HVACBossPro Blog — Dispatch & Scheduling

On-the-Way and Arrived Texts: HVAC Dispatch Updates the Office Doesn't Have to Send

On a busy HVAC day, the office spends a surprising share of its time on two kinds of call: customers asking when the tech is coming, and the office calling techs to find out where they are so it can answer. Automatic texts cut out both. The tech taps a button they were going to tap anyway, and the customer hears about it.

Replacing the Call-Ahead

The policy side of arrival times is in Arrival Windows and Call-Aheads: Setting Expectations on HVAC Service Calls. This guide covers the texts that make those windows easier to keep, and that take the call-ahead off the tech's hands.

How the Texts Are Triggered

The texts come from the tech's phone, but the tech does not write them. In the HVACBossPro tech app, each job has Start, Skip and Complete buttons:

• On the way. When the tech taps Start on the next job, the customer gets a text that the tech is on the way.
• Arrived. When the tech gets there, the customer gets a text that the tech has arrived.

There is nothing extra for the tech to remember. No phone call from the driver's seat, no typing at a red light. The office does not send these either. They go out on their own as the day moves.

Alerts the Customer Chooses

Not every customer wants the same messages. Customers set their own alert preferences:

• The night before — a reminder that the visit is tomorrow. Good for tune-ups and anything that needs someone home.
• When they're next — a heads-up as the van approaches, so they can put the dog away or clear the path to the attic hatch.
• When the tech arrives — so they know to open the door or the gate.

Letting the customer choose means fewer people annoyed by texts they did not want, and more people getting the ones that help.

Why HVAC Customers Value These Texts

HVAC visits often need the customer present. The tech may need to get to a closet furnace, an attic hatch in a bedroom, a basement, or the thermostat. A customer who knows the van is ten minutes away can be home, open the garage, and move the boxes away from the furnace.

On no-cool and no-heat days, the texts do something else: they reassure. A family in a hot house who gets “your tech is on the way” stops calling the office every half hour.

The customer app goes a step further with a live route map showing their place in line, covered in You're Stop 12 of 20: The Customer App's Live Route Map for HVAC Customers.

Replies Come to the Office

Customers will reply. “Can you give me 10 minutes?” “Gate code changed to 4471.” “I'm at work, side door is open.” Those replies come back to the office through two-way texting, where someone can act on them. If the gate code changed, update the access notes on the address so the tech sees the new code on the job card.

The office can also start a text conversation, for example to warn a customer that the tech is running late, or to confirm a moved appointment.

When the Texts Depend on the Tech

Because the texts follow the tech's taps, they are only as good as the habit behind them. A tech who taps Start on three jobs at once, or forgets to tap it at all, sends the wrong signal to customers. Make it part of training: finish the job, tap Complete, tap Start on the next card, then drive. It takes a second and it keeps every customer on the route informed.

The same habit keeps the office board accurate. A job marked started tells the dispatcher which van is busy, which is free, and where the next same-day call can go.

Texts and Your Monthly Allowance

Plans include a monthly text allowance counted in segments, sent and received: 500 on Start, 1,000 on Pro and 2,000 on Crew. Short, plain messages use fewer segments than long ones. Keep the messages you type from the office short for that reason. If you text heavily, for example during a heat wave with lots of two-way conversations, keep an eye on usage and pick the plan that fits.

Texting is available for customers in the US and Canada.

A Quieter Office

The result is an office phone that rings less on busy days, techs who never have to make a call-ahead, and customers who feel looked after. It is one of the simplest changes an HVAC company can make, and it starts working on the first day techs use the app. For how texts fit with the board, routing and crew GPS, visit the HVACBossPro HVAC dispatch software page.