Discover OpenCal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of businesses does OpenCal work for?

OpenCal online appointment scheduling works for the majority of service businesses, from a one-person shop that visits clients at home or a multi-staff business with a fixed location. OpenCal is flexible enough to adapt to how your business operates by allowing you to define custom appointment policies, hours, service areas, service criteria, and more.

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Do I need to have a website to use OpenCal?

Nope! Your OpenCal account comes with a free customizable website with a branded web address (yourbiz.opencal.com). Best of all, your OpenCal website is optimized to show up in local search results on Google and other search engine. If you happen to already own a website, that's great too, all you need to do is add a "Book Now" button to it.

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Can I manually accept or deny incoming appointments?

Yes. The default setting is to automatically accept all incoming appointments. This provides the best experience for your customers, but if you wish, you can also opt to manually accept/deny new online appointments before they are confirmed.

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Can I add appointments taken by phone or in person to my schedule?

Absolutely - it's as easy as drag-and-drop to add new online appointments with OpenCal's interactive calendar. We recommend using it to schedule both your online and "offline" appointments. OpenCal's calendar is flexible - you can even add events, block off unavailable hours, create repeat appointments, or double book time slots.

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Can my customers reschedule or cancel their own appointments?

It's up to you. By default, your customers will have the ability to cancel or reschedule their appointments through the same interface with which they book appointments. OpenCal gives you complete control over your cancellation policy details, such as how close to the appointment time customers can cancel or reschedule online (e.g. no more than 24 hours before an appointment). You can also turn off online cancelling and rescheduling completely if you wish.

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What kind of appointment notifications do my customers receive?

OpenCal helps reduce the time you spend on the phone with helpful email notifications for your customers. Your customers will receive a confirmation email when they book their appointment, an appointment reminder prior to their scheduled time, plus a notice when you change, deny or cancel an appointment. You can also choose to have your customers receive a follow-up email after their appointment that asks them for feedback. Of course, you and your staff also receive email notifications.

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How will I be notified when customers book appointments?

We built OpenCal considering that busy professionals like you are on the go. In addition to instantly notifying you of new appointments in the OpenCal calendar when you are online, you and your staff can receive email notifications of new appointments, cancellations, and time or staff changes.

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What if my business offers customized services of varying length or cost?

Often the case with businesses like dental practices, real estate agents, and consultants, some services just don't have a pre-defined length and cost. You can still take advantage of OpenCal by setting up slots for initial consultations or standard services (with defined costs or not), and limit online bookings to just a part of your day or a few days per week. It's a great way to meet new clients and gather leads online.

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I need time to prepare before or after appointments. Does that work with OpenCal?

No problem, when you define your services, you can "pad" appointments with preparation or travel time before and after. This padding time is automatically reflected in the available appointment slots your clients see.

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Which countries does OpenCal work in?

Currently OpenCal is designed to work in the US and Canada, but you can still use OpenCal if your business is located in another country.

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What are the system and browser requirements?

The beauty of OpenCal is that it requires no installation, updates, or maintenance on your part! Unlike traditional software systems, you can access OpenCal 24/7 from anywhere with an internet connection, and it works in all modern web browsers (Safari, Chrome, FireFox, Opera, and IE8) on PC, Mac and Linux systems. We recommend using OpenCal on a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher, and with an internet connection of 256Kb/s or faster. OpenCal is highly optimized to load and operate quickly even on "slower" computers.

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Is my data safe and secure? Can I export it?

Yes. Our computer servers are protected and backed-up daily at major data centres. Our network is protected by a firewall and all plans include SSL encryption to keep your data safe. You may also export your data at any time.

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What if a prankster decides to book 100 appointments with me?

OpenCal is designed to protect you from spam and fake online appointments. If someone books too many appointments in a short amount of time, it will automatically block their system for a period of time. It will also try to prevent automated submissions. If one ever does get through, you can simply delete it from your calendar.

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Do you offer a free trial? Can I cancel or change my plan at any time?

The first 10 online appointments after signing up are free. If you wish to continue receiving online appointments afterwards, you must upgrade your account to a paid plan. You can change your plan at any time without interrupting service by going to "Account & Billing" in the "Settings" tab. If you choose to cancel your account you will never be charged again, but you are responsible for charges already incurred up to your cancellation. Simple and fair!

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What kind of support or training do you provide?

We offer email support on all our paid plans, and both email and phone support on the Pro and Premium plans. OpenCal was designed to be intuitive and easy to use. You likely won't need any training, but we are here for you if you need help.

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