on that weekday? A day change is easiest when the van already works nearby on the new day.

Changing the Time

Time changes are the most common. The client needs you earlier before work, or later after school pickup. Change the time on the series, and every upcoming visit gets the new arrival time.

The new time shows on the groomer's card and drives the customer's reminders and alerts, so nobody has to remember that “the Garcias moved to 2pm.” Check the van's day for that weekday first, so the new time does not land on top of another repeat client.

Changing the Van

Van changes usually come from your side, not the client's. You add a second van and split the territory. A groomer leaves and their clients move to someone else. You want the long-coated dogs on the van with the stronger dryer setup. Whatever the reason, change the van on each affected series, and the upcoming visits move to that van's days and that groomer's phone.

The pets, cut notes, add-ons and van notes all come along, because they live with the client's visits. The new groomer opens the card and sees “#7 blade body, teddy bear face, nervous with the dryer” just as the old one did. Splitting a book across vans is covered in Two Vans, One Book of Repeat Clients: Splitting Recurring Grooming Across Vans.

What Stays the Same

A day, time or van change works going forward only. Visits already groomed stay on the day they happened, with the van that did them and the invoice that was created. Your history stays honest: if you look back at last spring, you see where the client actually was, not where they are now.

The rest of the series stays the same too: the service, the frequency, the price and the add-ons. If you need to change the price as well, that is a separate edit on the same list, covered in Changing Prices on Upcoming Repeat Grooming Visits Without Rebooking Anyone.

Telling the Client

Once the series is changed, let the client know with a quick text from the office. Two-way texting keeps the conversation in one place. Their next night-before reminder will use the new day and time, which doubles as a confirmation. If they use the customer app, they will see their place on the route on the new day when it comes.

A good habit is to repeat the new slot back in plain words: “You're all set for every 6 weeks on Saturday at 9am, starting the 18th.” It removes any doubt about whether the change was for good.

Keep the Slot, Change It When Needed

Fixed slots work because they hold steady, and they last because they are easy to move when a client's life changes. For the full set of repeat tools, from Add Recurring Grooming to auto-charge, go back to the PetGroomBossPro recurring grooming software page.