Troubleshooting

Signing in to Surrounders is your email address and a 6-digit code we send to it - there is no password to remember or get wrong. So the things to check are about the address and the code.

The address first: a typo is the number one cause of "the code never came". Look at what you typed before you look anywhere else, then use "Change" to correct it - a corrected address gets its own fresh code. If you signed up with Google, the Google button still works and skips the code entirely.

Then the email itself. Check your spam and promotions folders; the subject line starts with the six digits, so searching your inbox for "Surrounders" finds it. If nothing arrives within a minute, "Resend code" becomes available - it is greyed out for 60 seconds after each send so a slow inbox does not turn into five identical emails.

Three limits worth knowing, all there to keep your account yours:

• A code expires 10 minutes after it was sent. Past that, request a new one.
• Five wrong attempts retire a code. The screen tells you how many tries are left; after the fifth, request a new one.
• One address can receive a handful of codes per hour. If you hit that ceiling the screen says how long to wait.

If none of this helps, write to support@surrounders.com from the email you signed up with, describing what you tried. Include a screenshot of any error you see.

There is no verification link to click: your email is verified by the 6-digit code you type when you sign in or book, and the moment the code is right, the address is confirmed. So if you are waiting for a verification email, the thing to look for is the code email - its subject line starts with the six digits.

Look in your spam and promotions folders first; that is where it most often hides. Searching your inbox for "Surrounders" also catches an email that arrived earlier and slipped past you. If nothing shows up within a minute, "Resend code" becomes available on the sign-in screen - it waits 60 seconds after each send so a slow inbox does not turn into a pile of identical emails.

Things that commonly go wrong:

• A typo in the address. Even one wrong character sends the code somewhere else, and the code goes to the address you typed whether or not an account exists for it - so if nothing ever arrives, the address itself is the first thing to question. "Change" on the code screen lets you correct it.
• A work or school inbox with strict filtering. A personal address usually receives it without fuss.

A code lasts 10 minutes and five attempts; request a fresh one rather than typing an old one.

Browsing works without any of this, so you can keep exploring pros while you sort it out.

If two attempts and a spam-folder check turn up nothing, email support@surrounders.com and tell us which address you were using.

Look at your filters and tabs first - the booking is almost always still there, just not in the view you are looking at. Completed and cancelled bookings move out of the upcoming view, and any status filter you set earlier keeps hiding things until you clear it. Check the past section before assuming anything is gone.

If it was a request the pro never answered, there is a second explanation: booking requests expire after 48 hours without a response. When that happens you get a notification, the request shows as expired rather than vanishing, and you are free to book anyone else. Check your bell feed - the notification will confirm it.

An expired request costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. Reasonable next steps:

• Send a new request for a different slot, if you still want that pro.
• Book another pro instead - slow responses are worth factoring in, and each pro's typical response time is shown on their profile.

If a confirmed booking genuinely seems missing after checking filters and the past tab, email support@surrounders.com with the details.

Push notifications need 2 switches turned on, and either one being off silences everything. First: your device or browser must allow notifications from Surrounders (phone Settings on mobile, site permissions on desktop). Second: the notification toggles inside Surrounders Settings must be on for the types you want. Check both - the second one is the one people forget.

In Surrounders Settings you will find per-type toggles (bookings, messages, reviews, reminders and so on) for each channel. Make sure push is enabled for the types you expect to hear about.

If both switches are on and pushes still do not arrive:

• Restart the browser or reopen the home-screen app.
• Check your phone's focus or do-not-disturb mode - it can swallow notifications silently.
• As a last resort, remove the home-screen app and install it again from the browser, then re-allow notifications when asked.

Meanwhile, nothing is lost: every notification also appears in the in-app bell feed, and email notifications are available as a separate channel in the same Settings.

There are no reset emails, because there are no passwords on Surrounders: you enter your email on the login page and we send a 6-digit code instead. If you were waiting for a reset link, that is why it never came - request a code from the login page and you are in.

If it is the code email that is missing, the causes are the familiar ones:

• A typo in the address. Look at what you typed before you look anywhere else; "Change" on the code screen lets you correct it, and the corrected address gets its own code.
• A different address. Many people have two or three. The code goes to the one you typed, whether or not an account exists for it - so if you typed the wrong one, it is sitting in the wrong inbox.
• Spam or promotions. The subject line starts with the six digits; searching your inbox for "Surrounders" finds it.
• A slow inbox. "Resend code" becomes available 60 seconds after each send.

A code lasts 10 minutes. If yours expired while you were looking, request a new one rather than typing the old one.

If you have checked all of the above and tried twice, contact support@surrounders.com and mention which address you were using and when you requested the code.

Sign back in - that is genuinely the whole fix: your email, the 6-digit code we send it, and you are where you were. All your bookings, chats, and settings are exactly where you left them; they live in your account, not in the session.

A session on Surrounders lasts 90 days and is extended every time you use it, so a device you open now and then stays signed in. The ordinary reasons for a surprise logout are a device you had not opened for about three months, or "Log out everywhere" pressed on another device - which ends this one too, on purpose.

If the logout felt suspicious rather than routine, two checks put your mind at ease:

• Open Settings and look at your active sessions. It lists every device signed in to your account, and you can sign out any of them individually.
• If you see a device you do not recognize, sign it out - and since your email is the key to your account, make sure the email account itself is secure.

Frequent logouts on one specific device, several times a day, are not normal. In that case try a different browser to compare, and if it keeps happening, describe the pattern to support@surrounders.com - which device, which browser, and roughly how often.

Set your language in Settings while you are logged in - that is the fix. A language chosen in Settings is saved to your account, so it follows you to every device and survives logouts, new browsers, and reinstalls. Set it once there and it stays set.

The reason it kept flipping: a language picked while logged out only applies to that browser on that device, temporarily. Log in somewhere else, or come back later, and you see the account's language again - which may not be the one you picked. The logged-out picker is for visitors; the Settings choice is the one that persists.

So the sequence is:

1. Log in.
2. Open Settings.
3. Choose your language there.

From that moment your choice is the account's choice, everywhere - including the emails and notifications Surrounders sends you, which render in your account language.

Surrounders is available in English, Greek, and Russian. If the language still flips after setting it in Settings while logged in, that is a real bug - report it to support@surrounders.com with a screenshot.

Check the format and size first: Surrounders accepts JPEG, PNG, and WebP photos up to 10MB. A photo in another format, or one over the limit, will not upload. Most phone photos fit comfortably, so if yours fails, the format is the more likely culprit than the size.

Quick fixes, in order of how often they work:

• Convert the format. If your phone saves photos in a different format, export or re-share the photo as JPEG first - most phones offer this in the share or edit menu.
• Check your connection. Uploads are more sensitive to a weak signal than browsing is. Try again on solid Wi-Fi.
• Try a smaller photo. Cropping or using your camera's smaller-size option gets you under the limit without visibly losing quality for chat purposes.
• Retry once. A single failed upload on mobile data is often just a hiccup.

Photos are compressed automatically after upload, so there is no need to pre-shrink beyond the 10MB limit. If uploads keep failing with a valid photo and a good connection, email support@surrounders.com with the photo's format and size.

Broaden the search and clear your filters - those two moves fix most empty results. Try fewer, simpler words ("cleaning" rather than "deep cleaning 3 bedroom apartment"), and check which filters are active: price, duration, language, and location type all narrow results quietly, and a leftover filter from a past search is the single most common cause of an empty page.

If searching still comes up short, browse instead. Open the category directly - there are 10, from home cleaning to music lessons - and scan what is actually on offer. Browsing shows you everything in a category, so it cannot miss things the way a too-specific search phrase can.

Two honest notes about coverage:

• Supply is strongest in Limassol today. Searching in other cities can genuinely return little - that reflects who has signed up so far, not a bug. Some pros do travel between cities, and remote services like online lessons work from anywhere.
• The "speaks my language" filter is great, but it shrinks results. Try once without it.

Looking for something no category covers? Tell us at support@surrounders.com - requests shape what gets added.

Refresh the view - pull down on the screen in the app, or reload the page in the browser. That forces everything to fetch fresh data and resolves nearly every case of a booking, message, or calendar looking out of date. If the refresh does not take, close Surrounders completely and open it again.

Stale views usually trace back to one of these:

• A weak or dropped connection. The screen keeps showing what it last loaded. Once you are back on a solid connection, a refresh brings everything current.
• A tab left open for a long time. Browsers put idle tabs to sleep; reloading wakes them up properly.
• Switching devices. Changes made on your phone appear on your laptop after its next refresh, not instantly on an already-open page.

Your data itself is never stale on the server - a chat reply or booking update is recorded the moment it happens. The refresh only updates what your screen shows. If a view stays wrong even after reloading on a good connection, that is worth reporting: support@surrounders.com, with a screenshot.

An empty calendar means one of two things: the pro has not opened working hours on those days, or every open slot is already taken. Neither is a glitch - the calendar shows the pro's real availability, nothing more. Try scrolling to other weeks first; many pros open hours only for certain weekdays.

If other weeks are empty too, you have two good moves:

• Message the pro. Chat works without a booking, so ask directly when they next have time. Pros sometimes open extra hours for a real request, and at minimum you get a straight answer instead of guessing.
• Pick another pro. There is no cost to looking around, and you can even chat with several pros in parallel while you decide.

One detail that surprises people: bookings need at least 2 hours' notice, so slots in the very near future do not appear even if the pro is technically free right now. If you need someone this instant, messaging is again the faster route.

Refresh the page first - that alone fixes most loading problems. If it does not, check your connection by opening any other website: if that fails too, the problem is your internet, not Surrounders. Reconnect to Wi-Fi or switch to mobile data and try again.

Still not loading while other sites work? Run through these in order, testing after each:

1. Close the tab completely and open surrounders.com fresh.
2. Try a private or incognito window.
3. Try a different browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge - any current version).
4. If you use the home-screen app, open the site in the regular browser instead.

Each step isolates a different cause, so by step 4 you usually know whether the issue lives in one browser or is something bigger.

If nothing works, email support@surrounders.com with three things: what page you were opening, what you see instead (a screenshot is perfect), and which browser and device you are on. That is everything needed to investigate.