Customer Claims

The customer claims system lets new people who register on your platform tie themselves to an existing customer account. It keeps you in control of who can see a customer's orders and history, while letting the right people onboard quickly.

Note: Claims and the Users area are part of TimberCloud's team and access tools. The dedicated Users page is available on the Build plan and higher, but customer claims are tied to storefront registration and apply wherever customers can sign up.

How Claims Work

When a customer registers on your embedded storefront or through the main platform, they go through an onboarding process. If they enter information that matches an existing customer in your system, a claim is created for administrative review.

The Claim Process

graph LR
    A[User Registers] --> B[Completes Onboarding]
    B --> C{Matches Existing Customer?}
    C -->|Yes| D[Claim Created]
    C -->|No| E[New Customer Created]
    D --> F[Admin Reviews]
    F -->|Approve| G[User Linked to Customer]
    F -->|Deny| H[Claim Denied]

1. User Registration: A new user signs up on your storefront
2. Onboarding: The user provides their company/organization information
3. Claim Generation: If the name matches an existing customer, a claim is created
4. Admin Review: An administrator reviews and approves or denies the claim
5. Account Access: Upon approval, the user gains access to the customer account

Note: Claims are only created when Automatically Approve Users is turned off in your company settings. When it's on, matching registrants are linked to their customer automatically and no claim is created.

Accessing the Claims Page

Navigate to Users → Claims from the main navigation to view all pending and processed claim requests.

Claims Overview

At the top of the Claims page, four KPI summary cards give you an at-a-glance count of where every claim stands:

Card	What it shows
Total Claims	The total number of claims across all statuses
Pending	Claims awaiting your review
Approved	Claims you've approved (users have account access)
Denied	Claims you've rejected

Use these cards to spot a backlog quickly — if the Pending count is climbing, you have legitimate users waiting on access.

Searching and Filtering

Below the cards, a search-and-filter bar helps you find the right claim fast:

• Search box — type any part of a user's name, email, or organization to narrow the list in real time.
• Status filter — toggle between All, Pending, Approved, and Denied to focus on a single status.
• A live result count shows how many claims match your current search and filter.

Claims List

The list below the filter bar displays each customer account claim with the following information:

Column	Description
Username / Email	The identifier and email of the user making the claim
Full Name	The registered name of the user
Organization	The customer account they are attempting to claim
Status	Current status of the claim (Pending, Approved, or Denied)
Actions	View button to review and manage the claim

Claim Statuses

Status	Color	Description
Pending	Amber	Awaiting administrative review
Approved	Green	Claim has been approved, user has account access
Denied	Red	Claim was rejected, user does not have access

Reviewing a Claim

To review a claim request:

1. Click the View button in the Actions column
2. A modal window will display the claim details:
   • User Information: Full name and email of the claiming user
   • Requested Account: The customer account they wish to access

Making a Decision

After reviewing the claim, you have two options:

Approve

Click Approve to:

• Link the user to the requested customer account
• Grant the user access to view and manage orders under that customer
• Allow the user to place orders on behalf of the customer
• Update the claim status to "Approved"

Deny

Click Deny to:

• Reject the user's request to access the customer account
• Keep the user's account active but without customer association
• Update the claim status to "Denied"

Important: Before approving a claim, verify the person genuinely belongs to the customer account. A few quick checks:

• Their email domain matches the customer's company.
• Their name appears in the customer's records.
• When in doubt, contact the customer directly before approving.

After Approval

Once a claim is approved:

1. Immediate Access: The user can immediately access the customer account
2. Order Visibility: They can view all orders associated with that customer
3. Order Placement: They can place new orders on behalf of the customer
4. Account Management: They can update customer profile information (if permitted)
5. Notification: The user receives confirmation of their approved status

Approved User Capabilities

Users with approved claims can:

• View order history for their customer account
• Track shipping and delivery status
• Access invoices and payment history
• Place new orders through the storefront
• Manage their account settings

After Denial

When a claim is denied:

1. Status Update: The claim shows as "Denied" in the list
2. Limited Access: The user remains registered but without customer association
3. No Automatic Retry: Denied claims cannot be automatically resubmitted
4. Manual Resolution: An admin can manually assign the user to a customer if needed

Tip: If a claim was denied by mistake, you can still link the person manually from the Users page — edit the user, set their role to Customer, and pick the right customer account.

Managing Auto-Approval Settings

To configure how claims are handled:

1. Navigate to Settings → Company
2. Find the User Registration section
3. Configure the following options:

Setting	Description
Allow User Registration	Enable or disable new self-registrations
Automatically Approve Users	When on, registrants are linked to matching customers automatically, with no claim to review

When to Use Manual Approval

Consider disabling auto-approval when:

• Your customer base includes sensitive or high-value accounts
• You need to verify user identity before granting access
• Multiple people might attempt to claim the same account
• You want full control over who accesses customer data

When to Use Auto-Approval

Consider enabling auto-approval when:

• You trust all registering users
• Speed of onboarding is a priority
• Your customer accounts don't contain sensitive information
• You have other verification methods in place

Best Practices

1. Regular Review: Watch the Pending KPI card and check the Claims page regularly to avoid delays for legitimate users
2. Verification Process: Establish a clear process for verifying claims before approval
3. Documentation: Keep notes on why claims were approved or denied
4. Communication: Notify users promptly about claim decisions
5. Security First: When in doubt, deny the claim and investigate further

Troubleshooting

User Doesn't See Their Customer Account

• Check if a claim was created and is pending approval (filter the Claims list by Pending)
• Verify the claim wasn't previously denied (filter by Denied or search for the user's email)
• Ensure the user's email matches the expected customer record

Claim Appears as "Pending" But Was Processed

• Refresh the Claims page
• Check if the user can access their account (the UI may not have updated)
• Clear browser cache and reload

User Created Without a Claim

This happens when:

• Auto-approval is enabled
• The user's information didn't match any existing customer
• The user was manually created by an administrator

Next Steps

• Users — managing all user accounts (Build plan and higher)
• Roles & Permissions — what each role can see and do
• Managing Customers — creating and editing customer accounts
• Company Settings — configuring registration and approval settings
• Customer Onboarding — the embedded storefront where customers register