reminder text to invitee now requires text reminders

Hi ​@Mann71777 - Thanks for reaching out. Sorry to hear how this is interrupting your workflow!

As you might of seen in another thread, the recommendation now is to use the book on behalf flow as described in this article here.

We’re working on a new process for verification when using the book on behalf feature. With that said, the rollout is still in progress, so we can’t guarantee an exact timeline for access.

With the new flow, the host can enter the invitee’s phone number during booking, and the invitee will receive a text with a confirmation link to opt in to SMS notifications. That means the Invitee can complete verification when it’s convenient for them, rather than you needing to collect a 6-digit code live during booking.

With that being said, I do understand how much of an impact this is, I’m still working on getting everyones feedback over to that team. Really appreciate your input!

Yes! We ran in to this same issue and have complained to Calendly saying that there is a disclosure written under the box to enter the number for the text reminders...these aren’t sales texts they’re reminder texts of an appt and it’s ridiculous that they’re doing this! 

They seemed to not care when telling them how important this was to fix and are now looking into Cal.com and AppToTo for a professional calendar service that provides these seamless reminders to clients. 

I also want to add my feedback because clearly this is affecting a lot more than one person.

SMS workflows are a big reason we pay for Calendly. We rely on those texts because emails get missed or go to spam, and the texts are what make sure clients actually see the appointment and confirm they’re coming.

This new opt-in setup has made that way less reliable. Now the client has to take an extra step after the appointment is already scheduled, and a lot of people either don’t see it, don’t understand what it is, or just don’t do it. So then the SMS workflows we’re paying for never even reach them.

What also really bothers me is that I don’t remember getting any meaningful notice that this was changing. If we had known ahead of time, we could have looked at other options or migrated before it started affecting our workflow. In our case, this happened right around our annual renewal, which makes it even more frustrating.

I contacted support and was basically told this is how it works now, there isn’t another option, and even a refund isn’t guaranteed.

I understand there are consent requirements for texting. That’s not really the issue. There are plenty of ways Calendly could handle that better. Put a checkbox in the booking process. Let someone consent when the appointment is being scheduled on their behalf. Send a simple text that says reply YES to receive appointment texts or STOP to opt out. Anything is better than a separate verification message that the client may not even realize is connected to their appointment.

The bigger issue for me is that if I now have to pay another service for texting just to replace something Calendly used to handle, then I have to ask why I’m paying for Calendly too. At that point I could use another scheduler, or even Google for the basic scheduling piece, and move on.

I really hope Calendly takes this seriously because this clearly isn’t working for a lot of customers. Telling people “this is how it works now” isn’t really a solution.