Voice AI Bookings and Payment Links

Summary

The Voice AI can book appointments and send payment links to customers during a phone call - without any staff involvement. When a caller asks to book a service or MOT, the AI checks your scheduler for available slots, creates the booking, and optionally sends an SMS with a secure payment link. This lets your garage take bookings and deposits 24/7, including after hours.

Prerequisites

• Voice AI must be configured and live.
• Your scheduler must have bays and business hours configured so the AI can find available slots.
• Service pricing must be set up if you want the AI to quote prices and send payment links.
• A UK phone number must be provisioned for your organisation (this is set up during Voice AI onboarding).

Steps

How the AI books an appointment

1. A caller asks to book a service (for example, “I need to book an MOT”).
2. The AI uses the getSchedulerAvailability tool to check your calendar. It looks for open slots matching the requested service type, preferred date, and bay type.
3. The AI presents available slots to the caller (up to six options) with dates, times, and bay assignments.
4. Once the caller confirms a slot, the AI uses the createBooking tool. This creates a work order and appointment in your scheduler.
5. The AI confirms the booking to the caller, including the date, time, and bay name. If the appointment is two hours or longer, the AI mentions loan car availability.
6. The booking appears in your Scheduler calendar and on the Workshop kanban with the note “Booked via Voice AI”.

How the AI sends a payment link

1. After confirming a booking (or when a caller agrees to pay), the AI uses the sendPaymentLink tool.
2. The system generates a secure payment URL signed with HMAC. The link encodes the work order ID, amount, and an expiry timestamp.
3. An SMS is sent to the customer’s mobile number. The message follows this format: “Hi {first name}, your appointment at {garage name} is confirmed. Pay {amount} here: {link} - {garage name}”
4. If the message exceeds 306 characters (two SMS segments), it shortens to: “Hi {first name}, your appointment is confirmed. Pay {amount} here: {link}”
5. The AI confirms to the caller that the payment link has been sent to their phone.
6. The SMS send is logged as a communication event on the work order, visible in the message history as “Payment link sent via SMS ({amount})”.

Payment link details

1. Payment links are valid for 72 hours from the time of generation.
2. Links point to your customer portal at the path /portal/booking/{workOrderId} with a signed token.
3. Only GBP currency is supported. Amounts display with the pound sign.
4. Each payment link is unique to the work order and cannot be reused after expiry.

What the customer experiences

1. The customer receives an SMS within seconds of the AI sending it.
2. They tap the link to open a payment page in their mobile browser.
3. The page shows the booking details and amount due.
4. After payment, the work order’s payment status updates automatically.

Monitoring bookings from the dashboard

1. After-hours bookings made by the AI appear in the Voice Dashboard under the After-Hours Activity section, in the Bookings metric.
2. All AI-created work orders are visible in the Workshop kanban and Scheduler calendar.

Expected Outcome

Your garage can take bookings and collect deposits around the clock. Callers get instant confirmation and a payment link by text. Staff see the booking in the scheduler the next morning with payment already collected. The entire flow happens without human intervention.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
AI says no slots are available	Bays or business hours are not configured	Check Settings > Scheduler and ensure bays have opening hours set
Payment link SMS not received	Invalid or landline phone number on the customer record	Verify the customer’s mobile number. The system validates numbers and rejects landlines
Payment link SMS fails with “Unsupported currency”	A non-GBP currency was requested	Only GBP is currently supported. No action needed if your garage operates in pounds
Booking does not appear in the scheduler	The createBooking call may have failed silently	Check the call transcript in Voice > Calls to see if the AI reported an error during the booking step
Customer says the payment link expired	Links are valid for 72 hours only	The customer needs to contact the garage for a new link. Staff can resend via the work order’s invoice section
SMS was sent but not logged in messages	Rare logging failure (non-blocking)	The SMS was still delivered. Contact support if you need delivery confirmation

Notes

• The AI only sends payment links when the caller explicitly agrees. It does not send unsolicited payment requests.
• Multi-segment SMS (more than 160 characters) is expected for payment link messages because the secure URL is lengthy. The phone network reassembles them into one message for the customer, but each segment is billed separately.
• The “Booked via Voice AI” tag on work orders lets you distinguish AI bookings from manual ones in reports and on the kanban board.
• If the AI cannot identify the caller (no matching customer record), it can still check availability and quote prices, but cannot create a booking or send a payment link without a verified customer and vehicle.