Handle a service request
Triage the Requests inbox: acknowledge, schedule, or decline the service requests customers submit from their portal.
Customers with portal access can ask for service without calling — those requests land in your Requests inbox, and each one is a booking waiting to happen. Work them top to bottom: acknowledge fast, then schedule or decline.
Open the inbox and read a request
Go to the inbox. Click Service → Requests in the sidebar; the badge shows how many are new. Tabs split the list into New, Acknowledged, Scheduled, and All, each with a count.
Read the card. Each request shows what kind it is (a service ask, a reschedule, a due PM), a colored status chip, the customer and unit, their note, and any preferred time alongside when it came in.
Acknowledge it. On a new request, click Acknowledge so the customer can see the shop has it while you check the calendar. The request moves to the Acknowledged tab.
Schedule, decline, or turn it into a ticket
Schedule it. Click Schedule to open the inline panel, pick a Start time, and click Confirm & notify. Meridian creates the appointment for that customer and unit, links it to the request, and flips the customer's portal view to scheduled.
Or decline it. Click Decline, add a short Reason (it's optional but shown to the customer), and click Decline & notify. Write the reason the way you'd say it out loud — the customer reads your exact words.
Jump straight to a ticket. When the truck's already on its way, click Open ticket — a new order starts pre-filled with the request's customer and unit, ready for line items.
Close out a stray. Close retires a request you've handled some other way, so it drops off the open tabs.
What happens behind the scenes
- Scheduling a request creates a real appointment on your schedule for that customer and unit and links the two, so the request and the booking stay tied together — the customer's portal updates to show it's scheduled.
- Declining and scheduling both notify the customer with your wording. Whether that notice goes out as an email, a text, or both follows your shop's Customer Portal notification settings — and any text respects the customer's opt-out and your quiet hours automatically.
- Open ticket doesn't consume the request — it starts an order with the customer and unit filled in; the request stays in the inbox until you schedule, decline, or close it.
- The sidebar badge tracks new requests, so anyone with triage access can see at a glance that something's waiting.
Troubleshooting
The Requests inbox appears under Service only when your shop has the customer portal turned on and your role can triage. If you don't see it, your shop may not have portal requests enabled, or triage isn't part of your permissions — check with your manager.
You haven't set a Start time yet — the button stays disabled until the picker has a time. Pick a date and time, then confirm.
Notifications follow your shop's Customer Portal settings, and texts obey opt-outs and quiet hours — a reply sent during quiet hours goes out when the window opens. The customer can also always see the status change in their portal even if a message is held.
It reports the reason now. The most common cause is a date the shop doesn't accept — either malformed, or in the past when your Past Dates policy refuses that. See shop settings.
Decline it with a reason that points the customer the right way, or click Open ticket and sort it out on a real order. Use Close for anything already handled offline so it clears the inbox.