PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Driver & Tech App

Cutting Callbacks: How the Driver App Stops 'Nobody Serviced Our Unit' Calls

Every callback costs twice. Once in the office, where someone stops what they are doing to deal with an unhappy customer. Again on the road, where a truck goes back out for a stop that should have been done right the first time. Most porta potty callbacks come from a short list of causes, and the driver app addresses almost every one.

The Usual Suspects

The office view after Complete, covered in What the Office Sees When a Porta Potty Tech Completes a Job, is where callbacks get answered. But the best callback is the one that never happens. The common ones:

• "Nobody serviced our unit."
• "You serviced the wrong unit."
• "The unit is in the wrong place."
• "Your driver never showed up."
• "We needed the gate opened and nobody told us you were coming."
• "You left one behind on pickup."

Each one has a fix in the app.

None of them are new. Every company that has run portable toilets for more than a season has heard all six. What changes with the app is that the answer to each one is written down, on the job, before the phone rings.

"Nobody Serviced Our Unit"

This is the big one. Often the unit was serviced and then heavily used. Sometimes a different tech pumped the wrong unit next to it. Sometimes the stop really was missed.

A completed job with a time and a photo of the clean unit, number visible, settles the first case. Unit numbers on the card prevent the second. Start, Skip and Complete on every stop make the third rare, because a stop cannot quietly disappear. When the photo shows a clean unit at 8:14 and the customer is calling at 2 about a full one, the real conversation is about adding service, which is a sales call, not a callback.

"You Serviced the Wrong Unit"

On sites with units from more than one company, or several of your own units for different customers, unit numbers on the job card are the answer. The tech matches the number on the door to the number on the phone. See Unit Type, Quantity and Unit Numbers on Every Porta Potty Job Card.

"It Is in the Wrong Place"

Placement notes from booking tell the delivery tech exactly where to set the units. A placement photo records where they ended up. When the customer calls, the photo shows whether the units were set as asked and moved later. Either way, the conversation is short.

"Your Driver Never Showed Up"

Sometimes the tech did show up and could not get in. A skip with a clear reason and a photo of the locked gate tells the office what happened before the customer calls. The office can call first, offer a time to come back, and turn an angry call into a scheduling conversation.

"Nobody Told Us You Were Coming"

Automatic on-the-way and arrived texts, plus a night-before reminder for customers who want it, take care of this. The customer app's live map shows their place in the route. Customers who know the truck is coming open gates, move equipment and keep crews out of the way.

"You Left One Behind"

Pickups show the unit numbers to pull. A pickup photo of the empty spot proves the site is clear. If a unit could not be found, the tech notes it rather than marking the pickup complete, and the office follows up.

The Office Habits That Finish the Job

The app gives the office the information. The office still has to use it:

• Update site notes the day a tech reports a change
• Call customers about skips before they call you
• Look at photos when a complaint comes in, before promising a return trip
• Watch for sites that are skipped or complained about every week, and fix the root cause

Keep track of callbacks for a month, even on a simple list. Which site, which complaint, which tech, and what the photo showed. Patterns jump out fast. Most companies find that a handful of sites cause most of the trouble, and that a couple of fixed placement notes or a different service day solve the bulk of it.

Callbacks You Should Welcome

Not every call back is bad. A customer who calls because units fill up too fast is asking for more service. A customer who wants another unit for a second crew is asking to spend more. When the app takes care of the complaint calls, the office has time for these.

The Short Version

Unit numbers, placement notes, photos, skip reasons and automatic texts answer most callbacks before they happen. To see the tools behind it, visit the PortaPottyBossPro driver and tech app page.