The bot isn't replying to a patient
Work through these in order. They're sorted by how often they actually happen, not by logic.
1. The patient isn't registered
By far the most common cause.
The bot only converses with patients on the roster. An unknown number gets an invitation to register and nothing more.
How to check: search for the number in Patients. Try a couple of formats — with and without the leading 09 — to rule out a mistyped digit, even though the system normalises numbers.
How to fix: register the patient. Creating an appointment by hand with their phone number also registers them.
A detail that confuses people: the invitation to register is sent once per day per number. If the patient wrote three times and only got a message the first time, this is why, and it's intentional.
2. The chatbot is switched off for that patient
Someone turned the switch off on their record, possibly months ago.
How to check: open their record in Patients and look at Chatbot enabled.
Characteristic symptom: the patient received one message saying a person will help them, then total silence.
3. The bot is paused for that patient
A temporary pause, set by someone on the team to handle the conversation by hand.
Characteristic symptom: absolute silence. No reply, no notice. That's deliberate: if the bot announced it was paused, it would cut across the conversation your colleague is having.
How to check: the patient's record shows when it expires. It lifts by itself, or you can clear it there.
4. The patient hit the daily limit
There's a per-number daily message cap so a single number can't consume the clinic's attention.
Characteristic symptom: the bot conversed normally and at some point said it would continue tomorrow, then stopped replying.
How to fix: it resets by itself the next day. If the patient needs something urgently, have your team handle it directly.
5. Billing is suspended
With the account suspended the bot won't start new conversations, although it still handles confirmations and cancellations for appointments already booked.
How to check: Configuration, Billing section. See Billing.
6. WhatsApp isn't connected
If it's the whole clinic not replying to anyone — not one isolated patient — this is it.
How to check: has the bot ever replied to anyone? If it never worked, the number wasn't linked. See Connect WhatsApp.
Another possible cause: that WhatsApp number was opened in the app on a handset. A number can't be in two places at once, and opening it on a phone stops it working here.
7. The patient messaged the wrong number
Worth ruling out before escalating. If the clinic had a different number previously, the patient may be writing to the old one and waiting on a phone nobody is watching.
If none of this explains it
Write to hola@pingclinica.com with:
- The patient's full phone number
- The approximate date and time they wrote
- What you expected to happen, and what happened
With those three we can trace the message.