Adding and cancelling appointments

First session and follow-up session

The client books a first session themselves from your free times. You add all further appointments, usually at the end of a session. They are called follow-up sessions. Your times from “Times and video link” play no role here. You can choose any time at which you do not yet have an appointment.

If you have already had a session and the client then books a free time themselves, for example via “Find an appointment” in their room, it becomes a follow-up session. With a fee, a payment is then open, as with every follow-up session. Clients can only book one appointment at a time themselves.

Adding an appointment

1. Open the room and click “Add” in the “Appointments” card.
2. Choose the “Date”, “Time” and “Duration”. The duration goes from 30 to 90 minutes, and the one from “Times and video link” is suggested.
3. Choose the “Type”: “In person”, “Video” or “Phone”. For “In person” you enter the “Place”. It also appears in your calendar.
4. Click “Add”.

The client sees the appointment in their room. If they have turned on emails, they get a notification. If you already have an appointment at the same time, onlineberatung.digital tells you. Two appointments at the same time are not possible, no matter who adds them.

If someone joins a video appointment, you invite them afterwards. How this works is explained in Video session and whiteboard.

Recording a past session

If you did not add a session, you can add it afterwards with the correct date. This goes back a few weeks. Exactly how far is shown in the window. For sessions recorded afterwards, the client does not get an email notification.

Cancelling

You cancel an upcoming appointment in the room: in the “Appointments” card with “Cancel appointment”, and for further appointments below it with “Cancel”. You can also do it in “My workspace”, under “Upcoming appointments”. There the button is called “Decline” in an online room and “Cancel” in an in-person case. Once an appointment has started, it can no longer be cancelled. After a cancellation:

• The client sees the cancellation in their room and gets a notification if they have turned on emails.
• Invited guests get an email, and their link no longer opens.
• The appointment disappears from your connected calendar.

If the client cancels themselves, the appointment shows in the room as “cancelled”. If it was shortly before, “short notice” is added. You get a short email with the time, without names and without content. If your centre charges a fee and the cancellation was at short notice, the email also says that you can charge a cancellation fee.

If you close a room or it is handed over, all upcoming appointments are cancelled. Invited guests then get an email, and so does the client if they have turned on emails.

Reminders

Clients who have turned on emails get a reminder the day before and shortly before the appointment. Invited guests get one the day before. The emails contain no names and no content. They only point to the link to the video session for video appointments. For appointments in person or by phone, they only say that everything else is in the room.

onlineberatung.digital does not remind you yourself. Connect your calendar or use the subscription link, and all appointments will be there. How this works is explained in Times and video link.

If your centre charges a fee

If your centre works with a sliding-scale fee, you see the “Fee” card in online rooms. The first session is free. After each follow-up session a payment is open. The client chooses a level themselves when paying. This does not exist for in-person cases.

For every past follow-up session, the list of appointments shows the status: “open”, “paid”, “waived” or “cash or bank transfer”. For open sessions you have two buttons:

• “Waive”, if you do without the fee,
• “Cash or bank transfer”, if the person has paid another way.

“Reopen” undoes this. “Remind” writes a short message in your name in the room, at most once a day. You see the text beforehand. If someone cancels at short notice, “Charge cancellation fee” creates a payment for the cancellation. Follow-up sessions recorded afterwards are open straight away.

Paying via onlineberatung.digital is still being set up. If an amount says “(Demo)”, nothing has been charged. Your centre or practice writes invoices itself.

No payment links in the chat

Many clients read their room in the “Beratungsraum” app on iPhone or iPad. Nothing is bought in this app, and it must not ask people to pay elsewhere either. This is what Apple requires. So do not send payment links or amounts in the chat. The message from “Remind” only appears in the app as “Note: a payment is still outstanding.” You agree how to pay in the session, in the room in the browser or via your centre's invoice.