Got a question? Please review the list of common questions below.

Q. What is HourTown?
A. HourTown is an online scheduling system for small businesses that enables new and existing customers to schedule services online, any time of day or night. It provides a quick and easy way for customers to discover your services and easily commit to an appointment time with you. It is extremely easy to use for both you and your customers and doesn't require you to download or install any software. We offer a free account and you can cancel at anytime.

Q. Will HourTown work for my business?
A. HourTown was designed to be flexible enough to work for almost any type of business. There are thousands of businesses using HourTown today including massage therapists, general contractors, golf instructors, dog walkers and real estate agents.

Q. Why should I offer online appointments? The phone works fine for my business.
A. Would you consider running your business without access to email or the Internet? Of course not. Online scheduling is quickly becoming a necessary way for customers to connect with the things they want and it's a neccesary part of conducting business. Did you realize the peak hours for American adults to perform organizational tasks such as paying bills, checking email and scheduling appointments occurs between 7pm and midnight? By offering your customers the convenience of scheduling with you online you can accept appointments when people would normally feel it might be too late or too inconvenient to call on the phone.

Q. What if I'm a contractor or a real estate agent? My business doesn't offer fixed length services. Can I still use HourTown?
A. Yes. Hundreds of businesses that don't offer a standard fixed length service use HourTown to offer online appointments. We recommend you create a service called "Introductory consultation" and make it 30-60 minutes in length. This allows prospective customers to easily engage with your business and gives you permission to initiate a sales meeting with the client. When customers discover your website they want to take action on your website. By offering a way for them to schedule an appointment you are providing a meaninful way for them to take the next step.

Q. How long can my services last?
A. You can define the length of your services to last anywhere from 15 minutes up to an entire day. When you first setup a new service, the default duration is set to "minutes". To change your service duration to "hours" simply toggle the menu that says "minutes" and select "hours" instead.

Q. How will I be notified when someone schedules an appointment?
A. The moment someone schedules an appointment with you using HourTown, you will automatically receive an instant email notification from HourTown notifying you of the appointment. HourTown allows you to accept or deny your customers appointment requests so you'll always be in control of your schedule.

Q. What if I have several people (service providers) at my business?
A. At the present time, HourTown works best for sole proprietors but we plan to offer a solution for larger businesses in the very near future.

Q. Where do I get the "Book Now" buttons to put onto my website?
A. Book Now buttons allow you to accept online appointments from your own website. To get a Book Now button for your own website, simply login to your HourTown account, click the "Advertise" tab, then click on the link that says "Accept appointments on your website". You'll discover several different styles of buttons that have been customized to work on your website.

Q. Will you spam my customers?
A. Never. We hate spam more than you do. The only time HourTown will ever email your customers is within the context of a notification process that you activate. In other words, if you ask us to send an automated appointment reminder to your client, we will. If a client books with you, they will receive a receipt, etc. We will never spam your customers or ever sell their contact information to a third party.

Q. Using a Freebie account
A. Your HourTown Freebie account is a great way for you to try out HourTown for your small business. We're happy to provide you with all the information you might need to keep your Freebie account "free". The two biggest things to be aware of are the following: First, your account can only accept 2 incoming appointments each month. Second, your account cannot receive New Customers Messages. A New Customer Message is when a customer sends you a message through your HourTown profile and that customer is not an existing customer of yours - but rather someone new who found you via HourTown's advertising efforts and wants more information about you or your services. Some might refer to this as a "lead".

Q. My Freebie account only allows two incoming appointments each month. How do I test it out without using one of my two free appointments?
A. To test out your customer's appointment scheduling experience using your Freebie account and without having your test appointments be applied towards your two free incoming appointments each month, simply make an appointment as if you were the customer and use the email address that you have on file with HourTown as the customer's email address. In other words, if your HourTown email address is bob@mail.com - use that email address as if it were the email address of a customer booking with you. HourTown will recognize that you are trying to "test" the system and will not apply the appointment towards your monthly limit. Of course, our Business Account offers unlimited incoming appointments and is the most popular account type.

Q. How do I cancel my account?
A. If you have a Business or Business Pro account you can downgrade to a Freebie account at anytime. Simply login to your account and go to the Account tab, then click on the "Account Type" link. Select the "Downgrade" button. If you would like to cancel your HourTown account permanently, please send your request via an email to support@hourtown.com and we will cancel your account promptly.

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