What to do if a customer is not receiving SMS messages

Check which reminder was sent

Open the booking in the admin calendar and look at its activity log. It shows what was sent and how:

• “SMS reminder sent” with the phone number it went to.
• “Email reminder sent” with the reason it went by email instead (see below).
• “Failed to send booking reminder” if the SMS didn’t go through.

When the reminder goes by email instead of SMS

Alba sends the reminder by email, not SMS, when:

• the customer has no phone number on their account,
• the venue is in New Zealand (reminders there always go by email),
• the customer has a US or Canadian number and hasn’t consented to SMS reminders.

Reminders are only sent for bookings at venues with door access, and only when there is a door that applies to the booked bay.

Verify the phone number

Go to the Customers page in the admin panel, search for the customer, and open their customer card. Confirm that the phone number in Alba matches the number they provided.

Verify consent (North America only)

For US and Canadian users, customers must consent to receiving SMS messages from Alba. On the customer card, check whether you see “Has consented to SMS booking reminders” in green. Consent is collected during phone number verification after booking, via a checkbox beneath the phone input field.

If the customer has not consented, SMS messages cannot be delivered.

If the problem persists after checking these steps, please contact us.