Customer says they placed order, I can't see it.

[Saintsteven]

Hello,

I just fielded a distressing email from a customer who wants to know where's their order (needed in time for Christmas, an impossibility at this point). It would appear that they thought they placed one on December 8, and I've got nothing in the hopper from that date until now with their name on it, similarly no evidence of payment.

In the future, is there some way for me to tell when someone "almost" places an order but doesn't complete it? Is that an abandoned cart issue?

Without an abandoned cart mod (I see there is one, but think I'll wait to install it until after the forthcoming upgrade), is there a log somewhere that I can look at to see where they (or I) went wrong?

I'm confident the cart is working properly-it has handled orders since this customer's registration.

[lat9]

Have you checked your /logs folder to ensure that there weren't any PHP "issues" that didn't record the checkout?

[gilby]

I use a version of the "User Tracking Mod" in the downloads
It records a click by click version of the customers visit.

Your customer probably got to the "Order Confirmation" screen and thought they had finished placing the order.
They then missed clicking the "Confirm the Order" button (below the fold)

[swguy]

One suggestion: if you login as them (using Master Password) and still see items in their cart, this would suggest they didn't confirm checkout. Especially if these are the very items they thought they purchased.

[gilby]

One suggestion: if you login as them (using Master Password) and still see items in their cart, this would suggest they didn't confirm checkout. Especially if these are the very items they thought they purchased.

Good point.
It is always still in their cart if they didn't complete checkout