Below is the very rough draft my developer and I have been kicking back and forth. It's far more information than most people will need, but many of you are quite detail-oriented, and will probably love the nitty gritty. All of your input is greatly valued. Please understand that while I am taking everyone's input into consideration, I will not be able to base all or part of the code upon only the recommendations here, but since y'all will be using it, I'd love to hear what you think. Also, it will be rolled out in stages or "phases"
First the bullet point version:
Owners
- register their info to be contacted/compensated by PUSARV and to be contacted by 'visitors' (no personally identifiable information will be publicly available).
- can register itineraries and availability (dates and cities/counties only, no specific locations or campgrounds).
- will be initially contacted by an email from the website for any visitor requests (this will include a link to the visitor's information).
- will work out the details of a visit via phone or personal email.
Visitors
- register complete contact information (to be approved by Aimée).
- can search for available owners by date and area (will see units and city/county, not owner's name).
- will fill out a contact request on the website to initiate contact with an owner.
- will work out the details of a visit via phone or personal email.
Then the nitty gritty.
Overview:
Web page or site for PUSARV that allows potential buyers (and other PC owners) to find PC owners who are in (or will be in) their area so they can get a first hand introduction to a PC (or in the case of existing PC owners, meet each other).
The Process:
A current PC owner registers an "owner" account. They add dates and locations where they will be "available" (aka willing) to show their PC unit to potential buyers.
Someone looking for a PC registers a "visitor" account. They are required to provide enough personal information to prove they are not a scammer (for the safety of the PC owners who are opening up their homes to strangers). These "visitor" accounts will need to be approved by Aimée (similar to how the forum works). They search (by week?) the list of PC's available during the specified date range for anyone in their area. The list only shows dates, locations and models. This will eventually become a map with pins. An account is not required to search, but it is required to submit a contact request.
When a "visitor" finds a PC that meets their date/location criteria they click the link and send a contact request to Aimée. The request is reviewed and approved (deemed legitimate) and will provide space to provide personal history ("first time camper", "moving up from a truck camper" etc) to provide a little background to the owner) and will then be passed along to the "owner". The email that the "owner" receives has contact information for the "visitor" and links back to the Website (with a full disclaimer that we don't know who this person is and to never meet with them alone).
It is up to the two individual parties to work out a schedule to meet. If either party decides not to proceed with the meeting should they notify us via a link provided in the email?
After the meeting, both parties are encouraged to click a link in their emails.
- The "visitor" should fill out a small survey relating to their experience with the "owner" as well as with the PC. At the completion of the survey they are taken to the 'Build Your Own' page. A cookie is set that refers to the "owner" so it can be included in the quote request sent to Phoenix.
- The "visitor's" email address should be checked during the quote request process and noted in the request sent to PUSARV.
- The "owner" should fill out a small form to register that they met with the "visitor" so there is a record of the referral as well as the ability to endorse or flag the "visitor".
How an Owner account works:
There are three parts to an owner account:
- private information used by the company (where to send payment, how to contact, etc. should the walkthrough result in a sale.
- public information displayed in the listings (year, floorplan, slides, color, etc). This will include the ability to do a small write-up about the options an owner have, the enhancements you've made, configurations, etc.
- date & location based availability.
The owner's availability depends on their location and/or willingness to receive "visitors". The owner will be able to mark their PC status as "available" or "unavailable", which is the presiding factor in regards to being displayed in the search results. If an owner is "available" the current location(s) setting will determine when and where they are "available". If an owner has set their PC status to "unavailable" they will not show up in search results even if their location(s) entry marks them as "available".
The location(s) entry is a named list of one or more detail entries - with starting and ending dates - that is used to display an owner's availability. The location(s) entries can (and should) be created in advance by each owner. For example:
- an owner lives in Florida, summers in Seattle and travels between the two locations every year.
- the owner wishes to be "available" for some of their time in each location and part of their road trip.
- the owner can create one or more location(s) entries for their PC (these can be named anything; the names are not publicly available):
+ Florida
+ On The Road (can be used for traveling both directions or each direction can have its own location(s))
+ Summer in Seattle
- The "Florida" and "Summer in Seattle" location(s) entries each would have one detail entry designating the start date, end date. Any details such as "after lunch" "before 6pm" etc. can be worked out between the owner and the visitor. Visitors will be reminded frequently in communications with Phoenix that the owners are showing a great deal of hospitality, and that all scheduling should work around the owner's complete convenience. No mention of referral compensation will be made on the website or in communications to the visitor. Not all visits are going to result in a customer placing an order, and so not all will end up being compensated in any way, therefore the utmost of preferential treatment should be given to the owner when working out scheduling, availability, location, etc. The owner is not expected to travel to meet the visitor. All burden of travel is upon the visitor. If an owner has listed themselves as "available" June 6-Sept. 3 (for example) it is not expected that they will actually be available every day during that time span. We understand that there are stretches of days where having visitors will not be possible, even if the owner is set up in one location for an entire season. If there will be a full week or more where the owner will not be available, the owner might want to indicate such to avoid being contacted during that time, but that still falls under the owner and visitor working out scheduling.
- The "On the Road" location entry would have multiple detail entries, each designating a date & location (city, state) noting their availability. Only days that the owner wants to be available are displayed. For example:
+ June 3rd, Atlanta, GA.
+ June 4th, Columbus, OH.
+ June 6th, Bismarck, ND.
+ June 7th & 8th, Pocatello, ID.
Note: As many owners use circuitous routes in order to see more of the country, the ability to simply reverse the route is not planned at this time. Therefore, if the owner wishes to reuse the "On the Road" location(s) entry for the trip home they will need to edit/replace the detail entries. Otherwise, they should create an additional location(s) entry for the trip home *if* they wish to be available during that time.
The start date of one location(s) entry must be after the end date of any earlier location(s) entry. Date overlaps will not be allowed.
The searches will read all "available" owners' data and find the location(s) entry that corresponds to the date range selected (usually one week, but possibly longer). If more than one of an owner's location(s) entries qualify for a search all qualifying dates & locations will be displayed.
If a gap exists between the ending date of one location(s) entry and the begging date of another location(s) entry the owner will be considered "unavailable" for the dates that are not covered by a location(s) entry.
This approach allows an owner to manage availability with their PC status ("available" or "unavailable") or via location(s) entries.
