Considering Timely Software?

TL;DR: New customers should stay away from Timely. The software is clunky and limited, the customer support is unhelpful, and the company hides behind endless, unreadable terms instead of treating people fairly. Better alternatives like Square, Calendly, and others offer more features, transparent pricing, and actual support. Timely is the worst kind of service—broken, unhelpful, and out of touch.

When I was starting my business, a realtor took me to tour an office space. As we stepped into the elevator, a man walking out called over his shoulder: “DON’T DO IT!”

My realtor shrugged, and I signed the lease anyway.

To this day, with over 300 locations, that building remains the worst of the lot. With that memory in mind, let’s talk about Timely software.

First Experience

My company was an early adopter of Timely, likely one of their larger users at the time. We chose it because it promised a quick way to add online booking to our website. The problem? Its functionality was so limited we had to open and manage multiple, unaffiliated accounts just to make it work.

We tolerated that hassle (and the extra expense) until Timely suddenly changed its pricing model. Overnight, our monthly costs skyrocketed—without grandfathering for existing customers. Our only choices were:

1. Pay exponentially higher fees, or

2. Swallow the cost and pain of moving to another provider.
   
   

We switched. That was bad, but it’s not why I’m writing this review.

Second Experience

Fast forward to 2022. I was helping a small startup evaluate scheduling software and decided to give Timely another look. To access the full trial, I had to enter a credit card (the no-CC trial is too limited).

After testing, it was clear Timely still wasn’t a fit. I logged out and we chose Square Appointments instead, which has served us well.

Nearly two years later, I discovered Timely had been billing us the entire time—not for one seat, but for three. They even raised the price by over 8%.

Yes, I forgot my card was on file. That part is on me.
But here are the facts:

• We never booked a single appointment.

• We never integrated Timely into our site.

• We’ve been actively using another platform.

• We haven’t logged into Timely since the day we tested it.
  
  

Their Response

When I reached out, Timely hid behind their Terms of Service with responses like:

• “…per our Terms of Service, we do not provide refunds or credits for time unused with an active Timely account.”

• “As you have already been informed, the cancellation of the Account is the responsibility of the Account Owner. This is laid out in our Terms of Service,”

• “this decision aligns with standard subscription and membership practices and our Terms of Service; non-usage of the account does not qualify for refunds.”

• “This decision aligns with our Terms of Service, which you agreed to, therefore the outcome is final.”

In other words: tough luck.

Questions Worth Asking

1. Why would a company want revenue from customers who never used the service?

2. Why choose this hill to die on?

3. How reasonable is it to point to 5,000+ words of fine print as justification (see below)?
   
   

The Terms of Service

Timely insists it’s the customer’s responsibility to understand their TOS:

• Their TOS is 4,877 words, with multiple additional linked documents.

• Just one of those—the privacy policy—is another 1,870+ words.

• Some links are broken, including the “cookie policy” and even the page to deactivate your account (yes, really).

• The terms can change at any time, without notice, and you’re still bound by them.
  
  

This is unreasonable on its face. 

A company that hides behind legal boilerplate instead of acting with basic fairness is not a company you can trust.

Bottom Line

Timely has twice proven itself, in my experience, to be inflexible, unfriendly, and ultimately harmful to customers. In business—as in renting that cursed office space—the warnings are often there. The question is whether we listen.

Update of Terms: "Timely may update this Agreement from time to time and Customer will have 30 days to reject the updated terms by providing written notice to Timely. If Customer continues to use or receive the services following such period, the updated Agreement will be deemed accepted."

Account Responsibility: "Customer is entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of its account(s), including Customer’s password. Accounts are not transferrable…

Restrictions on Use: "Customer will not: (a) devise specifications from, reverse engineer, reverse compile, disassemble, or create derivative works based on the Services; (b) apply systems to extract or modify information in the Services using technology or method such as those commonly referred to as 'web scraping,' 'data scraping,' or 'screen scraping.'"

Maintenance Change: "Customer agrees that Timely may make any modifications to the underlying software and Services that Timely deems necessary without prior notification to customers."

Suspension of Services: "Timely has the right to immediately suspend the Services (a) in order to prevent damage to or degradation of the Services or unauthorized or non-compliant use, (b) for operational reasons such as repair, maintenance, or improvement or because of any emergency, or (c) if, following notice from Timely, Customer has failed to pay any amounts due and owing."

No Refunds: "All fees for the Services are non-cancelable and non-refundable. There will be no refunds or credits for partial use of the Services, upgrade/downgrade refunds, nor refunds for months unused with an active account."

PCI Compliance Responsibility: "Customer represents and warrants that any financial account information and credit and debit card transaction data stored in the Services shall be done so in compliance with PCI DSS and any instructions from Timely... Timely has no liability for any breach of PCI DSS or any unauthorized use, access or disclosure of credit and debit card transaction data resulting from Customer’s failure to comply with such standards or any other obligations set forth in this Agreement."

Service Modification: "Timely may modify, add, change, suspend, remove, or stop the Services, or any features or functionality, from time to time, in Timely’s sole discretion. Timely may choose to do so at any time without any notice to the Customer."

Termination: "Timely may terminate this Agreement (including any additional terms and conditions incorporated herein) or suspend Customer’s access to the Services at any time if Timely believes Customer has breached any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement... If Customer or Timely terminate this Agreement, or if Timely suspends Customer’s access to the Services, Customer agrees that Timely shall have no liability or responsibility to Customer, and (except as expressly provided in this Agreement) Timely will not refund any amounts that Customer has already paid."

Liability Limitation: "TIMELY’S MAXIMUM LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SERVICES OR THIS AGREEMENT WILL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT OF FEES CUSTOMER HAS PAID TO TIMELY IN THE 1 MONTH PRIOR TO THE EVENT(S) GIVING RISE TO SUCH LIABILITY."

Indemnification: "Customer agrees to defend and indemnify Timely and its affiliates from and against any legal action, demand, suit, or proceeding brought against Timely or its affiliates by a third party arising out of or related to the Customer Content or Customer’s use of the Services."

No Warranty: "TIMELY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE PERFORMED ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT TIMELY WILL CORRECT ALL ERRORS OR THAT THE SERVICES WILL MEET CUSTOMER’S REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS."

Summary:

Timely is a lousy company with mediocre software. They won’t treat you like a human, and they won’t value your business. I’m the guy stepping off the elevator while you’re stepping on, calling back to warn you: “Don’t do it.” There are better companies, with better software, that actually deserve your trust. Give your business to them instead.

🙂🙋