Tellem.ai Service Alerts — how verbal SMS consent is collected

Tellem.ai LLC manages the opt-in mechanism and is the sole creator and controller of all SMS templates. Participating service businesses provide only factual appointment information — customer name, appointment time, technician, ETA — and cannot create, edit, append, or send free-form or marketing messages. The message templates are locked server-side; a service business attempting to alter one is refused. Every message opens by naming the program, and names the service business associated with the appointment whenever that business has provided its name, so the recipient can tell who is texting them and why.

The representative reads this script in full before recording consent. It is versioned; the version read is stamped onto the consent record.

“May Tellem.ai LLC send you informational text updates through Tellem.ai Service Alerts about your appointment with [Business Name], including confirmations, arrival times, ETA updates, delays, and completion notices? Message frequency varies, and message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. Consent is not required to purchase or receive service. Do you agree to receive these messages at the mobile number you provided?”

A simulated call showing where the script falls in a normal booking and what an affirmative response sounds like.

If the customer declines, the representative records no consent and the appointment proceeds without SMS. A decline, a silence, or an ambiguous answer is not consent. Consent is optional and is never a condition of purchase or service.

The representative records the customer’s affirmative answer in Tellem at the moment the appointment is created. The consent record is written against that appointment, so every message Tellem later sends traces back to a specific opt-in for a specific job. No message is sent to any number without a stored consent record naming both the recipient and the service business.

Tellem does not operate a public form that enrolls a telephone number entered on its own, and does not message imported contacts on the strength of a phone number alone.

• Mobile number, in E.164 format
• The service business the consent was given to
• The appointment the consent was collected for
• Consent method — verbal
• Date and time of capture
• The version of the disclosure script that was read, so the exact wording the customer heard is reconstructable years later
• The affirmative response, recorded in words describing what the customer did — not a conclusion that consent exists
• The representative who recorded it
• The Terms and Privacy Policy versions in force at capture

Tellem separately maintains opt-out, suppression, HELP, and messaging-compliance records. Opt-in data and consent are not shared with third parties, and are not sold, rented, or used for marketing or promotional purposes.

Immediately after consent is recorded, Tellem sends the recipient a confirmation. This is the recipient’s receipt for a consent method they otherwise have no record of, and it puts a working STOP in their hands before any appointment traffic begins:

Tellem.ai Service Alerts: You’re enrolled for [Business Name] appointment texts. Msg frequency varies. Msg&data rates may apply. HELP=help, STOP=opt out.

One confirmation is sent per recipient per service business, on first enrollment — not once per appointment.

Reply STOP to any Tellem.ai Service Alerts message to stop all SMS from the toll-free number that sent it. Tellem records the opt-out in an internal suppression list and prevents further message attempts from that number, across every service business sharing it. Reply HELP for the program help response:

Tellem.ai Service Alerts: Appointment-text help: support@tellem.ai or (845) 377-6588. Msg&data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.

Every production message carries STOP and HELP instructions. The first message to a given recipient additionally carries “Msg&data rates may apply.” To resume messages after opting out, the recipient completes a supported opt-in process. Help is also available at support@tellem.ai or (845) 377-6588.