Money
Deposits
One deposit amount, the job sizes and days it applies to, and where the customer is asked -- on the booking confirmation, in the email, and in the chatbot.
This applies to both workflows
What are the two workflows?A deposit is an offer, not a gate. The job is booked whether or not the customer pays it. What you set here is how much to ask for, which jobs to ask on, and which channels do the asking. All of it lives on one screen: Settings > Money > Deposits.
Dumpster rental has no deposit
A rental is paid in full at checkout -- the customer pays the whole booking total before you deliver, and any weight charge is billed from the scale ticket, once a load is weighed. Everything on this page is about junk removal. A dumpster-only company does not see the Deposits screen at all.
How much
One amount. The screen says it plainly: this is the amount everywhere -- your booking form, your website and the chatbot all ask for the same figure. There is no second deposit setting on another screen.
Which jobs need one
Your load sizes are listed as checkboxes, each showing your own label and price range. Tick the sizes that should ask for a deposit. Below them, Also ask when: weekend bookings, and bookings more than N days out.
Nothing ticked means never ask on size
An empty list is a real choice -- "I do not want a deposit on any job" -- not "every job". The weekend and days-out rules still work on their own, so you can ask on weekend work without ticking a single size.
A size with no price shows No price set next to its checkbox. It can still be ticked. The rule is about the size the customer chose, not the price, so an unpriced size works fine.
The sizes listed are the ones on your own quote form. If you add a size under Settings > Pricing, it appears here as a new unticked box; if a size you had ticked is no longer on your form, its tick stays visible so you can see and remove it.
Also ask when we cannot tell the size
The last checkbox in this card. A chat conversation usually never says how much there is -- it is free text, and the customer rarely names a load size. Tick this and those bookings are asked for a deposit anyway.
This used to be invisible, and now it is a box you tick
There used to be no control for this. HaulHQ worked it out: if you had ticked every size, it assumed an unsized job needed a deposit too. That was a fair guess and it is still the default you will find already ticked if you were relying on it -- but it was impossible to see, impossible to turn off on its own, and it would have changed by itself the moment we added a new standard size. It is now your answer, stored.
Where customers are asked
Two switches, separate on purpose -- you can have the chatbot insist on a deposit while a confirmation email only offers a link.
| Switch | What happens |
|---|---|
| Include a payment link on booking confirmations | The customer sees "Pay $X now to lock in your spot" on the booking confirmation screen the moment they book, with "Prefer to pay on the day? No problem -- just close this." beneath it. The confirmation email carries the same link. Paying opens in a new tab; the booking is already made. |
| The chatbot asks for a deposit before it books | The chatbot asks for the deposit as part of booking. A chat never tells us the load size, so with this switch on it asks when a weekend or days-out rule matches -- and on every chat booking if you have ticked Also ask when we cannot tell the size above. The text under the switch tells you which of those you are getting. |
The email never asks twice: if the customer paid on the confirmation screen, the email that follows has no payment link.
What you see on the job
- Requested from the moment of booking, when a deposit was offered.
- Paid once the customer pays it. The balance due on the job drops by the deposit, and Collect Payment offers the remainder.
- A paid deposit never changes the job's status. The job stays scheduled until your crew completes it.
Asking for a deposit on a phone booking
When a customer agrees a job on the phone, open the job and use Request deposit. Type the amount -- it is pre-filled from your setting, and the number you type always wins -- then send it by text or email. The customer gets a pay link. Owners, managers and dispatchers can do this; drivers cannot.
- An amount larger than the job total is refused, not quietly reduced.
- Sending again reuses the same request -- Resend deposit -- so a customer is never asked for two.
- The job runs either way. An unpaid deposit blocks nothing.
The cancellation policy is elsewhere
What happens to a paid deposit when the customer cancels is set under Settings > Money > Billing & Payments, on the Invoicing tab, not here.
Common mistakes
"I set a dollar threshold and the deposit never fires on my biggest jobs."
There is no dollar threshold any more, and this is why. A value rule compares against the size's price -- and the biggest size is usually the one with no price set, so it could never match. Tick the sizes themselves.
"I ticked the sizes, but the chatbot still asks on everything."
Check Also ask when we cannot tell the size in the card above -- that is the one making it ask on every chat booking, because a chat never tells us the size. The chatbot also has its own switch, The chatbot asks for a deposit before it books, separate from the confirmation link. Untick either.
"I want a deposit on dumpster rentals."
A rental is paid in full at checkout, so there is nothing left to take a deposit against. Rentals booked by phone can be sent a payment link from the job instead.
"I cannot find deposits under Scheduling."
They moved. Everything about deposits is on Settings > Money > Deposits. Scheduling holds hours, blocked dates and the reschedule rules.