booking-call-script

---
name: booking-call-script
description: Builds the script staff use to take a table booking over the phone, built from the actual information the law requires a trader to give before a distance contract is made and to confirm afterwards, not from a generic hospitality training template. It works out exactly what must be said before the booking is agreed, what must then be confirmed in writing, and what a venue is and is not allowed to assume it can leave out because a table booking has no cooling off period. Use before you write or hand staff a phone booking script, and before you decide a confirmation text or email is optional.
---

# The booking call script built from what the law actually requires

You give this your current phone booking process, any deposit or minimum spend policy, your cancellation terms, and whether you currently send any confirmation at all. You get back the script in the order the information has to be given, the exact wording for the parts that become contract terms, the confirmation message that has to follow, and a note of which part of consumer law does and does not apply to a table booking. It will not tell you a phone booking is outside consumer protection law just because it cannot be cancelled once made.

## What it does

1. **Know what a phone booking actually is in law, and what it is not.** A table booking taken by phone is a distance contract under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, because the trader and consumer are not face to face when it is made. Regulation 28(1)(h) removes the 14 day cancellation right for "the supply of accommodation, transport of goods, vehicle rental services, catering or services related to leisure activities, if the contract provides for a specific date or period of performance." A table for Saturday at 8pm fits that exactly. What it does not remove is the duty to give information before the contract is made, which sits in a different part of the Regulations.

2. **Give the required information before the booking is agreed, not after.** Regulation 13(1) states the trader "must give or make available to the consumer the information listed in Schedule 2 in a clear and comprehensible manner" before the consumer is bound. Schedule 2 lists, among other things, "the main characteristics of the goods or services," "the identity of the trader," "the total price of the goods or services inclusive of taxes," "the arrangements for payment, delivery, performance," and, where one exists, "the conditions, time limit and procedures for exercising" a right to cancel. For a table booking this means: what is actually being booked, the venue's name, any deposit or minimum spend figure, when and how it is taken, and a plain statement that there is no cancellation right once the booking is for that date.

3. **Treat what is said on the call as binding, because the law says it is.** Regulation 13(6) states that "information provided by the trader to the consumer under this regulation shall be treated as included as a term of the contract." A figure quoted on the phone, a promise about a particular table or a stated deposit policy is not a sales patter line a venue can later disown; it is a term. This is the reason the script fixes exact wording for the price and deposit lines rather than leaving them to the individual member of staff.

4. **Confirm the booking in writing afterwards, because a verbal agreement is not enough on its own.** Regulation 16(1) requires that "in the case of a distance contract the trader must give the consumer confirmation of the contract on a durable medium." Regulation 16(4) sets the deadline: "not later than...before performance begins of any service supplied under the contract," meaning before the booked sitting starts. Regulation 16(2) requires the confirmation to repeat the Schedule 2 information unless it was already given on a durable medium before the call, which a phone call never is.

5. **Ask about allergies as part of the script, not as an aside.** Government guidance on food allergies states that before you buy the food, a business must tell you about allergens "either in writing on a website or menu, or by phone." The script asks the question before the booking is confirmed, because it is information a caller is entitled to and a venue is expected to be ready to give over the phone, the same channel the booking itself is being made on.

6. **Keep the deposit or cancellation line separate from the pitch.** Because regulation 28(1)(h) removes the cancellation right rather than the duty to disclose terms, the script states any deposit, minimum spend or no-show charge plainly and once, rather than mentioning it only if the caller asks.

## Then it checks

1. Every Schedule 2 item relevant to a table booking is present somewhere in the script, in the order it must be given, before the booking line.
2. The price, deposit and cancellation wording in the script matches exactly what the confirmation message will say, since both are contract terms under regulation 13(6).
3. A confirmation message exists, is sent on a durable medium (email, SMS with a saved copy, not a verbal recap), and is scheduled to go out before the sitting begins.
4. The confirmation repeats the Schedule 2 information rather than assuming the phone call already covered it in writing.
5. An allergen question is in the script before the booking is confirmed, not left to the caller to raise.
6. No line in the script claims a 14 day cancellation right exists, and no line incorrectly claims none of the Regulations apply at all.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never write a script line stating a table booking carries a 14 day cooling off period; regulation 28(1)(h) removes it for a contract tied to a specific date.
- Never write a script line stating none of the Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges Regulations apply to a phone booking; only the cancellation right is removed, not the information and confirmation duties.
- Never state a price, deposit or allergen policy in the script that differs from what is actually charged or served; regulation 13(6) makes the spoken line a contract term, and a mismatch is a broken promise, not a script problem.
- Never skip the allergen question to save time on a busy line; it is the customer's safety information, not an optional courtesy.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own booking system, deposit policy and menu, and for their solicitor to check where a deposit, minimum spend or no-show charge is being introduced for the first time. It applies the Consumer Contracts Regulations to a draft script; it is not legal advice and it is not confirmation that a given call complies.

## Built from
- Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, SI 2013/3134, regulation 28, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/28/made, read 4 November 2026: the catering and leisure exemption from the cancellation right behind step 1.
- The same Regulations, regulation 13, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/13/made, read 4 November 2026: the duty to give Schedule 2 information before the contract and its status as a contract term, behind steps 2 and 3.
- The same Regulations, Schedule 2, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/schedule/2/made, read 4 November 2026: the specific information items quoted in step 2.
- The same Regulations, regulation 16, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/16/made, read 4 November 2026: the written confirmation duty and its deadline, behind step 4.
- Food Standards Agency guidance via GOV.UK, "Food allergies", https://www.gov.uk/food-allergies, read 4 November 2026: the duty to give allergen information by phone before the food is bought, behind step 5.

# booking-call-script

## You are given
The venue's current phone booking process, described step by step. Its deposit, minimum spend or no-show policy, exactly as charged. Its menu or main characteristics of what is being booked (table, set menu, event). Its allergen handling process for phone orders. Whether a confirmation message is currently sent, on what channel, and its wording if one exists. The final wording of the script itself, written by the owner or Claude, with each line's purpose labelled.

## Produce
Write into a `./booking-call-script-output/` folder:

1. `schedule2-coverage.csv` with columns: `item_ref`, `schedule2_item`, `present_in_script`, `script_line_verbatim`, `present_in_confirmation`, `confirmation_line_verbatim`. `item_ref` covers, at minimum, `main_characteristics`, `trader_identity`, `total_price`, `payment_and_performance_arrangements`, `cancellation_right_statement`. Both `present_in_*` columns are `yes` or `no`.
2. `consistency-check.csv` with columns: `term`, `script_wording_verbatim`, `confirmation_wording_verbatim`, `match`. One row per term that appears in both the script and the confirmation (price, deposit, cancellation policy, allergen handling). `match` is `yes` or `no`. Any `no` is listed first in `gaps.md`.
3. `confirmation-timing.csv` with columns: `booking_date`, `confirmation_channel`, `durable_medium`, `sent_before_performance_begins`. `durable_medium` is `yes` or `no`, found by checking the channel is one that leaves the consumer a saved copy (email, saved SMS), not a verbal recap.
4. `allergen-check.csv` with columns: `script_asks_before_booking_confirmed`, `question_wording_verbatim`, `answer_recording_method`.
5. `prohibited-claims.csv` with columns: `claim_type`, `found_in_script`, `line_verbatim`. `claim_type` is one of `claims 14 day cancellation right exists`, `claims regulations do not apply at all`. `found_in_script` is `yes` or `no`; any `yes` is listed first in `gaps.md`.
6. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any Schedule 2 item missing from the script or the confirmation; any mismatch found in `consistency-check.csv`; any confirmation not on a durable medium or not timed before performance begins; a missing allergen question; and any prohibited claim found.

## Rules
- Codex counts, matches and records. It never writes the script's persuasive language, never invents a deposit figure, a price or an allergen answer, and never decides whether a given deposit or minimum spend is fair.
- Never mark an item `present_in_script` as `yes` on an inference; the exact line must be quoted in the same row.
- Searches for prohibited claims are literal and case insensitive, and every hit is quoted with its line.
- Every quoted script line and confirmation line is copied exactly, including punctuation.
- Never send anything, never connect to a booking system, and never call or text a customer.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write; flag rather than correct one in supplied text.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own booking system, deposit policy and menu, and for their solicitor to check where a deposit, minimum spend or no-show charge is being introduced for the first time. It applies supplied rules to a draft script and confirmation and is not confirmation that a given call complies.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The number of Schedule 2 items covered in the script and in the confirmation, and which are missing from each. Every mismatch found in `consistency-check.csv`, quoted in full. The confirmation timing verdict and whether it is on a durable medium. The allergen check result. Every prohibited claim found, quoted in full. The `gaps.md` item count.