How The Payment System Works

last updated: 6.15Pm, Monday 13 march 2023
For a higher resolution version of the above schematic diagram, please visit the link below:
This is provided to show you exactly how our payment and booking system works.

You may feel you know this all already, and so if a quick squizz over that fits with your understanding, then please, don’t feel the need to read this webpage.

Features:

✅ you can easily see how many credits you have left (from the app: Account > My Memberships);
✅ you can enjoy free access to our newly added video content and drills to help you improve more (from the app: Book > On Demand);
✅ it's a flexible and fair PAYG model is for your busy schedule;
✅ has a well functioning waitlist feature which allows you to cancel a spot without charge up to 12 hours before the session and offers it to the next person in-line;
✅ there’s an option for you to be able to auto-book you into the entire class series for the less popular sessions in 1-click (from the app: Book > Schedule > Book);
✅ there’s the ability to pay via Direct Debit with EFT from your bank rather than using your credit card (from the app: Book > Schedule > Book > Book with card > BECS Direct Debit);
✅ we added a 1-month extension on all the PAYG cards providing additional added value in September 2022 (from the app: Book > Memberships > Packages);
✅ despite two (2) lane rate rises totalling some 38% by the Town of Claremont, we haven’t increased our fees for over 18 months in order to continue providing value at this incredibly tight financial time for many of you.
For the first time since our old-fashioned "coffee cards" (2015), you can clearly see exactly how many sessions you have remaining, giving you full clarity on your account.
The Waiver

Every swimmer who has bought a session pack has seen this notice (below) and also checked the box on the waiver below it to state that they have read and understood these terms, including Point 10, titled "Auto-renew" which states that storing your CC/bank details will prompt an auto-payment to be made (or attempted) when you run out of credits if you have permanent bookings recurring into the future. The purchaser is shown how to disable auto-renew but warned of the repercussions if they fall out of credit:
Only through taking a truly iterative approach to both our coaching – and how you access that coaching – will we continue to progress and flourish going forwards. Your awareness on how the system works will allow us to continue to provide a sustainable, transparent, and flexible payment system into the future 🙏.

The History Of Our Payment System:

Offering exceptional value to our swimmers and enabling you with the ability to only ever pay for the sessions that you actually use (PAYG) has always been at the heart and soul of our operation. Here’s a quick rundown as to how that has developed and why we are where we are with Momence (per the schematic diagram):

1. 2002-2005 – as Head Coach of the Stadium Triathlon Club, we had a plastic “busker-style” bucket set out next to me on pool deck as a trust-system with a gold coin donation towards each session. This was very cheap and favourable for the swimmers, but also highly abused as well with takings being only ~45% of what they should have been. It didn’t work.

2. 2006-2008 – whilst working for Bill Kirby at Kirby Swim I was encouraged to adopt a pay-per-quarter payment system, similar to a gym. If you booked a regular place in the sessions, you were effectively paying whether you turned up or not. Whilst no disrepect to Kirby Swim and their operation, this didn’t work for my ethos of providing a fair and flexible “PAYG” system for the swimmers.

3. 2008-2015 – Swim Smooth Perth was set-up at Claremont Pool and we used old-fashioned coffee cards in 10, 25, 50 and 100 session denominations to facilitate a PAYG operation. It was both inefficient with respect ticking people off and we had no way of monitoring who would show or not. Sessions ranged wildly from 12 people to 65 people and was often chaos. We resorted to turning away a LOT of prospective swimmers for fear of over-crowding and ruining the quality of our coaching. It didn’t work, but the prospect of switching to an automated/digital system was scary given that our reputation was built on the face-2-face customer service that we were renowned for.

4. 2015-2021 – we introduced MindBody as an automated payment system to create an automated waitlist feature and to continue to allow you to pay on a PAYG basis so long as you cancelled out via the app up to 12 hours before your session (the same flexible policy we still use today). Everyone who’d swum with the Squad prior to 2015 was granted a regular permanent spot in the Squad (which many of you still use today). In principle it worked well, but behind the scenes it was an administrative nightmare with >20hrs per week spent on manual reconciliation of your payments and without the inability to book permanent members into the future on a recurring basis beyond 12 months. Each year we’d spend >100hrs rebooking people in to honour their permanent spots at a cost of over $4,000 USD. It didn’t work.

5. 2021-2022 – we switched to WellnessLiving who’d promised to resolve the issues associated with MindBody for about half the cost. Instead, long periods of no-payment occurred as their payment system frequently failed to process payments which caused a major cashflow issue for us. It also still required ~20hrs per week of manual reconciliation. In fact, it was so bad that I couldn’t even convince both my 13yr old son and 11yr old daughter to carry out the menial reconciliation task for $50/wk each after they’d tried it once! It also became evident that a minority of people were holding onto their permanent spots without paying for them and required further chasing and reconciliation. This prevented new-blood from accessing the Squad which threatened to stunt natural “regrowth”. It didn’t work.

6. 2022-onwards – we’ve now switched to Momence. Has it been plain sailing? No. Did I have to pull a significant manual reconciliation of everyone’s accounts to ensure trust and faith in what has been a 20yr iterative process be maintained? Yes. Have we still had some missing payment processing issues? Yes. Have I handled and corresponded immediately and directly with anyone who’s had an issue. Yes. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Hopefully. Per the schematic diagram, the payment system is working extremely well with regards payment reconciliation and saving a lot of time in that regard. Time that can be better spent on offering you the very best swim coaching on the planet whilst still allowing you the flexibility and freedom of a truly PAYG system – our holy ‘utopia’ if you like.

Trust:

Your trust in the system that we have built to better manage your session booking needs is of paramount importance to us. It’s why we’ve always been so open and transparent (and detailed!) in the information that we provide to you. 

As of 13 September 2022, Momence has been our new booking and payment service.

They provide the facility for us to contact you via SMS using the number 0481 615 001 which I recommend you store in your phone as “Swim in Common”.

If making all your payments/bookings within the booking app on iOS and Android you will have a seamless/branded Swim in Common experience 👍.

If you make your payments/bookings online you will be taken to the Swim in Common instance on www.momence.com, but can be assured that this is also us.

For further reference, “Momence” used to be called “Ribbon” and some of our auto-generated emails will come from “Swim in Common” with the email address ribbon@ribbon-confirmations.com

The Fine Print In BIG Print (from the schematic diagram above):

* You can remove any CC details that you do not wish to be stored by logging in at momence.com/sign-in (this cannot be done via the app at this stage).

** Emails are notorious these days for getting caught in spam filters and trash cans. It is YOUR responsibility to remain in credit as a permanent bookings member. You can sanity check this by opening the app, clicking Account and under My Memberships you will see how many credits you have remaining. Please top-up accordingly.

*** As a non-permanent member of the Squad, you can enquire at any time as to whether there are any available permanent spots by emailing paul@swim-in-common.com 
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