missed-call-recovery

---
name: missed-call-recovery
description: Builds the text or call-back sent the moment a call to the booking line goes unanswered, worked out so it reads as a service reply to the caller's own enquiry rather than as a marketing message that needs separate consent. It works out exactly where the line sits between the two, writes the reply so it stays on the right side of it, and checks that an offer or a discount has not quietly turned a courtesy text into a marketing send. Use the moment a call to your booking line rings out unanswered, and before you let software add an offer to the automatic reply.
---

# Closing the loop on a call nobody answered

You give this the fact that a call to your line went unanswered, the caller's number as shown, and the wording of the text or voicemail you want to send back. You get back the message checked against the line between a service reply and a marketing message, the record to keep of the send, and a flag on anything that tips it into needing consent it has not got. It will not wave through a missed-call text that quietly offers ten per cent off, and call that a courtesy.

## What it does

1. **Know which side of the line the message is on before you write it.** Section 122(5) of the Data Protection Act 2018 defines "direct marketing" as "the communication (by whatever means) of advertising or marketing material which is directed to particular individuals." A text that says only that you missed their call and gives a number to reach you is not advertising or marketing material; a text that adds a discount, a seasonal offer or a promoted menu item is, and the moment it is, different rules apply to it.

2. **Keep the reply a service message by keeping it to the fact of the missed call.** The reply exists to do one job: tell the caller you saw they tried to reach you, and give them a way to finish what they started, a number, a booking link, or an offer to call back at a stated time. Nothing else needs to be in it, and nothing else should be, because every extra line is a chance to tip it over the definition in step 1.

3. **If an offer is genuinely wanted in the message, treat it as marketing and check the soft opt-in conditions.** Regulation 22(3) of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 permits marketing by electronic mail, which includes text message, without separate prior consent only where the sender obtained "the contact details of the recipient...in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient," the marketing concerns "that person's similar products and services only," and the recipient was given "a simple means of refusing" at collection and at every later message. A missed call, on its own, is not a sale or a negotiation for one; it is an enquiry that has not yet become either, so this condition is harder to meet than it looks for a first-time caller.

4. **Send the recovery message promptly, and log that it was sent.** The point of the message is to reach the caller before they try somewhere else, so a delay of hours defeats the purpose regardless of what the message says. A record of the send, the number, the time, and the exact wording used protects the business if a caller later disputes what was sent or when.

5. **Do not use the missed-call number for anything beyond this one reply without a separate basis.** The number was captured because the business missed a call, not because the caller handed it over for future marketing. Adding it to a general marketing list on the strength of a missed call, rather than an actual booking or enquiry that became a sale, risks exactly the direct marketing question in step 1, now applied to every message sent after this one, not just the first.

6. **Check the wording has not drifted once software is involved.** Missed-call text-back tools are usually configured once and then left running, and a template edited months later to add a seasonal line is how a clean service message quietly becomes a marketing one without anyone deciding that on purpose.

## Then it checks

1. The message contains the fact of the missed call and a way to respond, and nothing that reads as an offer, a discount or a promotion.
2. Where an offer is genuinely included, the three soft opt-in conditions in regulation 22(3) are checked against how the number was actually obtained, not assumed to be satisfied.
3. The message was sent within minutes of the missed call, not batched for later, and the send is logged with date, time and exact wording.
4. The caller's number has not been added to any ongoing marketing list on the strength of this missed call alone.
5. The current template is re-read against step 1 at the point of this check, not assumed to still be a service message because it started as one.
6. No message claims a callback time the business does not actually meet on a normal basis.

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 add an offer, a discount or promotional wording to an automatic missed-call reply without separately checking it against the soft opt-in conditions in regulation 22(3); a missed call is not, on its own, the sale or negotiation those conditions are built around.
- Never add a caller's number to a general marketing list because they rang and were missed; that is not the same event as a sale or an enquiry that became one.
- Never claim a response time in the message that the business does not actually deliver.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own message templates and call system, and for their solicitor or data protection adviser to check where an offer or an ongoing marketing use is intended. It applies the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations to a draft message; it is not legal advice and it is not confirmation that a given send complies.

## Built from
- Data Protection Act 2018, section 122, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/section/122/enacted, read 4 November 2026: the statutory definition of direct marketing behind steps 1 and 6.
- The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, regulation 22, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2426/regulation/22/made, SI 2003/2426, read 4 November 2026: the soft opt-in conditions behind steps 3 and 5.

# missed-call-recovery

## You are given
A list of missed calls to the booking line: caller number as shown, date and time. The exact wording of the automatic or manual reply sent for each, or the current template if one reply covers all of them. Whether any reply contains an offer, discount or promotion, and if so, how the caller's number was originally obtained (first-time missed call, or an existing customer from a prior sale). Whether missed-call numbers are added to any ongoing marketing list, and if so, which one. The business's stated or typical callback/reply time.

## Produce
Write into a `./missed-call-recovery-output/` folder:

1. `message-log.csv` with columns: `call_ref`, `missed_call_time`, `reply_sent_time`, `minutes_to_reply`, `message_text_verbatim`, `contains_offer_or_discount`. `call_ref` is C0001 upward. `contains_offer_or_discount` is `yes` or `no`, found by literal, case insensitive search for the tokens `off`, `discount`, `free`, `offer`, `% `, `deal`, with every hit's position recorded in a `offer_terms_found` note.
2. `marketing-classification.csv` with columns: `call_ref`, `contains_offer_or_discount`, `classification`. `classification` is `service message` where `contains_offer_or_discount` is `no`, otherwise `direct marketing - check soft opt-in`.
3. `soft-optin-check.csv` with columns: `call_ref`, `details_obtained_in_course_of_sale_or_negotiation`, `marketing_is_similar_products_only`, `simple_refusal_offered`, `verdict`. Completed only for rows marked `direct marketing - check soft opt-in` in `marketing-classification.csv`. The three `yes`/`no` columns are supplied by the user, not inferred. `verdict` is `all three conditions met` only where all three are `yes`; otherwise `conditions not met - remove offer or obtain consent`.
4. `list-addition-check.csv` with columns: `call_ref`, `added_to_marketing_list`, `basis_for_addition`. Any `yes` with a `basis_for_addition` other than `existing sale or enquiry that became one` is listed first in `gaps.md`.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any `soft-optin-check.csv` verdict of `conditions not met`; any missed call with no reply logged; any reply sent more than 15 minutes after the missed call; any `list-addition-check.csv` flag; and any message claiming a callback time inconsistent with the business's stated typical reply time.

## Rules
- Codex counts, matches and records. It never drafts the reply wording, never decides whether the soft opt-in conditions are met (that comes from the user's own answers), and never invents how a number was obtained.
- Token searches for offers and discounts are literal, case insensitive, and every hit is recorded with its position, never summarised as a plain yes or no alone.
- `minutes_to_reply` is calculated from the supplied timestamps, never estimated.
- Never send a text, make a call, or connect to a phone system or marketing platform.
- 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 message templates and call system, and for their solicitor or data protection adviser to check where an offer or an ongoing marketing use is intended. It applies supplied rules to a draft message and is not confirmation that a given send complies.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The number of missed calls, the number replied to within 15 minutes, and the number not replied to at all. The number of messages classified as direct marketing, and the `soft-optin-check.csv` verdict for each. The number of calls flagged in `list-addition-check.csv`. The `gaps.md` item count in full.