Duplicate Customer Checking

(Accessed through Maintenance / Program Options / Reservations, "Duplicate Customer Checking" button.)

Here you can enable the automatic duplicate checking and/or the manual duplicate checking button in New Reservations, as well as select which fields are to be checked for duplicate information.

Note that when selecting multiple fields to check, only one of them has to match in order for it to be shown as a possible duplicate.  For instance if you select address and phone number, they don't have to both be the same -- it will show as a duplicate if the address matches or a phone number matches.

Here are details of how it checks for duplicate information for each comparison option:

Address -- The Zip/Postal code and the Address line 1 and 2 fields are compared, ignoring any punctuation or other characters besides letters and numbers.  The comparison is not case-sensitive, and if both address lines and are filled in it will match in either order.  However it does need to be entered mostly the same to match -- "123 Jones Lane" will not match "123 Jones Ln." because the word Lane is not spelled out in both cases.  However "12-A Jones Ln" and "12a jones ln." will match.  So if this comparison is used, it's a good idea to get in the habit of always spelling out each word or always using the common abbreviations.

Phone number -- Phone numbers are compared using only the numbers, and ignoring any leading 0's or 1's.  Thus "1-888-555-1212" will match "(888) 555-1212".  It checks all 3 phone number fields against each other (in any order), and only one needs to match.

E-mail address -- The E-mail addresses are compared without case sensitivity, but otherwise must be an exact match.

Driver's license -- All non-digits are ignored, so only the numeric portion is compared.

Vehicle licenses -- Only letters and numbers are compared, and it's not case-sensitive.  So for instance "TX/ABC123" will match "TX - abc 123".

Discount membership ID's -- Only letters and numbers are compared, and it's not case-sensitive.  All 3 discount fields are checked, and only one of the 3 needs to match any other one.

Other fields -- Up to 3 other fields can be checked, such as user-defined fields or any other customer fields.  Only letters and numbers are compared, and it's not case-sensitive.  Remember, though, that these checks are independent of others -- so for instance if you select the Country field to compare, it will list all other customers with the same country as possible duplicates even if no other information matches.

Note: After saving changes here, be sure to click "OK" on the Program Options dialog -- if you click "Cancel" there, these changes will be lost also.