Second Shift: What a homeowner sees in the chat and by text

Homeowners meet the assistant in two places: the chat on the business's website, and a text conversation after a call the business couldn't answer. It always says it's an AI, it answers only from what the business has confirmed, and a person can take over at any time. Live clients also get a chat page of their own, for their Google profile or a link in texts.

The website chat

1. Open the chat, one tap. A small "Chat · Book" button sits on the site: no popup, and never over the site's own call button. The chat opens with the business's name, "AI assistant", a Call button and "Talk to a person". Before the first message, a notice says chats are saved and handled for the business by its service providers, including AI. Then the greeting, and four choices: Emergency now, Book a visit, Prices, Ask a question.
2. Say what's going on, one tap. Buttons for the business's top services, or a sentence such as "water heater leaking in garage", which the AI matches to a service and an urgency.
3. Where's the job? About four letters and a tap: address autocomplete, or Use my location. Outside the service area, it says so and offers to call.
4. Pick a time, one tap. The three or four nearest arrival windows, labeled honestly: Confirmed when they come from a live calendar, Requested when the business still has to confirm.
5. Name and mobile, two fields, plus an optional photo and an unchecked box to get texts about this request. Booking works without the box: the business calls instead.
6. Book it, one tap. A summary showing only fees the owner set, then Book it. The confirmation shows on screen, and arrives by text if they checked the box, with reschedule and add-to-calendar.

When the conversation goes another way

• Emergency. The Emergency now button, or words like leak, burst, no heat or gas, bring up a big Call now, Have a technician call me, and the first open slot. Safety advice appears only as the owner approved it. Emergencies reach a person in seconds.
• A question. One to three sentences from confirmed facts, with a link to the source page for prices and policies.
• Something it doesn't know. It says it doesn't see that on the business's site and offers to have someone get back to them. The question goes on the owner's list.
• Prices. Only the owner's own rules: a fee, a range, "free estimates". Otherwise it says the technician quotes on site.
• A person. Talk to a person is in the header at every step, and it's offered after a repeated question or signs of frustration. It takes the homeowner's number and alerts the owner at once. The AI pauses as soon as staff reply, and shows who is talking.
• Spanish. A homeowner who writes in Spanish gets Spanish answers from the same facts, by the same rules, and the chat's buttons and notices turn Spanish too.

After a missed call

1. The call forwards. When the line is busy or nobody answers, the call forwards to the business's assistant number, which plays a greeting: the recording notice first, then the notes carriers require, then the choice to get texts, then voicemail. Callers who can't be texted, because they opted out or were texted earlier that day, hear the greeting without the choice.
2. They press 1. When the call ends, one text, which also confirms they signed up: "Thanks for calling! What can we help with? Reply here." It has no link; the booking link follows once they say what they need. A voicemail that says not to text opts the number out.
3. They don't press 1. No text. The owner gets the missed call and any voicemail transcript as a lead, with Call them now.
4. Nothing more unless they reply. If they do, the AI carries on as in the chat: it answers, books or hands off, and the owner can answer in the same thread.

Texts homeowners can count on

• Only about their request. Never promotion, payment links or binding prices by text.
• Only with their yes. A text goes only to a caller who pressed 1, or a chat visitor who checked the box, which starts unchecked. Checking it is never required to book.
• Sensible hours. Replies to their messages come at any hour, because an emergency at night is the point. Automated follow-ups go only after they've replied, Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. their time, never on Sundays or state holidays, and at most three in any 24 hours.
• One text-back a day. At most one missed-call text per number per day. Landlines, and calls whose caller ID fails verification, get none.
• Opting out. Replying STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE, or plain words like "don't text me" or "wrong number", stops all of that business's texts at once; in Spanish, ALTO, PARA, BAJA or CANCELAR, or words like "no me escriban". One confirmation arrives within 5 minutes, then nothing else from that business, ever: a later call isn't offered texts, and the owner gets the lead to call back instead. START opts back in; HELP gets help.