When a customer calls and wants to book an appointment, the AI receptionist can capture their preferred time and create a lead for your team to confirm. If you don't want scheduling at all, you can turn it off.

Some businesses don't want the AI to collect appointment times. They only want questions answered and messages taken.

1. Go to Settings > Scheduling.

2. Turn Capture appointment requests Off.

With scheduling off, the AI will still answer FAQs, capture quotes, take messages, and transfer calls (if configured) — it just won't collect preferred visit times. See Setting Up Business Hours and Online Booking for full details.

The caller says something like "Can I get a lawn mowing next Thursday at 2 PM?" or "What's your earliest availability?"

The receptionist checks your schedule in real time by looking at:

- Business hours — Is your business open at the requested time?

- Appointment request windows — If you use a narrower window than public hours, only those times are offered.

- Date overrides — Holidays or blocked dates are unavailable.

- Existing appointments — Are there any conflicts?

- Past dates — The AI won't book appointments in the past.

- Minimum advance booking — If you've set an earliest availability window (e.g., 1 day in advance), the AI respects it.

If the requested time works, the AI confirms it with the caller and collects their details (name, address, service needs).

If there's a conflict, the AI suggests up to 3 alternative time slots that are available.

Once the customer agrees to a time, a lead is created in your dashboard with status New and tag Appointment Request. Your team confirms the final schedule by updating the lead status.

When scheduling is enabled, the AI receptionist can also handle rescheduling and cancellations:

- Rescheduling — If a customer calls back and says "I need to move my appointment," the AI looks up their most recent active appointment by phone number, confirms the details, and captures a new preferred time. The call is tagged Reschedule Request.

- Cancelling — If a customer says "I need to cancel my appointment," the AI finds the appointment and marks the request. The call is tagged Cancellation Request.

In both cases, the call is linked to the original lead so you have the full history.

The more accurate your settings, the better the AI handles scheduling conversations.

- Keep your business hours and date overrides up to date when scheduling is on.

- Remember: Tinylawn captures the requested time. Confirm appointments on the Leads page when you're ready.

- Customers can refer to dates naturally ("next Thursday," "tomorrow morning") — the AI handles the conversion.