How SMS and Communication Centre Works

Source: autosoft-workshop/app/controllers/communication_centres_controller.rb

An emergency shutdown flag exists that disables the entire communication centre feature — when active, no SMS or email can be sent through this module
Trialing customers are blocked from accessing the communication centre entirely
The recipient list is capped at 3,000 contacts — for larger lists, the system recommends using Mailchimp or a similar bulk email tool
SMS messages are limited to 160 characters and require at least 1 SMS credit to send
The default contact type for each recipient uses the customer's preferred contact method (SMS, email, or none)
SMS and email sending is queued with a 5-minute delay, and only one sending job runs per company at a time to prevent duplicates
Print documents are cleared before re-printing for the same date to avoid duplicate printouts
Over 12 document placeholder fields are supported for personalizing messages (customer name, vehicle rego, etc.)
The search function excludes customers whose preferred contact method is set to "none"

"The communication centre isn't working at all" → check if the emergency shutdown flag is active; also check if the account is still in trialing status
"I can only add 3,000 people to my mailing list" → that is the system cap; recommend Mailchimp for larger campaigns
"My SMS got cut off" → SMS is limited to 160 characters; anything longer is truncated
"The messages aren't sending immediately" → sending is queued with a 5-minute delay and only one job runs per company at a time
"Some customers aren't showing up in the recipient search" → customers with preferred contact method set to "none" are excluded from search results