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Some Tellem messages are for you, not your customer — a heads-up that a job needs staffing, or a customer reply that needs a human. This page covers both and where to control them on the Account page.

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Unstaffed-appointment alerts

If a job’s start time is approaching and no technician has been assigned, Tellem warns you automatically — once on the morning of the job, and again about two hours before it starts. This runs for every account; there’s nothing to turn on. Once you assign a worker, the alerts stop for that job. Alerts to your business, a card on the Account page, is where you choose which channel(s) carry these warnings:
  • Email me about unstaffed appointments — sent to the contractor email set in the Business details card above it.
  • Text me about unstaffed appointments — sent to your cell, same place.
Both are on by default. Turn either off if you’d rather not hear about it that way — turning off both means Tellem won’t alert you about unstaffed jobs at all, and the page tells you so. Texting needs a valid cell number. If you turn texting on but the cell number on the Business details card is missing or not a real US number, the Account page shows a note right next to the toggle, and you’ll only get these alerts by email until you add one — saving still works either way, you just won’t get the text half of the warning. This is different from your customers’ messages, which are unaffected by anything on this page.

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Customer reply routing

When a customer replies to a Tellem text with something other than a STOP or START keyword, Tellem forwards it to you so you can respond — this is the Customer reply routing card, just below Alerts to your business.
  • Forward customer replies is the master switch. Turn it off to drop free-form replies without notifying you; STOP and START are always handled regardless.
  • Email me when a customer replies and Text me when a customer replies work independently, each with its own optional override address or number — set one if you want replies routed somewhere other than your main contractor email or cell (e.g. a shared dispatch inbox).
Email is on by default; text is off by default, because texting your own number counts against your SMS throughput and most accounts don’t have a texting number wired up on day one. If you turn text on before that is in place, those texts are dropped — they are not held and delivered later — so leave email on as well until you’ve confirmed texts are arriving.