Troubleshooting Scheduling & Availability

Use this guide when customers can’t find time slots, the wrong slots appear, or staff calendars don’t match what you expect.

⚡ Quick checklist

Is the service Active?
If the service is Draft/Inactive, customers won’t be able to book it.
Is at least 1 team member assigned to the service?
No assigned team member = no availability to show.
Does the team member have availability for that day/time?
If there are no working hours set, customers won’t see slots.
Is the date blocked off?
Blocked dates/times override normal availability.
Are you restricting the booking window?
Rules like booking date range, max days ahead, or last-minute cutoff can hide slots.

Rules like booking date range, max days ahead, or last-minute cutoff can hide slots.

🔍 Common problems & fixes

1) “No available time slots” on the storefront

Most likely causes

No team members assigned to the service
Team member has no availability set
Date range/booking window is too narrow
The day is blocked off

Fix

Open the service → Availability tab → confirm at least one team member is assigned
Open the team member calendar → set working hours (try Set all day to test quickly)
Check Booking date range / max days ahead / cutoff settings
Remove or adjust blocks for that period

Example Case: Staff availability is shorter than service duration

What’s happening

A time slot can only be shown if the entire service duration fits inside the staff’s available time.

If the service takes longer than the available window, no slots will appear, even though the staff looks “available”.

Service settings

Service duration: 1 hour

Team member availability

Available time: 11:00 – 11:30 (30 minutes)

❌ Result on storefront

No available time slots shown

🤔 Why?

The service needs 60 minutes
The staff is only available for 30 minutes
There is no continuous 1-hour window, so the system cannot create a valid booking slot

How the system checks availability

Available time ≥ Service duration

If this rule is not met → no slots are shown

How to fix it

Choose one of the following:

Option 1: Extend staff availability

Example:

Change availability from 11:00 – 11:30
To 11:00 – 12:00 (or longer)

⇒ A 1-hour slot can now be created

Option 2: Shorten the service duration

Example:

Change service duration from 1 hour
To 30 minutes

✅ The 11:00 – 11:30 slot will now appear

Option 3: Use buffers carefully

If you have:

Time needed before or after appointment

Make sure availability is long enough to cover:

Service duration
+ buffer before
+ buffer after

2) Customers only see a few dates (or only this week/month)

Most likely causes

Booking date range is limited (ex: Dec 1–Dec 31)
Maximum days customers can book ahead is set low

Fix

Increase your booking date range
Raise “maximum days ahead” to match your policy (ex: 60–90 days)

3) Customers can book too soon / too late

Most likely causes

Time needed before appointment starts is 0 (allows last-minute bookings)
Last-minute booking cutoff is too small

Fix

Add preparation time (ex: 2–24 hours)
Increase last-minute cutoff if you need more lead time

4) Overlapping bookings happen (double-booking)

Most likely causes

Allow overlapping time slots is enabled
Capacity is set higher than intended

Fix

Disable “Allow overlapping time slots” if you want one booking per slot
Set Capacity = 1 for 1:1 services

5) Slots look wrong (spacing, length, or start times)

Most likely causes

Service duration doesn’t match your intended session length
Buffer time before/after appointment changes slot spacing

Fix

Confirm Duration in the service settings
Check Time needed before/after to ensure buffers aren’t creating gaps

6) A staff member is “available” but customers still can’t book them

Most likely causes

Staff is not assigned to the service
Staff availability exists, but the specific date is blocked
Time zone mismatch (store vs staff/customer expectation)

Fix

Service → Availability → assign the staff member
Staff calendar → remove “Unavailable” blocks on that date
Double-check time zone settings and location time zone (if used)

7) Customer can’t choose Pay now / Pay later

Most likely causes

Service is not set to Pay to book
“Allow customer to choose pay now or pay later” is not selected

Fix

Service → Choose payment type → select Pay to book
Select Allow customer to choose pay now or pay later
Test on storefront booking popup to confirm the “Payment method” options appear

🧷 What to include when contacting support

Copy/paste this info to speed things up:

Service name + link/screenshot of its settings (Duration, Capacity, Payment type)
Team member name + screenshot of their availability week
Exact date/time you expected to be bookable
Storefront link + screenshot of the booking popup result

🙋 Still need support?

If you still need help, please feel free to contact us at hi@tipo.io. We’ll be happy to assist you further.