Dumpster rental
Booking & checkout
How the booking widget works, what the customer sees, what controls availability, discount codes, confirmations, and what "Awaiting payment" means.
This is part of the Dumpster rental workflow
Doing junk removal? Start with the quote workflow.The booking widget is the checkout. It shows what you have, on the dates you can deliver, at the price you set, and takes the booking without you touching it.
What the customer does
- 1Picks a container size from your Equipment screen. There is no zip step on a rental; a delivery address outside your area is yours to catch when the booking arrives.
- 2Picks a delivery date, then a pickup date, and can say whether morning or afternoon suits for the delivery. That is a preference, not a slot: it never blocks a booking, No preference is a normal answer, and you see it on the delivery job. Rental length is fully flexible above your minimum -- there are no fixed packages.
- 3Picks add-ons, if you offer any.
- 4Enters their delivery address and contact details, and types their name to accept your rental agreement if you have set one under Settings > Pricing, on the Rental tab.
- 5Reviews the total on Review & Pay. If you have a usable discount code, a field to type one is there.
- 6Pays the full total by card, if Stripe is connected. There is no deposit on a rental. Without Stripe the booking is recorded unpaid and you collect.
Your HaulHQ page books the same way
The booking flow on your HaulHQ page is the same flow as the WordPress widget: the same steps, the delivery time preference, the card payment on Review & Pay, the discount code field when you have a usable code, and your rental agreement to accept. It also asks for placement instructions and what is going in the container, because the checkout needs both. One flow, two places.
What controls what
| What the customer sees | Where you set it |
|---|---|
| Which sizes are offered | Equipment |
| Whether a size is available on a date | The quantity on that equipment item |
| The price | The base price and rental terms on the equipment item -- see Equipment & units |
| Which days can be picked at all | Settings > Scheduling (business hours, blocked dates) |
| How soon, and how far ahead, a delivery can be booked | Settings > Pricing > Load Tiers -- Earliest a customer can book, and How far out customers can book -- not Scheduling |
| How many you can deliver on one day | Your number of units. A container is offered while no booking holds it on those dates. |
| Whether closed days in the gap are charged | Settings > Scheduling, the Dumpster Rentals card -- see Equipment & units |
| A discount code field | Settings > Money > Discounts |
The booking window is not on the Scheduling screen
The earliest bookable day and how far ahead customers can book live under Settings > Pricing > Load Tiers. Everyone looks under Scheduling first and does not find them. See Scheduling & business hours.
After the booking
The customer gets a rental confirmation email. A job is created with a delivery trip and a pickup trip, and a specific container is reserved for those dates. You see it in your dashboard immediately.
"Awaiting payment" on a rental
When a customer reaches the card step online and stops, the booking already exists and holds a container. Its delivery trip shows an Awaiting payment label wherever the job's status is printed. If it is still unpaid two hours after it was made, HaulHQ releases it on its own: the booking is cancelled, the invoice voided and the container offered again -- silently, with no message to the customer or to you. Nothing to do; the label tells you which bookings are in that window.
If the customer pays after the release, the money is recorded, the booking stays cancelled, and you get one alert asking you to refund it or rebook them by hand.
Booking on the customer’s behalf
You can create the same booking from inside HaulHQ when someone phones. It produces the same job, the same trips and the same confirmation email as a self-serve booking. Two differences: a booking you enter is refused on a day you are closed, and it takes no discount code -- enter the agreed price yourself.
Common mistakes
"The widget says nothing is available and I know I have containers."
Check three things in order: the number of units on the equipment item, whether the date is inside your business hours or a blocked date, and Earliest a customer can book and How far out customers can book under Pricing > Load Tiers.
"Customers cannot book for tomorrow."
Earliest a customer can book (days) sets the earliest bookable day, and it is under Pricing > Load Tiers. Set it to 0 for same-day.
"A booking says Awaiting payment. Did the customer pay or not?"
Not yet. They started an online checkout and stopped at the card step. Leave it: it releases itself after two hours if still unpaid, and the label disappears the moment they pay.
"I want the booking widget on my junk removal site."
Junk removal uses haulhq_form, which already books pickups. See the two workflows.