Hey!
Today we're going to talk about what to do when your slots are not available even though you are free.
NeetoCal Troubleshooting feature helps you to figure out why certain slots are unavailable and what may be causing a conflict in your schedule.
It tells you exactly what the reason is so that you can ensure that your customers can find the right slots for them.
Before we proceed with troubleshooting, there are a few things we must ensure.
NeetoCal allows you to set your availabilities based on your schedule.
First, make sure your availability is set up correctly.
Also, ensure you have selected the correct time slots for your meetings.
Only slots that fit within your availability can be booked by your customers.
Additionally, check if any availability overrides have been set up for that day.
If overrides are set, the available slots will be based on the overridden availability, not the default.
After these checks, if the slot is still unavailable, we can utilize the troubleshooting feature.
There can be several reasons for a slot being unavailable.
Troubleshooting helps you find out the exact reason.
Let's go over each possible issue one by one.
First, let's address overlapping bookings.
Suppose a client wants to schedule a meeting with me on October 30th at 1 PM.
They're saying I'm appearing as unavailable on my booking page, even though I am free.
First, I'll select the meeting I want to troubleshoot.
From here, we can preview our booking page by clicking the icon in the top right of your screen.
Once the booking page opens, click on the start troubleshooting button.
Let's select the 30th and scroll down to the 1 PM slot.
When I hover over the help icon, it indicates there is a conflicting event: a lunch break on my Google Calendar event.
This is making me appear busy.
So, I've opened my Google Calendar to investigate.
On the 30th, I’ve blocked off one hour for lunch between 1 and 2 PM.
If I click on the pencil icon, I can see that my availability is set to busy, even though I might be free.
Let’s adjust it to free and save it.
Now, I’ll go back to my booking page to check for changes.
I’m still in troubleshooting mode.
If I select the 30th and scroll down to the 1 PM slot.
We can see that the previously blocked slot is now available.
Next, let’s discuss lead time.
Imagine a client wants to book a meeting on the 24th at 1 PM.
As you can see, the 1PM slot is not available.
Let’s use the troubleshooting tool to investigate.
When I scroll down to the 1 PM slot.
It reveals that the lead time of one day prevents this slot from being available.
Back in my meeting link, I can see the lead time is set to 1 day.
This means invitees can only book a time 1 day ahead of the current time.
Since the current time is within that 1 day window of 1 PM, the slot will be unavailable.
I can either remove the lead time or ask my customer to book for a later date.
Now, let’s move on to buffer time.
Let’s say I have three clients trying to book meetings at 3 PM, 4 PM, and 5 PM on October 30th.
The first client has already booked their meeting for 4 PM.
The other two clients are complaining they cannot book meetings at 3 PM and 5 PM.
Let’s head back to my booking page and open the troubleshooting tool.
I’ll select the 30th and scroll down to the 3 PM and 5 PM slots.
Hovering over the help icon reveals that the reason for the unavailability is a buffer time of 30 minutes before the meeting with Thomas.
Similarly, at 5 PM, the reason is also buffer time.
Now, let’s look into the buffer time setting.
In my meeting settings, if I navigate to the host tab, I can see that the availability selected for this meeting is all day.
If I go back to my home page.
Select availability, and click on all day.
I can find the buffer time settings.
We have set a buffer time of 30 minutes before and after each meeting.
This means slots falling within the buffer time before and after a previous booking will be marked as unavailable.
I can remove the buffer time by clicking on actions, editing, and setting them back to zero.
Then save the changes.
I’ll return to my booking page.
Now, when I scroll down to the 3 PM and 5 PM slots, we can see that they are now available for booking.
Lastly, let’s discuss daily limits.
Suppose a client is trying to book a meeting on the 28th but I’m shown as unavailable for the entire day.
If I start troubleshooting and check the reason, it states that the booking limit has been reached for the day.
To understand this, I’ll return to my meeting settings page and navigate to the configure tab.
Here, you can find a card for limits.
It indicates that I have set a meeting limit of one per day, and since one client has already booked a meeting on the 28th, no further bookings can be made that day.
I can either delete the daily limit or increase it.
By clicking on the edit button here, we can increase the limit.
Let's increase it to 5 meetings per day.
Back on my booking page, we can see that the 28th is now available for booking.
That’s it!
We have covered all the possible reasons why your slots might be unavailable when you are indeed free.
If you’re still unable to diagnose the problem, please reach out to us.
You can do this by navigating to the help icon and clicking on chat with support.
Feel free to add any questions or difficulties you’re facing here, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you!