Customers

Customers

What this is for — one trusted record per client, so nobody retypes an address, a caretaker's number, or how somebody pays.

Where to find it

Left menu → Customers. The list shows the clients for the location selected in the top bar.

Steps — finding a client

1. Use the Search name, phone, address, caretaker… box at the top right of the list.
2. It searches the whole record — name, both phone numbers, email, every saved address, the caretaker, and their facility.
3. Phone numbers match however they're typed: with or without dashes.
4. Click a row to open the record.

Steps — adding a client

1. Click Add customer.
2. Fill in First name and Last name (both required), Phone, Email, Alternate phone.
3. Under Addresses, fill in the first one:
   • Label — what the place is called: Home, Doctor, Dentist.
   • Address, Apt #, City, Zip.
   • Suite # and Department / building for medical buildings.
   • Notes for driver (this address) — gate codes, which entrance.
   • Notes for dispatch (this address) — e.g. call the front desk first.
   • Add another address for as many places as they use.
4. Usual mobility — Ambulatory, Walker, Wheelchair, Gurney. This pre-fills every booking.
5. Residence facility — if they live in a facility rather than at home. Booking uses it to pre-fill Bill to on a Facility Invoice trip, and on invoices with no Bill to chosen, Receivables shows it with from client's facility as a best guess. Billing can also set it from Change Bill to by ticking Also set as this client's usual facility.
6. Caretaker name and Caretaker #.
7. Two Emergency contacts: name, phone, relationship.
8. Who pays and How they pay — two separate questions:
   • Who pays — Private Pay, Facility Invoice, or Not set. This is what Receivables uses to know whose book a trip's charge belongs in.
   • How they pay — only shown for Private Pay — Card on file, Cash, Check, or Not set. Picking card shows Card expires. Card numbers are never stored here.
9. Default broker (leave on None for a client who isn't billed through a broker) and Preferred driver.
10. Driver notes — what the driver sees on every trip for this client. Admin / office notes — office only; drivers never see it.
11. SMS reminders OK and Active client. SMS reminders OK only records that the client agreed to be texted — the program does not send text messages (see 02 — Booking a ride).
12. Click Add customer.

Steps — editing a client (phone number, address, anything)

1. Click their row in the Customers list.
2. Change what you need — First name, Last name, Phone, Alternate phone, Email, addresses, notes — then click Save changes.

A misspelled name is fixed the same way (Caleb asked, 4 September). Edit First name or Last name and save. The corrected name appears on every trip the client has ever had as well as the upcoming ones — nothing needs re-booking. You can get here straight from a trip: click the client's name at the top of the trip panel.

Changing a phone number in the middle of booking a ride: you don't have to finish or throw away the booking. Open Customers in the left menu, find the client, change their Phone, click Save changes, then go back to the booking. The new number is used from then on.

The record also shows two lists you cannot edit:

• Upcoming trips — every scheduled trip in date order, with the count and the last date in the heading ("12 scheduled through Dec 19"). Today's trips are highlighted. This is the reliable answer to "are they on the schedule?"
• Past trips — the most recent 12, as a permanent record.

Steps — the same driver every time (Preferred driver)

The field is called Preferred driver, and it lives on the client's own customer record. Set it for a client who should always ride with the same driver — a regular dialysis client, say.

1. Go to Customers and click the client's row.
2. Pick the driver in the Preferred driver field.
3. If this client already has trips on the books, and your account can also dispatch trips, a checkbox appears — Also put this driver on their upcoming trips (N), where N is how many they have coming up. Tick it to update those trips too, not just new ones. An account that can edit customer records but not dispatch (most Intake accounts) doesn't see this checkbox — putting a driver on a whole schedule of trips is a dispatch decision.
4. Click Save changes. If you ticked the box, a message says how many trips were updated (and how many of those already had this driver, so nothing really changed on them) and how many were skipped and why.

What that does from then on:

• Every new booking for this client starts with that driver already picked in the Driver box, with their usual van. You can still change it for one trip.
• If anyone else is put on this client's trip — at booking or on the board — a warning says "This client has a preferred driver on file — someone else is assigned." It is a warning only; it does not stop you.
• Trips already booked keep the driver they have, unless you ticked the checkbox above. With it ticked, this client's other still-scheduled trips from today on move to the new driver. A trip already on that same driver is left as it is. A trip already sitting with a different driver is left alone. A trip that would double-book the driver — they already have a trip, or the van is already out, at that same time — is skipped, because there's no one to ask "will they ride together?" the way the board does when you're looking right at it. A trip that would truly conflict with the driver's day (day off, requested time off) is skipped too, and so is a trip that's only a held phone-log spot, not a real booking yet. Every skipped trip needs to be fixed by hand. The same "keep this trip / move every future trip" choice is also on the trip panel itself when you reassign one trip directly — see 06 — Trip details. For a repeating schedule, picking the driver when you book the series puts them on every trip — see 03 — Repeating schedules.

Steps — merging duplicates (Executive only)

Only Executive accounts can merge customer records. Dispatcher, Intake and Billing accounts do not see the Merge duplicates button. If you spot a duplicate, ask an Executive to merge it.

When the same person ends up with two records:

1. Click Merge duplicates at the top of the page.
2. Under Keep this account, search for the record that should stay.
3. Under Merge & remove this one, search for the duplicate.
4. Click Merge accounts and confirm.

All the duplicate's trips, calls and invoices move onto the kept account, and the duplicate is deleted. This cannot be undone, so check both records first.

Good to know

• Changing a client's phone number also updates the Person calling · at booking line on their upcoming trips where the old number was the one given at booking. A message tells you how many trips were updated. Trips where someone else called (a facility, a relative) are left alone.

• The list is per location. Switch Sacramento / Fresno in the top bar to see the others.

• Inactive clients stay in the list, badged Inactive, with all their history. Untick Active client rather than deleting anyone.

• Saved addresses are what makes the booking form fast: Pickup from and To facility / destination list them by their label.

• Address notes ride along on every booking automatically — gate codes don't need retyping.

• Driver notes and Admin / office notes are separate on purpose. Anything private to the office belongs in the office box.

• Booking a new client from the booking form creates the record too; you can come back here and fill in the rest whenever you like.

• Adding and editing clients is open to Executive, Dispatcher and Intake accounts. Billing accounts can look but not change. Merge duplicates is Executive only.

If something looks wrong

• The list is cut off on the right / I can't see the Status column — on a narrow screen the table scrolls sideways inside its own box: scroll right within the list (two fingers sideways on a trackpad), or use the scroll bar under it. To see more at once instead, zoom the page out with ⌘ − on a Mac or Ctrl − on Windows (⌘ 0 / Ctrl 0 puts it back) — your browser remembers that per computer. See 01 — Getting around.
• "First and last name are required." — one of them is blank.
• A client isn't in the list — check the location switch; they may be on the other location's list.
• Two records for the same person — use Merge duplicates. If you're not an Executive, ask Caleb.
• The upcoming list looks short — it only shows trips from today onwards. Cancelled trips still appear, badged Cancelled.
• An address you saved isn't offered when booking — saved addresses only appear once the client is selected on the booking form.