Why didn't SMS reminders get sent?

The BizDiary system follows a number of rules about when it will and will not send a reminder.  You can read more about the rules in the Will an automatic reminder be sent? article.

The rules all make sense, but if you are not aware of them it can be easily to accidentally stop an SMS reminder or reminders from being sent.

If you find that some, or all of your reminders have not been sent, it is usually reasonably easy to find out why and prevent it from happening again.  Please remember that if you have multiple users of the system, then someone else may have made a change that you are not aware of, so it is important to check all possibilities.

Follow these steps until you find the cause.

Step 1: Check whether or not the reminders were sent

You can quickly and easily determine which reminders were sent by running the SMS Details Report.  Check the report to see if the SMS message(s) were sent.

Step 2: Check that automated reminders are ON

Go to Account > Settings and view the SMS Settings tab.  Make sure that there is a Template specified, and that Auto-remind is ticked.

You should also check the other settings such as Days Before, and Reminders From/To.

Step 3: Check the appointment

Edit or View the appointment.  For a reminder to be sent, the Status must be Unconfirmed, and the Sent SMS must be UNCHECKED (or show No in View mode).

It is a common mistake for new users, to think they need to tick the Sent SMS check-box.  If you check the box, you are telling the system that you have ALREADY sent an SMS, and it DOES NOT NEED TO.

Step 4: Check the customer

Edit or View the customer record.

The customer must have a valid mobile phone number in the Phone(mob) field.  The system only uses this field for SMS reminders.  If you have a mobile number in a different phone field it will not be used.

Click on the Preferences tab.  Check that Send SMS Reminders is ticked.  If not, it may be that this customer has asked to not receive SMS reminders.

Other options

In almost all cases the problem will be in one of the above areas.  Sometimes though the cause can remain unclear.  Settings may have changed since the time the SMS messages were meant to go out, or the customer or appointment record may have been edited.

Although it is difficult then to determine what caused the SMS message not to go out, there is probably logical reason.

BizDiary sends thousands of text reminders every week and technical issues are incredibly rare.  If you have checked all of the above and still cannot see any reason why the reminder did not go out, please contact the support department with details of the message or messages that you expected to go out, including...

1. Name of the Customer.
2. Date and Time of the appointment.
3. Name of the Personnel who attended the appointment.
4. Any other information that may be useful, especially anything that appeared out of the ordinary.