Multiple phone numbers and email addresses on a customer

Summary

A customer record can hold more than one phone number and more than one email address. That suits business customers (an accounts email separate from the fleet manager’s mobile), customers with separate work and home numbers, and customers with an after-hours contact.

One phone is the primary mobile, one phone can be the primary landline, and one email is the primary email. The primaries are what Torqueflow uses for texts, WhatsApp, calls, invoice emails and the customer portal. Every other number and email is searchable and recognised when that person calls, but automated messages do not go to it.

Phone numbers and email addresses are edited on the customer’s Overview tab, in the Phone numbers and Emails panels. The Edit Customer dialog does not have phone or email fields. The primary mobile (or, failing that, another primary number) and the primary email also show in the key facts strip at the top of the record. See The customer record.

Prerequisites

• Permission to manage customers. Owner, Manager and Service Advisor have it by default.
• Your organisation’s country is set in Settings. Torqueflow uses it to read numbers typed without a country code.

Steps

Add a phone number

1. Open the customer’s record. It opens on the Overview tab.
2. Under Contact Information, find the Phone numbers panel.
3. Click Add phone.
4. Fill in:
   • Type: Mobile, Landline, Work, Home or Other.
   • Phone number: typed in any common format. Torqueflow formats it as an international number (for example +44 7700 900123) if it recognises it. If it cannot, it saves the number exactly as typed and says “we couldn’t auto-format this number”.
   • Label (optional): free text shown next to the number, for example “After hours” or “Fleet manager direct”.
   • Set as primary phone: tick this if it should replace the current primary of that type.
5. Click Save.
6. The new row appears in the panel. If you made it primary, the previous primary of that type becomes an ordinary row.

The first phone number you add to a customer is always the primary, because every customer needs one main number. The same goes for the first email.

Add an email address

1. In the Emails panel, click Add email.
2. Fill in:
   • Type: Accounts, Personal, Work or Other.
   • Email address: checked as you type.
   • Label (optional): for example “Accounts dept”.
   • Set as primary email: tick this if it should become the main email.
3. Click Save.

Edit an entry, or change its type

1. Hover over the row (or tap it on a phone) to show Edit and Delete.
2. Edit opens the same dialog you used to add it, filled in.
3. Change the number, label or Type and click Save.

You can change the type of any number, including the primary. For example, if the customer’s only number was saved as Mobile and is really a landline, change the type to Landline and save. Torqueflow stops texting it as a mobile straight away.

If the type you move it to already has a primary (the customer already has a primary landline), the number you moved becomes the primary of that type and the other one becomes an ordinary row. You have just told Torqueflow this is the landline, so it believes you.

Delete an entry

1. Click Delete on the row.
2. The confirm step tells you what happens next: which number takes over as primary, or that texts, WhatsApp and calls to that type will stop because it is the only one.
3. Confirm.

A service advisor cannot delete a customer’s only number of a type, or their only email, because that stops messages to the customer. They see “Ask a manager to fully clear contact details”. An Owner or Manager can.

Change the primary

1. Click the star on a non-primary row to make it the primary.
2. The previous primary becomes an ordinary row.
3. Texts, WhatsApp, calls, emails and the customer portal switch to the new primary straight away.

Bring a number that is not on file under control

Some customers show a phone number or email on the customer list, or in the WhatsApp verification banner, while the panel on their page does not list it. This happens for customers created by online booking, deposit booking or an import, whose details were stored on the record but not added to the panels.

The number is still used for texts, WhatsApp and calls. It just cannot be edited until it is in the panel.

1. Open the customer’s page. The panel shows the number with “This number is on the customer’s record but is not on file here yet, so it can’t be edited. Add it to put it under your control.”
2. Click Add to phone numbers (or Add to emails for an address).
3. The number is added to the panel and can now be edited, retyped or deleted like any other.

Until you do this, deleting another number, or setting a different number as primary, may warn you that the customer’s record still holds the old number and messages will keep using it. Add it to the list first, then make the change.

Find a customer by an additional number or email

The customer search and the customer picker in dialogs (new work order, new quote and so on) search every phone number and email on a customer, not just the primaries. Typing part of a fleet manager’s after-hours mobile finds the customer even though it is not their primary.

Recognise callers on any number

When someone calls from any number on the customer’s record (primary mobile, landline or an additional mobile), the AI receptionist matches them to the customer and treats them as a known caller.

Expected Outcome

• The customer’s page shows one Phone numbers panel and one Emails panel listing every contact detail, with nothing shown elsewhere on the page that the panels do not list.
• Automated messages go to the primaries.
• Search, caller recognition and duplicate detection reach every entry on every customer.

Notes

• Test and reserved numbers are accepted. Numbers from ranges set aside for testing and drama, such as 07700 900123, can be saved on customers, suppliers, locations and online booking forms. They cannot receive a real text or call. Automated messages to them are not delivered, and where you ask for one yourself (a phone verification code, or a test call from the voice settings) the screen explains that the number cannot be reached rather than calling it invalid.
• A number with the right length is saved even if Torqueflow does not recognise the range. That means a mistyped number of the right length can be saved. Check new numbers when you take them over the phone.
• Stop all contact covers landlines. If a customer has asked for all contact to stop, nothing is sent to their landline either.
• Quick-create forms flag the phone field. When you create a customer from the scheduler or a new work order and the phone number cannot be read, the Phone field itself is highlighted with “Please enter a valid phone number”, rather than a message at the top of the dialog.
• Imported customers keep an Imported badge on rows that came from the import, so you can tell which entries were captured by the importer and which were added by hand.
• Adding more emails does not yet route invoices or statements to a non-primary email. Those still go to the primary. If you need a finance-only email to receive a copy of an invoice, contact support.
• Duplicate detection also reports duplicates that share a non-primary number or email. See Duplicate suggestions.
• Each change is recorded in the audit log, so you can see who added or changed contact details on a customer.

Troubleshooting

Problem: The customer list shows a phone number but the Phone numbers panel does not list it. Cause: The customer was created by online booking, deposit booking or an import, which stored the number on the record without adding it to the panel. Fix: Click Add to phone numbers in the panel. The number is then editable.

Problem: ”… is on the customer’s record but is not on this list yet. Add it to the list first, then set the new one as primary.” Cause: The customer has a number (or email) that messages still use but that is not in the panel, so making another one primary would leave two different main numbers. Fix: Click Add to phone numbers or Add to emails first, then set the new primary.

Problem: A number saved with “we couldn’t auto-format this number”. Cause: Torqueflow did not recognise it, often because it is missing digits or is a foreign number typed without its country code. Fix: Edit the row and check the number. For a non-UK number, type it with its country code, for example +48.

Problem: Outbound messages still go to the old number after I changed the primary. Cause: A message was already queued before the change. Fix: New messages use the new primary. Messages already queued finish with the old number.

Problem: Customers report they get the same WhatsApp or text at two numbers. Cause: Both numbers are primaries on two different customer records (a duplicate). Fix: Use Merging customers to combine the duplicates. The merge copies non-conflicting phones and emails from the record being merged onto the one you keep.

Problem: “A verification code cannot be sent to this number.” Cause: It is a landline or a reserved test number, which cannot receive a message. Fix: Use the customer’s real mobile number.

Permissions

Action	Who can do it
See the phone and email panels	Anyone who can open the customer’s page
Add, edit, change type, set primary, add a number not on file	Owner, Manager, Service Advisor
Delete a customer’s only number of a type, or their only email	Owner, Manager