Who Is Really on the Phone: How Voka Checks the Caller Before a Reschedule or Cancel

Why this matters

Anyone who knows a client's name shouldn't be able to cancel their appointment. When an AI answers your phone, the question is what it checks before it moves or cancels a booking. The honest answer depends on which booking system you use, so this post goes through each one.

Acuity and Google Calendar: tied to the calling number

On Acuity and Google Calendar, Voka will only move or cancel a booking that was made under the phone number the caller is ringing from.

• The calling number is the proof. An email address the caller reads out is not accepted as proof of who they are.
• A different phone means no change. If someone rings from a number that doesn't match the booking, nothing is changed. The assistant asks them to check the details, and takes a message for your team rather than guessing.
• No accidental double booking. When a change is refused, the assistant won't book a "replacement" appointment, so the client doesn't end up with two.
• Your cancellation policy still applies. On Acuity, a cancellation inside your cancellation window is refused, and your team gets a message.

Square and Calendly: not tied to the calling number

• Square: Voka finds the booking from the phone number or email the caller gives, and matches it against your Square client record. That stops a caller who only knows a name, but it doesn't check that the number given is the one they're calling from.
• Calendly: callers find, move and cancel their bookings by email. There is no identity check.

If identity checks on changes matter to your business, Acuity and Google Calendar give you the strongest protection today.

What this covers, and what it doesn't

• It applies to reschedules and cancellations. New bookings are open to any caller, as they would be at a front desk.
• There's nothing to switch on. The check is built into the Acuity and Google Calendar integrations.
• There are no PINs, security questions or voice matching.
• Greeting a returning caller by name is a different feature. On Square and Acuity, Voka looks the caller's number up in your client list to greet them, but that greeting is not identity verification.

Summary

On Acuity and Google Calendar, a booking can only be changed from the phone number it was made under, and a caller-supplied email doesn't count. On Square the booking is matched to the client record from the details the caller gives, and Calendly has no check. New bookings are never restricted.

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