> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.servicebooked.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Conversation scenarios

> What the AI can handle by phone and text, what it needs before booking, and when your team takes over.

Your AI Receptionist answers routine questions, collects booking details, and requests human help when needed. Its behavior depends on your business settings, calendar connection, and channel. Use this guide to prepare your team and test your setup.

## Routine requests

| Customer request                           | Expected handling                                                                                                  |
| ------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Services, hours, service area, or policies | Answers from your business profile and knowledge base; asks your team when a fact is missing.                      |
| Price                                      | Quotes an approved service price without adding discounts or inclusions; requests a human quote when needed.       |
| New appointment                            | Checks connected calendar availability and collects the required details before booking.                           |
| Another appointment                        | Asks whether the customer explicitly wants a separate booking if an existing appointment is found.                 |
| Cancel or reschedule                       | Establishes identity and selects the original appointment before changing it, or uses a secure link or human help. |
| Speak to someone                           | Attempts an eligible phone transfer or requests human follow-up; does not guarantee a callback deadline.           |
| SMS photo or attachment                    | In Auto mode, queues human review. The text AI does not inspect or diagnose the image.                             |

These actions require successful tool results. A proposed time, sent booking link, or requested callback does not mean a booking or callback has happened.

## Before a new booking

The AI needs a real customer name and a reachable phone number or email. If you have configured services, the selected service must match your catalogue. The configured service duration takes precedence.

On-site service types also require a plausible full property address, including a postal or ZIP code. The address check validates structure, not deliverability or whether the property is within your service area. Your service-area instructions still matter.

A phone or virtual consultation explicitly listed in your service catalogue can omit the property address. The AI cannot turn an on-site service into a virtual appointment just to bypass missing details.

Direct booking requires a connected Google Calendar or Cal.com calendar. If your setup only provides a booking link, the AI shares that link and asks the customer to finish there. Business hours alone are not evidence that a calendar slot is available.

## Existing appointments and identity

* **Phone calls** use the incoming caller number. A different number spoken aloud, a name, or withheld caller ID is not enough to authorize a change. The AI can collect a callback number for your team to verify the request.
* **SMS** uses the incoming sender number. If a secure management link is needed, it goes to the booking's contact details on file, not an arbitrary replacement number.
* **Social DMs**, where enabled, cannot directly cancel or reschedule. The AI requests a management link to the contact details on file or asks your team to help.
* **Web chat** can change a booking the visitor made earlier in the same chat. For any other existing booking, a phone number or email typed into the chat doesn't prove who is asking. The AI won't look that booking up, describe it, or change it. It sends a secure management link to the contact details on file instead.

A phone number or email given in web chat or a social DM never shows the visitor what's stored for that customer, and never overwrites the customer's name, email, phone, or address. The AI still files the conversation with the matching contact, and it adds anything new the visitor gave to the contact's notes so you can check it.

If multiple appointments match, the AI asks for the original date and time instead of choosing one automatically. If it cannot establish a unique authorized appointment, your team must help. Booking on someone else's behalf or contacting you from a different number may require this extra step.

## Urgent service and immediate danger

For immediate danger, the AI directs the customer to local emergency services from a safe location before normal qualification. It does not provide hazardous repair instructions or dispatch emergency responders.

For urgent service without immediate danger, it collects the location, issue, and callback details, checks actual availability, and can request high-priority follow-up. It does not promise that a technician is on the way or that a same-day visit is guaranteed.

## Human handoffs

Voice transfers require a configured destination and known open business hours, accounting for holidays and blackout dates. Otherwise, the AI can request a callback. A follow-up task is created before a transfer attempt so your team can check whether it connected. Close the task if the call resolved the request.

Your team also handles these requests:

* Recurring-series changes, skipped recurring visits, and subscriptions.
* Multi-day jobs, multiple service addresses, and move coordination.
* Assigning a particular staff member, stylist, crew, or resource.
* Live technician arrival times and dispatch status.
* Refunds, disputes, insurance decisions, and financing approvals.

The AI collects useful context without claiming these operations are completed. It should not collect full payment-card credentials or unnecessary sensitive medical information. Task due dates help your team prioritize; they do not guarantee a response time.

## Suggest mode requires human action

For SMS and social DMs, **Suggest** can look up information while preparing a reply. It cannot book, cancel, reschedule, send management links, update customer details, or create follow-up tasks while drafting.

**Sending a draft delivers text only.** Complete any booking change, attachment review, or follow-up task separately before sending a message that confirms it. Voice calls and live website chat answer directly regardless of the message reply mode.

See [AI reply mode](/tasks-and-workflows/workflows#ai-reply-mode), [SMS replies](/inbox/sms-replies), and [AI Receptionist setup](/phone-and-voice/voice-ai-assistant) for channel settings.