Your Texting Numbers

Every text Perceny sends leaves from a real phone number that belongs to your business, and clients can text it back. Your first number is free, and it's included with your plan.

Getting your first numberCopy a link to this section

Numbers and number transfers are available once your subscription is active and paid: a number is a monthly carrier charge, and a transfer is a carrier order. On a trial, or while a payment is behind, the Get Number and Transfer a Number buttons stay off and the page says "Available once your subscription is active and paid." If you are on a free trial and want a number now, the owner can end the trial and pay from Business Settings → Billing → Skip Trial & Pay Now (see Your plan and add-ons).

Messaging → Phone Number → Get a Number.

1. Pick a State and an Area Code. "Pick a state and area code, then choose the number you want to send from."
2. Perceny lists what is available: "N available". Nothing showing? "No numbers found. Try another state or area code."
3. Provision the one you want and confirm: "Provision {number} for your business? It will be used to send your messages. Your first number is free."

Then: "Your number is ready. Clients can text it, and your messages and reminders go out from it."

Pick a local area code. A local number gets answered; an out-of-state one reads like spam.

Carrier registrationCopy a link to this section

A brand new number needs registering with the carriers before bulk sending works. If you try a blast too early: "This number is still being registered for carrier delivery. Blasts can be sent once registration finishes, usually within a few minutes of getting the number."

One-to-one replies in the inbox are not affected. Just wait out the few minutes before your first blast.

More than one numberCopy a link to this section

Add Number again for extra numbers: "Additional numbers cost $2.50/month, billed to your subscription." The confirmation says so plainly rather than surprising you on the invoice: "Provision {number}? It adds $2.50/month to your subscription, charged to your saved card starting now."

Reasons to want a second number: a second location with its own area code, a front desk line separate from a stylist's, or a dedicated number for campaigns.

Extra numbers are an add-on on your subscription, but they are managed here: "Numbers are added and removed from the messaging page." See Your plan and add-ons.

Managing themCopy a link to this section

Messaging → Phone Numbers: "Add numbers, pick your default sender and assign numbers to members."

• Label, something you will recognise: "Front desk", "Downtown".
• Default: the sender used when nobody picks one. Set Default moves it. You cannot remove the default while it is the default: "Set another number as the default before removing the default number."
• Members: who may send from this number. "Empty means everyone can send."

At least one number must stay open to everyone, and Perceny enforces it: "At least one number must stay available to everyone so reminders keep sending." Automatic reminders are not sent by a person, so they need a number nobody has fenced off. If you have a single number, its assignment field says "Must stay open to everyone."

Sending as a specific numberCopy a link to this section

In the inbox and the blast composer, Send From picks the identity. Your default carries a Default badge and the last one you used carries Last Used, so a stylist who always sends from their own number does not have to hunt.

Sending as someone else is gated: "You are not allowed to send as someone else." A stylist is not silently able to send from the front desk's number.

Removing a numberCopy a link to this section

Remove Number, and read which confirmation you get:

• Free number: "{number} will no longer appear as a sender, but messages clients send to it will still reach your inbox."
• Paid number: "{number} will no longer appear as a sender and its monthly charge stops at the end of the billing period. You can restore it within 3 months; after that it is permanently released."

That grace period matters. Removed numbers appear under Removed Numbers with a Release Date, and Restore Number brings one back: "{number} will become active again and appear as a sender. If it is an additional number, its monthly charge resumes."

After the release date the number is gone for good, and a number your clients have saved in their phones is worth keeping. If you are unsure, restore it and keep paying the monthly rather than losing it.

If your plan endsCopy a link to this section

Your numbers ride on your plan. When the subscription ends (cancelled, or ended after payments failed):

• Extra numbers are removed, as if you had pressed Remove Number on each, and appear under Removed Numbers with their Release Date.
• Your first number stays on the page, and texts clients send to it still reach your inbox, but it no longer sends texts or takes calls. A call to it is not forwarded and the AI receptionist does not answer; it shows in the inbox as "No paid plan: the call was not answered" so you can see who tried to reach you.
• 3 months after the plan ends, your first number is permanently released, the same grace period a removed number gets.

Subscribe again before then and you keep your first number automatically, with nothing to restore. Extra numbers come back with Restore Number, which bills them again. After the release date the number is gone for good, so if your clients know that number, do not let the plan lapse past it.

While a payment is only behind (a card that failed and is still being retried), calls to your numbers keep ringing through as usual, but texts do not go out until the payment goes through. Once the retries run out, or the plan ends, calls stop too. Nothing is released for a late payment; only a plan that ends starts the 3 months.

A number shared across your locations is kept while any location using it still has a paid plan, and released only once none of them does.

On your phoneCopy a link to this section

The staff app's Messaging → Phone Numbers tab works the same way. Provision asks the same question: the plain confirmation for your free first number, and the monthly charge for every extra one. A success message confirms the purchase. Assign Members follows the same rules too: the last number open to everyone is locked with "Must stay open to everyone."

If you open the app's inbox and the business has no number yet, the app offers one, once per session: Get a Number opens the Phone Numbers tab, and Not Now keeps the inbox. You see the offer only if you have the Manage Phone Numbers permission.

Errors you might hitCopy a link to this section

• "This number is already provisioned by another business.": pick another.
• "The number purchase could not be completed and you were not charged. Please try again or choose a different number.": no charge was taken.
• "This business has reached the maximum number of messaging numbers.": contact support if you genuinely need more.
• "Messaging numbers cannot be provisioned right now. Please contact support.": a provider-side problem, not something to retry all afternoon.

Who can do all thisCopy a link to this section

The Manage Phone Numbers permission: "Add, label, assign and remove the business' messaging phone numbers." Numbers cost money and carry your identity; keep this with owners and managers. See Who can message and spend credits.