Registration Issues

This article covers the most common issues parents run into when filling out your camp’s registration form, and what you can do to help.

”Registration Closed” Message

If a parent sees a “Registration Closed” page instead of the form, registration dates are the most likely cause.

How to fix it:

1. Go to the Season page from the sidebar.
2. Check the Registration Open and Registration Close dates.
3. Make sure the current date falls between those two dates.
4. If registration should be open, update the dates and click Save.

Parents will be able to access the form immediately after the dates are corrected — no need to send them a new link.

If you use applications, parents may also see this message if they’re trying to access the registration form directly. Families must apply first and receive a personalized registration link after they’re approved.

The Form Won’t Load or Shows a Blank Page

This is almost always a browser issue on the parent’s end.

What to suggest:

• Refresh the page — Sometimes the form doesn’t fully load on the first try.
• Try a different browser — Chrome and Safari tend to work best. Older versions of Internet Explorer are not supported.
• Clear the browser cache — Stale data from a previous visit can occasionally interfere.
• Disable browser extensions — Ad blockers and privacy extensions sometimes block parts of the form from loading.
• Check their internet connection — A weak or unstable connection can prevent the form from loading completely.
• Check internet content filters — Many Campflow users have internet content filters installed (common in the communities we serve). These filters can sometimes block parts of the registration form from loading or prevent file uploads from working. If a parent reports that the form won’t load, looks broken, or won’t submit, ask them to check with their internet filter provider and add campflow.org to their allowed list.

If the form still doesn’t load, ask the parent which browser and device they’re using and reach out to us through the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner of your screen.

Validation Errors When Submitting

When a parent clicks Submit, the form checks that all required fields are filled in correctly. If something is missing or invalid, error messages will appear next to the problem fields, and the page will scroll to the first error.

Common validation errors include:

• “The last name is required” — The family last name field is empty.
• “The date of birth must be in the past” — The parent entered a future date or an invalid format.
• “The grade is required” — No grade was selected for a camper. Make sure grades are set up in your season configuration.
• “The payment amount does not meet the minimum deposit requirement” — The amount entered is below the minimum you’ve configured. Check your deposit settings.
• “Please enter a valid email address” — The email format is incorrect (missing @ sign, typo in domain, etc.).
• “Please enter a valid phone number” — Phone numbers must have at least 7 digits. Parentheses, dashes, and spaces are fine.
• “You must consent to our privacy policy” — The privacy consent checkbox at the bottom of the form must be checked.

If a parent says they filled everything in but still can’t submit, ask them to scroll through the entire form looking for red error messages — the issue is often a field they scrolled past.

Payment Fails During Registration

When a parent enters payment information and the payment is declined, they’ll see a message like “Your payment could not be processed. You have not been charged.” along with a reference code.

Common causes:

• Incorrect card details — Wrong card number, expiration date, or CVV. Ask the parent to double-check the card in their hand.
• Insufficient funds — The card doesn’t have enough available balance.
• Card restrictions — Some banks block online transactions or out-of-state purchases by default. The parent may need to call their bank to authorize the charge.
• Expired card — The expiration date has passed.
• AVS mismatch — The billing address on file with the bank doesn’t match what was entered. This is more common with ACH (bank account) payments.

The parent’s registration data is not lost when a payment fails. Their information is saved, and they can try again with a different card or payment method without re-entering the form.

If the parent is paying by ACH (bank account), make sure the routing number is 9 digits and the account holder name matches the name on the bank account.

For more on how payments work in Campflow, see Recording Payments.

Parent Can’t Find Their Registration Link

If a parent lost the registration link you sent them, you have several options:

• Resend it — Go to the Registration Email Sender and send the link again.
• Share the generic link — You can share the general registration link (without a family identifier). The parent will fill out the form as a new family. If they already exist in your system, Campflow will try to match them.
• Send a personalized link — Personalized links pre-fill the form with the family’s existing information. This is the better option for returning families. See Sharing Registration for how to send personalized links.

”Awaiting Approval” Message

If your camp uses applications, families must be approved before they can access the registration form. If a parent sees a message about awaiting approval, it means:

• Their application was submitted but no campers have been approved yet.
• You need to review the application and update the approval status for their campers.

Once at least one camper is set to an approval status that allows registration, the parent can use their personalized registration link to complete the full form.

Returning Family’s Data Is Missing

When a returning family opens a personalized registration link, the form should pre-fill with their information from the previous season. If it appears blank:

• Check the link — Make sure the link includes the family identifier. Generic registration links (without a family hash) always show a blank form.
• Check the season — The family’s data carries over from the most recent season. If the family wasn’t registered in the previous season, there’s nothing to pre-fill.
• Check the family record — Go to the Families page, find the family, and confirm their data exists. If it’s there, resend a personalized link using the Registration Email Sender.

Document Uploads Fail

Registration documents (health forms, vaccination records, etc.) must meet these requirements:

• File types: PDF, DOC, DOCX, JPG, PNG, or HEIC (iPhones sometimes save photos in a format called HEIC instead of the standard JPEG. Campflow tries to handle this automatically, but it doesn’t always work. If a photo upload fails, ask the parent to take a screenshot of the image and upload the screenshot instead, or convert it to JPEG before uploading.)
• Maximum size: 25MB per file for family-level documents, 20MB per file for camper-level documents

If a parent’s upload keeps failing:

• Ask them to check the file size — photos from modern phones can exceed the limit.
• If the file is from an iPhone and appears to be in HEIC format, ask the parent to take a screenshot of the image and upload the screenshot instead, or convert it to JPEG before uploading.
• If uploading from a phone, suggest using the phone’s built-in camera option in the file picker rather than uploading a pre-existing photo, which tends to produce smaller files.

Profile Photo Issues

Profile photos must be JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, or HEIC format and under 12MB. If a parent can’t upload a photo:

• The file might be too large. Photos taken with high-resolution cameras or recent iPhones can easily exceed 12MB.
• The file might be in an unsupported format (like TIFF or RAW).
• iPhones sometimes save photos in a format called HEIC instead of the standard JPEG. Campflow tries to handle this automatically, but it doesn’t always work. If a photo upload fails, ask the parent to take a screenshot of the image and upload the screenshot instead, or convert it to JPEG before uploading.

”Save for Later” Not Working

Parents can save their progress and come back later to finish the form. This data is stored in the parent’s browser, not on the server.

Important things to know:

• Saved progress only works on the same browser and device where the parent started the form.
• Clearing browser data (cookies, cache) will erase saved progress.
• Photos and documents cannot be saved for later — they’ll need to be re-uploaded.
• Using incognito or private browsing mode will not preserve saved data.

If a parent says their saved data disappeared, it’s most likely because they cleared their browser data, used a different browser, or used private browsing mode.

Good to Know

• When a parent submits the form successfully, they see a “Thank you! Your registration is complete” confirmation page. If they don’t see this page, the registration did not go through and they should try submitting again.
• The form automatically saves emergency contacts, custom field values, and camper information even if the payment fails — so parents won’t have to re-enter everything.
• If you need to test the registration form yourself, use the Preview link from the Season page. Preview mode bypasses the registration date restrictions so you can see the form anytime.