Messaging and consent
How we handle texting, and why we are strict about it
Text messaging to US phone numbers is regulated by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and by carrier rules that sit on top of it. Getting this wrong is not a slap on the wrist — statutory damages run per message, and they are claimed in class actions against small operators doing exactly what we do. This page describes how we actually operate.
Consent is captured before anything is sent
No contact receives a message from a system we run unless there is a record of that contact agreeing to be messaged. The record includes what they agreed to, when, and where it was collected — a web form, a phone call, a check-in, or a written form in your office. We can show you that record for any contact at any time.
Two kinds of consent, and they are not interchangeable
Consent to be contacted about a job you asked for is not consent to receive marketing. Transactional messages — appointment confirmations, reminders, "the technician is on the way" — sit on the first kind. Campaigns, offers and reactivation sit on the second, and we collect it separately and explicitly.
Opting out works, immediately and permanently
STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT are all honoured automatically. The contact is suppressed across every campaign we run for you, not just the one they replied to, and it happens on receipt rather than on a nightly sync. Re-adding a suppressed contact requires new consent.
A2P 10DLC registration
Every US business that sends application-to-person text messages must register its brand and its campaigns with the carriers. Unregistered traffic is filtered or blocked outright. We handle the registration as part of onboarding and it needs real details about your business — legal entity name, EIN, address and a sample of the messages you intend to send. Carrier fees for registration and per-message surcharges are passed through to you at cost and itemised.
What we will refuse
We will not send to a list you bought, rented, scraped, or imported from a source that cannot show consent. We will not send outside reasonable hours. We will not remove the opt-out language from a marketing message. If you ask us to do any of these, we will decline and explain why, and if you insist we will end the engagement.
How people opt in
Customers opt in by checking an unticked consent box on a form on your website or ours, by giving verbal consent on a recorded call where the disclosure is read to them, or by signing a paper form in your business. No box is ever pre-ticked, and consent is never a condition of getting a quote, booking a job, or completing a purchase — a registration that requires it is rejected by the carriers, and rightly so. Every disclosure names the business, states the message frequency, says message and data rates may apply, and tells the customer to reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help.
This is a description, not legal advice
This page tells you how we run the system. It is not legal advice and it does not make your business compliant on its own — you are the sender of record for messages sent on your behalf. Talk to your own attorney about your obligations.