Booker Software

It isn't perfect, but gets the job done.

Pros

I like how intuitive Booker is. The reporting function is very useful to track and manage my promotions, tips, employees hours, etc.

Cons

Clients have a lot of trouble creating accounts and logging back in. I don't understand why it happens so often... it creates a lot of duplicates in our system that we have to manually purge. Also wish it integrated with QuickBooks...

Pros

I was excited to transfer my software to Booker. I was told that 99.5% of my information from my previous software company would transfer. The part that would not transfer would only be my stored credit cards. I was good with this. Only to find out on onboarding day that my appointment book does not transfer! I would have to manually re enter my books. WHAT? I have 9 stylists that are booked out almost 6 months in advance! Really? You want me to manually go through and enter every single appointment? They can enter the past, but not the future appointments? WHO DOESNT DO THIS? Booker apparently. I had every question known to man about the program as it would be a huge deal to transfer software for my salon... I have not heard of any other company NOT transfering the most vital part of the business.

Cons

I signed the agreement based on the facts I was given by Customer support representative . I was good with the enrollment fee.... well, come time to transfer, the most vital part of my business could not be transfered.... and they refuse to refund the my fee!! I DIDN't change my mind, they failed to deliver on what Customer support representative
sold to me. Also, they kept charging me a monthly fee although I was told I would not be charged until after I was installed. I was charged twice without even being installed!!!! They have said they will refund those 2 charges, but not the enrollment fee based on what she told them ..... of course she is covering.
Bad. bad. bad.

glad to see your improvements and chat support option now

Pros

they have definitely stepped it up over the years in their customer service, marketing options, and overall features

Cons

it is quite pricey and some features do not make sense. there are constant kinks in functionality. upgrading versions was a huge pain.

This has been going on for over a year and they're only responses why didn't you call back sooner. As an owner of a busy practice it is not my responsibility to keep up with their failure to communicate, To operate ethically and to address problems. Companies excuse for not repairing the situation is that it was our problem. Worst their promote product is geared to make them look highly successful at the expense of the practice. In addition their conversion of our products and services from our previous vendor was poor at best. Offer a little flexibility in terms of quantifying units sold or in reporting.

Cons

Support is poor. I receive multiple promises to review our problems with their "promote product "with no return call no return email and no results. It's been going on for over a year and they're only responses why didn't you call back sooner. As an owner of a busy practice it is not my responsibility to keep up with their failure to communicate.

Super expensive, simple software so I dont know what you are paying for each month. Ive swapped to a less expensive company and they have almost identical booking settings for calendar view at a lot better price along with many, many, many video tutorials if you ever get stuck setting something up or need any help they are there !

Pros

It is somewhat user friendly.. very typical booking software, fill in square etc.Nice gift certificate design option.

Cons

more price per month for SMALL business vs. the same software with another company lesser price a month
System down, at least 4 times each month the system has a glitch and is unusable for the whole day ... that means no logging in, no scheduling, no taking payments. The system for booking settings will over book the same time slot.

It would be a great product if the customer support were there.

Pros

The automatic client reminders, the layout and integration of all aspects of business including marketing. It has the potential to be a one stop shop. I also received a free clover, which helped ease the sting of the terribly slow customer service during the first month.

Cons

I have had about 5 questions in two months that NOT having the answers to has very much negatively affected my business. I'm so ready to switch.

Customer support representatives are always so helpful and amazing! Thank you Booker for providing top notch service!!! Your staff all deserve a raise!!!!

Pros

Love the ease of the booking software. Thank you Booker support for always providing top notch service!!! You all must have some great management there!!

Cons

Please allow custom gift certificate templates on B2. This is a very important feature for our business

I have had Booker since May, 2015. At first, minor glitches were sparse. An interruption in our day, but we were able to keep going. Recently, the interruptions have been more of an occurrence and lasting longer. I run a company and this is absolutely absurd. I can not do business if my main computer booking program is down. We constantly have pop ups on "We are working on it", "We are currently seeing slowness". On two separate occasions, their entire website was DOWN. Like, they forgot to pay and it was taken down. Ummmm... that is your business. How can that happen? And being a faithful client for two years, you think that you would give us a heads up if you are taking it down DURING PEEK HOURS. Today, on a Saturday of all days (Saturdays are BUSY for salons) we have the good ol' standby of "An Internal Server Error Has Occurred". This has lasted about two hours now. So, I can not ring people out, I can't check them in, I can't see our schedules.... I CAN'T RUN MY BUSINESS. Anytime you call customer service, it'll ring twice and go to a busy tone, OR they prompt you to leave a message after one minute for NO ONE to call you back. THEY ARE NEVER AVAILABLE. Customer service???? Give me a BREAK! They have the worst customer service ever. Oh, and my sales rep, the nicest guy ever. Who told me I could call him anytime... well.... he won't return my calls, or my emails. OR ANYTHING. I'll get a generic email from The CEO of the company that all of their clients have been BCC'd on about their recent issues and what they are doing to fix it. Meanwhile putting the blame on anyone or anything else other than themselves. I'm so beyond frustrated with this company, their lack of accountability, their "customer service", their whole being. They have lost me SO MUCH MONEY. The great customer service I am able to give my clients, leaves me looking stupid when I don't know they have an appointment, or when I'm struggling to ring them out on a 1980s credit card machine. We look pathetic. People don't want to come back to us and also, I'm left giving free services or discounts for the inconvenience to try and keep my clients happy. I will be taking my business elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, Booker owes me $ for the past 5 months of terrible service (we will give them a break on the other 19 months). They also owe me probably $ in LOST WAGES.

Pros

Right now, nothing. I'm so beyond frustrated. NOBODY IS N EVER AVAILABLE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!

Cons

IT NEVER WORKS AT ALL!!! CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NEVER THERE TO HELP! DO NOT USE!!

Overall, interacting with several people there were only two I had significant issues with. Their customer service is helpful if only slightly fragmented. My companies stake holders were not impressed by the service and went elsewhere. However, I still would recommend at least investigating their services to assist your company.

Pros

Salesmen are very attentive, attempt to find questions to any answers and are quick to return calls. Software is very clean and easy to use as long as you stay within their realm of "basics".

Cons

Unfortunately, if you have any type of development background this software will not allow you to utilize it unless you upgrade to the API. Prior to purchase we were told we would have Full Access to all features and everything was 100% customize-able. However, there are areas of customization you still need to have a "Super User" (call in to tech support + talk to a manager) to change. Example: Accepting cash in office.

The second issue I had is their merchant processing. They don't have syncing with Amazon Pay (primary issue we were told could be done with this software), PayPal or Square. You are charged additionally to use their merchant processing (and with companies my accounting had never heard of/didn't want to use). Again, while promised we would be able to find a work around, eventually it was found even with upgrading to a higher tier with API access, there was an extremely slim chance that different integration methods was possible.

Third: The price. Please understand if you desire to let one company manage everything then this software is helpful. However, if you don't then per month charge is rather high when other simple services are free or offer nearly every feature Booker does for 1/5th the price. So, do your research and speak with both Sales force and Tech support before making a decision.

This company is a joke. They may have tried to put together a Salon software, which has some good qualities and bad, but, the company has ruined their name and a host of other businesses because of their lack of understanding how their software has a direct effect and how they manage their software on a day to day basis. They are completely horrific! We continually try to deal with the issues, (Booker being slow, or totally down on a regular basis), and we have heard every unimaginable excuse, but the only people that are having a very costly, negative impact, are the businesses that purchased this worthless product. We came to Booker primarily through the recommendation of Spa Magazine. They touted Booker as being the Best Software Company in the market and they still continue to do so. We took their recommendation strongly and pursued Booker. We were courted with full Attention and Promises when we first met. We were promised complete support and excellent service, which was also written by American Spa. We signed on with Booker and slowly problems continued to arise. We worked through them but as time progressed, it became a regular ongoing occurrence. We were told that Booker was growing too fast and that the problems would be resolved; this couldn't be further from the truth. Things progressively got worse! We have issues getting through to Booker and the slowness and down times are becoming commonplace. Our business has suffered and lost customer satisfaction and comfort in quick appointments. Our good will has been damaged and through all of this, we have tried to be tolerant and understanding. Last week the experience in our company, using Booker software, became intolerable. The software was barely running or slow, and on our busiest day, it completely shut down. We were so dependent on Booker that we had to turn away our business. We cannot continue to do business this way! We would love to know if other companies are dealing with this issue and what they are doing to keep their business from this harm. While we wait on hold and continue trying to get through to the owner of Booker, we are searching for a software that can service our needs with minimal issues. Please let us know

So far so good. It took me a while to figure out the system but the team was patient with me and helpful with any questions i had or any help that i needed.

Before signing contract we were promised formulas would convert over, notes would convert, and most off a clover integration 4 weeks out. Once we wasted hours converting files, and phone calls learning system we were told the sales man was misinformed. What a joke!!! Our time is so precious, don't waste yours with this company!

Cons

liars

This is a tedious software for input of products.
It doesn't work the way it was sold to us three months ago.
We have been told of fixes to the software so it will be what we need -said a week. A week has come and went with no response.

Pros

Social media

Cons

It doesn't work as promised.

Advice to Others

Shop around

Likes Best

This is not a good product and we are once again down. Booker does not realize the impact on a business when there product is always down. They charge monthly when we are down 20% of the time.

Likes Least

Booker is down again today this is a weekly occurrence. I have 52 employees and can not book appointments, check anyone out and the bookkeeper can't do her work. This software company hangs up on people when the software is down and does not have 24/7 support.
We are in the process of moving to MindBody.

Buyer beware. You can not operate a business without POS software.

Recommendations

This product is never operating correctly and the customer support is terrible.

Likes Best

Full featured product that integrates with payments.

Likes Least

Nothing ever improves. Software bugs are described as "features." Outages are becoming more frequent. Customer service is non-responsive.

Recommendations

I have used about 6 different online scheduling packages. They are all quirky.

Likes Best

Nothing about this program works. It constantly crashes, and it loses credit card information. The company offers no help.

Likes Least

Constant crashes and outages during peak business hours. Credit card information has been lost on 3 separate occasions with no resolution.

Recommendations

Anything is better than this. Look into something better and save yourself the heartache.

Likes Best

I liked this software in theory, until it came down to the basic functions I needed and then it wasn't adequate for what I was paying. Free software would have been more sufficient.

Likes Least

I joined Booker and was pleasantly surprised to receive prompt phone calls and emails, while I was spending money. When the software was not adequate for what I needed to do and I asked for a refund, I was met with being ignored and was never issued a refund for something I wasn't even able to use. My salesman called me when I cancelled, and then ignored three of my calls as well as an email.

As a business owner and service provider myself, it saddened me that customer satisfaction and treatment was clearly not a priority for Booker Software.

Recommendations

Don't use. Ever. Terrible customer service, ignored phone calls. Only prompt when you are spending money.

Likes Best

There is very little good I can say about Booker. It has given me far too many headaches to offer a single good thing to say.

Likes Least

There have been multiple occasions now where booker says that it can't process a customer transaction multiple times in a row, only to cause an angry phone call the following day from a customer who says that their account has been charged 4 times.

Booker's support line is absolutely NO help, every time I call I get someone who just kind of hums and looks through the system pointing out the same reports and orders that I have already investigated on my end. The customer service has very little knowledge of their own product.

Recommendations

The system is very confusing and detailed in a way that is useless and NOT USER FRIENDLY. The way packages and service series are set up is nonsensical, there are a thousand options for superfluous reports, and takes a million years to navigate or check out customers half the time. It is stubborn when trying to adjust sales in the checkout screen, and instead of simply going to checkout for a customer who has a series balance, it makes you "accept payment" and create an order every single time. I'm a computer whiz who understands how to use everything in the system, but the lack of ease when using this software is EXTREMELY frustrating.

Likes Best

The only thing I liked is that booker is web based.

Likes Least

Not user friendly. Customer service was no help and lacked knowledge of the software and what is was capable of doing. Way too many report options. Too many clicks to do simple tasks, especially in a fast paced salon. Reports weren't printer friendly or user friendly with way too many useless columns that you can't remove. Way to broad of a program for a salon.

Recommendations

Be aware that it can be very complicated at times. I am an quick learner and 6 weeks in I still have to use the "help" option to get what I need...and then sometimes it isn't even in the "help" area. Took extra long to ring out a client...too many steps!!

Likes Best

I like the fact that if I have a problem they help me resolve it right away, my customers loves the online booking.

Likes Least

I would hope the price will be a little lower honestly, and it debt have the ability to do mass emails with my promotions.

Recommendations

Booking online, check promotions, emails, dashboard.