The short answer: yes, if the day’s jobs are on a Google, Outlook or iCloud calendar connected to alfred_. Text alfred_ “When is the Alvarez job today? Tell them the window.” It checks the calendar, writes the reply in the customer’s email thread, and shows it to you. Text “send” and it goes from the shop’s address.
The question that comes in eleven times a day
You run the office at a six-truck HVAC company. The day’s jobs are on a shared Google Calendar: “Alvarez, 22 Birch Ln, AC not cooling, Mike, 10-12.” It’s the busiest week of the fall, and customers keep emailing the same question: “What time is the tech coming?”
Each one is easy. Open the calendar, find the job, write back “Mike will be there between 10 and 12.” But you’re in the parts room, or on the phone with a supplier, or out picking up a part, and the customer who doesn’t hear back calls the main line, which interrupts the person who was going to answer the next email.
The native ways, and where they stop
The calendar app plus the mail app. Look up the job in one, switch to the other, find the thread, type the answer. It works on a phone; it’s just four steps with your thumbs.
Field service software’s customer texts. If your jobs live in ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber, their automatic “on my way” texts cover part of this. They don’t answer the customer who emails.
Saved replies. A template for “Your technician will arrive between ___” saves typing. You still look up the window yourself.
Set it up
- Connect the shop’s email (Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook or Microsoft 365) and the calendar the jobs are on. Sign in with Google or Microsoft; your password stays with them.
- Add your phone number and text alfred_ once from that phone. That turns texting on.
- Optional: make a rule so these emails reach you as texts: “Text me when a customer emails asking about their appointment time.”
What it looks like
alfred_: Rosa Alvarez emailed: “What time is the tech coming today? I need to leave by 1.”
You: when is the alvarez job today? tell her the window and that mike will call when he’s on the way
alfred_: The Alvarez job is today, 10 AM to 12 PM, with Mike. Here’s the reply to Rosa: “Hi Rosa, Mike is scheduled to arrive between 10 and 12 today, so you’ll be all set before 1. He’ll call when he’s on the way.” Send it?
You: send
Illustrative exchange. The customer, address and tech are invented.
Rosa has her answer in two minutes, in the same email thread, from the shop’s address. You never left the parts room.
Where each step happens
- Phone, anywhere: the text alert (if you set the rule), the question to alfred_, and “send”. iMessage on iPhone, RCS or SMS on Android, no app to install.
- Desktop: rules live in Settings, Rules. The full thread is in the shop inbox as usual.
- When a job runs late: “tell Rosa Mike is running about an hour behind” works the same way. The email waits for your yes.
The honest caveat
alfred_ answers from the calendars you connect, so the answer is only as good as what’s on the event. It doesn’t connect to field service software; if your jobs aren’t synced to a calendar it can see, tell it the window yourself. And it doesn’t reply to customers on its own: every reply goes when you say send. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.
