What it is
Appointment reminders and no-show recovery reminds the customer before a confirmed visit and follows up a missed one. It covers confirmed showroom visits, test drives, service appointments and vehicle pickups. A request or a proposed time never gets reminders.
The journey is always on and managed by QualiFlow. When both channels are connected and the customer permits them, confirmation and reminders go by SMS and email, with a separate recorded result for each. If the customer provides only a phone number, email remains optional. Messages use your dealership's text number and your own connected mailbox or verified domain, never a QualiFlow address. A saved contact detail alone does not grant communication permission.
A customer who wrote on website chat, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp or email and gave a phone number gets text reminders too: QualiFlow starts a text conversation on that number.
If no sender is connected yet, the card on Journeys reads Waiting for: a text number or dealership email. As soon as an Owner connects one in Settings → Connections, reminders pick it up by themselves and schedule for upcoming confirmed appointments.
How to use it
- Make sure an Owner has connected a text number or your dealership's email in Settings → Connections.
- Book or confirm the appointment as usual in Visits. Reminders schedule by themselves.
- To see one appointment's reminders, open it in Visits and read Calendar and confirmation → Reminders. The checkpoints show as a timeline, each with one short reason; the technical details are folded under Diagnostics.
- A thank-you or general car question does not automatically pause reminders. A cancellation, rescheduling request or unclear schedule change still holds the remaining work for review. If the appointment still stands after review, select Resume reminders (it comes first in the panel).
- If your team cancelled a customer's reminders and wants them back, select Schedule reminders again and confirm. Everything else is re-checked automatically.
- Otherwise there is nothing to press: after you fix a contact, a connection or the appointment, reminders check again by themselves.
What the data means
| Step | When | Default message |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation | When the booking is confirmed | Your {type} is confirmed for {day} at {time} at {location} |
| Day before | 1 day before | A friendly reminder that your {type} is {day} at {time} at {location} |
| Final | 2 hours before | Your {type} is {day} at {time} |
| Missed | 1 hour after a no-show | Sorry we missed you today. Reply here and we'll find a new time that suits you |
A reminder is never sent late. A booking made at short notice gets fewer reminders. Quiet hours (8:00 AM to 8:00 PM in the customer's time zone when known) and permission are checked before every reminder. Reaching the appointment time counts as done.
The Reminders panel shows a badge (Scheduled, Held, Ended, Not scheduled, Waiting, Retrying or Check stopped), the next reminder, and each checkpoint with its reason.
Possible issues and fixes
A customer got no reminder
Symptom: A customer with a booking received no reminder.
Why: The appointment is only a request, your dealership has no text number or email connected, or the customer has no mobile number or email on their contact.
Fix: Open the appointment's Reminders panel and read the reason. Confirm the appointment, add a number or email to the contact, or connect a sender. Reminders check again by themselves.
How to check: The badge reads Scheduled and the panel shows the next reminder.
The card says "Waiting for: a text number or dealership email"
Symptom: The Appointment reminders card does not read Running.
Why: Your dealership has nothing to send reminders from.
Fix: An Owner connects a text number or a dealership email in Settings → Connections. Nothing else is needed.
How to check: The card reads Running and upcoming confirmed appointments show Scheduled reminders.
Text reminders show Failed with no reason
Symptom: Text checkpoints show Failed and customers get nothing.
Why: Your business texting registration is not approved yet, so every outgoing text is held.
Fix: Finish Settings → Connections → SMS & calls → Business registration. Connect your dealership's email too, so reminders can go by email meanwhile.
How to check: New checkpoints show Delivered.
The reminder became a "Follow up yourself" task
Symptom: My Work has a task "Follow up yourself: no permission on file to text this customer".
Why: No service permission is on file for that phone or email. QualiFlow records it itself only if the customer wrote to you first from that address.
Fix: Record Service permission on the contact. Reminders check again by themselves.
How to check: The checkpoint shows Scheduled.
The customer got two confirmations
Symptom: A customer got Aria's "you're booked" reply and then a text confirmation.
Why: Aria's chat reply and the journey's confirmation are separate messages by design.
Fix: Nothing is wrong. If you also send a confirmation by hand from the appointment, the customer gets both.
How to check: The Reminders panel shows the confirmation checkpoint.
