Your customers never make a password. Everything they see opens from a link you send them, and it comes in two parts:
- The order page shows one order: the estimate, the inspection report and the invoice. It opens from the button in an estimate, inspection or invoice email, with no sign-in.
- Their account shows everything: every vehicle, booking, invoice and inspection report, from every shop on GarageFlow they've visited. Most other emails you send carry a button that signs them straight into it.
The order page is on every plan. The account comes with the Growth plan and above.
The order page
This is where a customer approves an estimate, reads an inspection and pays. It's built for a phone, because that's where most people open it.
| Part | What the customer can do |
|---|---|
| Estimate tab | See each service and its lines, then tick what they want done and sign. See estimates and authorization. |
| Inspection tab | Look through the inspection with its photos and videos, and tick Request a quote on findings they want priced. See digital inspections. |
| Summary | The totals, and once the order is invoiced, the amount still owed and a Pay button. |
| Download the document as a PDF. |
The page shows prices the way your customer is billed: a labor line carries the rate after any labor matrix, and parts carry their selling price. Your costs, base rates and internal notes never reach it. A service's Customer Note is shown under that service, which is what it's for.
It opens in your shop's main language. The customer can switch language from the page header.
The emails that link to it
| Button | Where it lands | |
|---|---|---|
| Estimate | Review Estimate | The estimate |
| Inspection report | Review Inspection | The Inspection tab |
| Invoice | Pay Invoice | The invoice. The PDF is attached to the email as well. |
All three open the same page for the same order. Send the estimate and later the invoice, and both buttons take the customer to one place that shows where the job has got to.
How long the link works
| Last thing you sent | The link works until |
|---|---|
| Estimate or inspection | 7 days after you sent it |
| Invoice | 30 days after the invoice's due date, and at least 30 days |
Every send moves that date later and never earlier. Sending an estimate again after the first week opens the link for another 7 days, and the button in the customer's first email works again too, because it's the same link.
Once it has run out, the page says This estimate link is invalid or has expired. Send the email again, or ask the customer to open the order from their account, which always works.
Copying the link yourself
To send the link some other way, such as a text message, use the button in the order's header:
- Copy Review Link while the estimate is waiting for the customer's decision.
- Copy Pay Link once the order is invoiced and something is still owed.
It copies the same link the email carries, so it appears once one of those emails has gone out, and it lasts as long as the email's link does. You need Invoice and take payment to see it.
Once the order is invoiced
The page becomes the invoice. It's headed Your Invoice and named by the invoice number, and the customer can still read the estimate lines and the inspection, but there's nothing to tick or sign. The summary shows the invoice's own figures: Grand Total, Paid to Date and Remaining Balance, tax and fees included.
- Pay appears when you take card payments and money is still owed, whether the customer approved the estimate online or you approved it with them at the counter. See accepting card payments.
- If you don't take card payments, the page says your shop doesn't take payment online and asks them to get in touch to pay.
- A bank debit that is still clearing shows as on its way, and the customer isn't asked to pay again.
- A customer who has just paid by card sees Confirming Your Payment until the payment is confirmed.
- Paid in full shows once the invoice is settled.
The customer's account
Included in GrowthThe account is part of the Growth plan and above. On Basic, the emails below go out without their button, and your shop's records don't appear in a customer's account. Upgrade and they appear, with all their history; nothing is lost in between.
Signing in
The customer signs in with Sign in with Google, or with Email me a link, which sends a sign-in link that works once and expires in 15 minutes. The account is created the first time they sign in, and they stay signed in for 30 days on that device.
Most emails you send also carry a button that signs them in directly:
| Button | |
|---|---|
| Appointment booked, confirmed, reminded or moved | View my appointment, or View my request while you review it |
| Appointment canceled | View my account |
| Order created, status update, job finished | View my order |
| Payment received | View my invoices |
| Payment reminder | View my invoice |
Each of these buttons works once, for 14 days. Opened a second time, it says the link has already been used and offers Go to my garage, which opens the account if they're still signed in on that device. Otherwise they sign in again with Google or an email link.
Which records it shows
An account isn't something you set up. When a customer signs in, GarageFlow looks for customer records with that email address, at your shop and at any other shop on GarageFlow, and the account shows all of them.
Warning
The email on the customer's record is the key. A customer who signs in with a different address, or whose record has no email, sees nothing from your shop. Put the right address on their record and your shop's history appears the next time they sign in.
Another shop never sees your records. The account only brings them together for the customer.
What's in it
- Waiting on you lists what needs the customer: an estimate to approve (Review & approve) and an invoice with money still owed (View & pay), with its due date.
- Vehicles lists every vehicle on their records, with its plate and specs.
- Bookings shows Upcoming and Past appointments.
- Invoices lists every invoice, marked Paid, Due or Overdue.
- Inspection reports lists the completed inspections.
- Book appointment opens the online booking page of a shop they've visited, most visited first. A shop only appears there when its online booking is switched on.
An order appears once there's something for the customer to see: you sent its estimate, issued its invoice or completed an inspection on it. An order you're still writing stays out of sight until then.
Opening an order from the account takes the customer to its order page with a fresh link, so it works however long ago you sent the email.
Note
An invoice paid by bank debit that is still clearing isn't listed under Waiting on you and never shows as overdue. The customer has paid; the money just hasn't landed yet.
Changing a booking
A customer can Manage an upcoming booking from their account:
- Reschedule picks a new time from your open slots, under the same rules as online booking.
- Cancel booking frees the slot, with an optional reason for you.
Either way your team is notified, and the customer gets the usual email. Changes you make yourself from the calendar don't notify your team.
A customer can only change a booking that is pending review, scheduled or confirmed, and only up to a cutoff before it starts. Set it with Customer change cutoff (hours) under Settings → Appointment Scheduler. It's 24 hours to start with, and 0 means no cutoff. Inside the cutoff, the customer is asked to contact you instead.
Reschedule needs online booking switched on, because that's where your opening hours and slots come from. Without it, the customer can cancel but not move a booking.
The account opens in the language of the customer's browser, and they can switch it from the page.
Troubleshooting
"The link says it's invalid or has expired." It ran out. Send the email again, which reopens it, or have the customer open the order from their account.
"My customer signed in but sees nothing from us." Check the email on their customer record matches the one they signed in with, and that you're on the Growth plan or above. If both are right, nothing has been sent yet: an order shows once its estimate is sent, its invoice issued or an inspection completed.
"There's no Pay button." The order isn't invoiced yet, it's already paid, a bank debit is still clearing, or you don't take card payments.
"The emails have no View my order button." The account is a Growth feature, so on Basic those emails go out without it. The estimate, inspection and invoice emails keep their buttons on every plan.
"The customer can't move their booking." The booking is inside your change cutoff, it has already started, or your online booking is switched off, which leaves cancel as the only option.
"The button in an email says the link was already used." Each sign-in button works once. Go to my garage opens the account if they're still signed in; otherwise they sign in again.
"I can't see Copy Review Link or Copy Pay Link." No estimate, inspection or invoice email has gone out for this order yet, the invoice is paid, or you don't have Invoice and take payment.