A plain appointment reminder isn’t telemarketing. A salon, auto shop, or contractor confirming a booked visit is sending an informational message, and when a prerecorded voice or an autodialer is involved, the FCC’s rules ask for ordinary prior express consent, not the signed written consent marketing requires. The trouble starts when the reminder adds a pitch. A line about a sale, an upgrade, or reward points can turn the whole message into telemarketing. Businesses that keep reminders strictly informational keep their strongest defense intact.
Do appointment reminder texts need consent under the TCPA?
Sometimes, and the kind depends on the content. The FCC’s rule at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(1) bars calls to cell phones “using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice” unless the call is for emergency purposes or “is made with the prior express consent of the called party.” Courts treat a text to a cell phone as a call for this purpose.
A customer who gives a phone number when booking an appointment and expects reminders at that number has usually given that kind of consent. It doesn’t have to be in writing. The record that matters is the booking form, intake screen, or call notes showing the number came from the customer for the appointment.
Many reminder texts don’t need consent under this rule at all. The rule applies only to an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice, and the same section defines an autodialer as equipment that can store or produce numbers “using a random or sequential number generator” and dial them. Most scheduling platforms send texts to numbers already in a customer file. That’s a strong defense, and it’s covered in the earlier post on autodialer defenses after Duguid. Still, consent is the cheaper defense to prove, so it’s worth having.
When does a reminder become telemarketing?
When it encourages a purchase. The FCC’s rule defines “telemarketing” in § 64.1200(f) as a call or message sent “for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services.” Under § 64.1200(a)(2), an autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing call to a cell phone is barred “other than a call made with the prior express written consent of the called party,” with narrow exceptions for nonprofits and HIPAA health care messages.
Written consent is a signed agreement with specific disclosures. Most booking forms don’t collect it. So a reminder that slides into marketing can lose its consent defense, even though the customer gladly gave the number for reminders.
The leading appellate example involved a rewards program. In Chesbro v. Best Buy Stores, L.P., 705 F.3d 913 (9th Cir. 2012), the retailer argued its prerecorded calls about expiring reward certificates were courtesy calls. The Ninth Circuit disagreed. It held that “Neither the statute nor the regulations require an explicit mention of a good, product, or service where the implication is clear from the context,” and that “Any additional information provided in the calls does not inoculate them.”
The court’s reasoning was practical. Reward points could only be used by buying more from the retailer, so a reminder about them encouraged purchases. “Because the calls encouraged recipients to engage in future purchasing activity, they also constituted telemarketing under the DNC regulation,” the court wrote.
Is the FCC’s dual-purpose rule still binding?
Not in the way it was when Chesbro was decided. The Ninth Circuit applied the FCC’s 2003 reading that messages mixing customer service with marketing are advertisements. In 2025, the Supreme Court held in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates, Inc. v. McKesson Corp., 606 U.S. 146 (2025), that a district court “should interpret the statute as courts traditionally do under ordinary principles of statutory interpretation,” giving the FCC’s views respect but not binding effect.
That opens room to argue that a specific reminder wasn’t an advertisement under the statute’s own words. It doesn’t make the argument a winner. The text of the regulation and the common-sense reasoning in Chesbro still point the same direction, and a reminder that tells the customer about a promotion will be hard to defend as purely informational. The safer course is to keep the two messages apart.
What are the limits on prerecorded reminder calls to landlines?
Three calls in 30 days, without consent. For residential landlines, the FCC exempts a prerecorded call that, under § 64.1200(a)(3)(iii), “Is made for a commercial purpose but does not include or introduce an advertisement or constitute telemarketing and the caller makes no more than three calls within any consecutive 30-day period to the residential line,” as long as the caller honors opt-out requests.
A business that calls more often needs the customer’s prior express consent. A reminder system that sends a booking confirmation, a two-day reminder, a same-day reminder, and a follow-up survey to a landline has already used four calls. Counting calls per number, not per appointment, keeps that system inside the exemption.
| Message | Consent rule for cell phones (autodialed or prerecorded) | Where the defense starts |
|---|---|---|
| Plain appointment reminder | Prior express consent | Booking records showing the customer gave the number |
| Reminder with a promotion or upsell | Prior express written consent | Signed consent form, or proof no autodialer or prerecorded voice was used |
| Reward points or expiring credit notice | Likely telemarketing under Chesbro | Message content and how the credit can be used |
| Prerecorded reminder to a landline | No consent for up to three non-marketing calls in 30 days | Call counts per number and opt-out records |
| Reminder after the customer said stop | Consent revoked, with ten business days to process | Opt-out logs with dates and times |
What happens when a customer replies STOP to a reminder?
The business has to stop. Under § 64.1200(a)(10), a reply using words like “stop,” “cancel,” or “unsubscribe” revokes consent, and requests must be honored “within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt of such request.” A one-time text confirming the opt-out is allowed if it contains no marketing.
This is where reminder programs get sued most often. A customer who opts out of promotional texts may still want reminders, and a scheduling system may treat the two lists separately. If the customer’s words reasonably revoked all messages, the reminders have to stop too. The earlier post on the scope of consent covers how far a single consent reaches.
Records to pull when a reminder claim arrives
- Hold the text and call logs, platform settings, message templates, and booking records for the number.
- Export the opt-out and internal do-not-call entries for the number, with the date and time each was received.
- Pull any Registry scrub records for the number, if any message could be read as marketing.
- Collect the scheduling platform contract, any vendor scripts, and the recorded voice files.
- Talk to a lawyer before responding to a demand letter, calling the customer, or offering money.
Companies that want to understand the firm’s practice can review its page on California TCPA defense lawyers.
Questions about reminder texts and the TCPA
Can a business add a coupon to an appointment reminder?
It can, but the reminder then becomes telemarketing under the FCC’s definition, and an autodialed or prerecorded version needs signed written consent. Most booking forms don’t collect that. A business that wants to send coupons should send them in a separate message, to customers who signed a marketing consent, and keep the reminder itself free of offers.
Is a text asking a customer to schedule a service telemarketing?
Often it is. A reminder about a booked appointment is informational, but a message urging a customer to book a new service, such as an oil change that’s due, encourages a purchase. Courts look at the purpose of the message, not the label the business gives it. Those messages should be treated as marketing for consent purposes.
Do appointment reminders have to follow quiet hours rules?
The federal quiet-hours rule in the FCC’s Do Not Call regulations applies to telephone solicitations, and a plain reminder isn’t one. Several states set their own hours for calls and texts. A reminder with marketing content can fall under both. A business texting in several states should send reminders during daytime hours as a matter of course.
Are reminders from a scheduling vendor the business’s responsibility?
Usually. Messages sent through a scheduling platform go out under the business’s name and for its benefit, so plaintiffs name the business. Vendor contracts should require opt-out processing across all message types and make the vendor’s logs available. Without those logs, proving the timing of a stop request can be difficult.
If your reminder texts are the subject of a claim
If your company is accused of sending reminder texts that included marketing, or texts after a customer opted out, the message templates and the opt-out logs usually decide the case. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents businesses defending TCPA lawsuits and class actions through its business litigation practice, including claims involving appointment reminder texts. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The regulation is 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200, implementing 47 U.S.C. § 227. The decisions are Chesbro v. Best Buy Stores, L.P., 705 F.3d 913 (9th Cir. 2012) and McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates, Inc. v. McKesson Corp., 606 U.S. 146 (2025).
This post is general information about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and related laws as of June 9, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Courts and the FCC change the rules in this area often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.