Help Center

VoiceBen is an automated check-in and escalation system. You add people you want to monitor (called Members), configure when they should check in, and set up emergency contacts to alert if they don't. Members receive a daily email or SMS with a single link — one tap confirms they're safe.

Click "Sign Up Free" on the top navigation. Fill in your name, organisation (optional), email, password, and timezone. The Bronze plan is completely free — no credit card needed. For Silver or Gold plans, you'll be directed to our payment processor (Stripe) after sign-up.

Yes. After sign-up you'll receive a verification email. You must verify your email before adding members or configuring check-ins. Check your spam folder if it doesn't arrive within a few minutes.

1. Verify your email. 2. Go to your Dashboard and click "Add Member". 3. Enter the member's name, email, and timezone. 4. Set up their check-in schedule (window start/end time, how many times per day). 5. Add emergency contacts for that member. 6. The cron will generate daily check-in prompts automatically.

No. Members never log in to VoiceBen. They simply receive a link by email or SMS and tap it to check in. No app download, no password, no setup required on their end.

A Member is the person being monitored — typically an elderly parent, patient, solo worker, student, or anyone you want to stay connected with. They receive check-in prompts and respond with a single link tap.

Go to Members → click on the member → click "Schedule". Set the window start and end time (in the member's local timezone), how many check-ins per day, grace period (minutes before the missed alert fires), and escalation interval. Click Save.

A check-in window is the time period during which a member can check in for a given scheduled slot. For example, if the window is 8am–10am, the prompt is sent at 8am and they have until 10am to respond. VoiceBen generates these daily.

Yes, depending on your plan. Bronze allows 1/day, Silver allows 3/day, and Gold allows 6/day. Multiple windows are spaced evenly throughout the configured period.

All IANA timezones are supported — from Pacific/Auckland to America/Los_Angeles and everything in between. Daylight Saving Time (DST) is handled automatically. Always configure the member's timezone to their actual local timezone.

Gold plan subscribers can use the Import page to upload a CSV file. Download the template, fill in name, email, phone, and timezone for each member, then upload. You'll see a preview before confirming the import.

Check-in prompts are sent by email (all plans) and SMS (Silver/Gold plans). The email/SMS contains the member's name and a unique one-time link. Clicking the link immediately records the check-in — no form to fill, no password required.

Quiet hours let you specify times when a contact should not receive SMS alerts (e.g., 10pm–7am in their local timezone). This prevents sleep disturbances for Level 1 and Level 2 contacts. Level 3 alerts bypass quiet hours by default since they indicate a serious situation.

Yes. Go to a member's contact list, edit the contact, and set their quiet hours start and end time along with their timezone. Quiet hours are available on Silver and Gold plans.

The Notifications page in your dashboard shows every alert sent for your members — including the delivery status (sent, failed, queued, suppressed), timestamp, channel (email/SMS), and the contact it was sent to.

A suppressed notification was held because the contact had quiet hours configured and the alert fell within their sleep window. It will be delivered at the end of their quiet hours, or immediately if it's a Level 3 alert.

An escalation is an alert sent to a contact when a member misses their check-in window. VoiceBen fires escalations in order — Level 1 first (typically a family member), then Level 2 (a carer or neighbour), then Level 3 (emergency or primary care provider).

The escalation timing is configured in the check-in schedule. The "Grace Period" is how long after the window closes before Level 1 fires. The "Escalation Interval" is how many minutes between each level. These are configurable per member.

Level 3 is the highest escalation. It bypasses quiet hours by default and is intended for the most critical contacts — such as an emergency contact, building manager, or care facility staff. You should treat a Level 3 alert as urgent.

Not via a button currently, but you can set a check-in window to expire in the past or set the grace period to 1 minute during testing. The cron engine evaluates every 5 minutes and will fire the escalation on the next run.

The Notifications page in your subscriber dashboard shows all escalations for your members. The admin panel has a full audit log with filtering by date, member, and status.

Go to Billing in your dashboard and click "Upgrade Plan". Select Silver or Gold and you'll be taken to our secure Stripe payment page. Once payment is confirmed, your plan upgrades instantly via webhook.

Yes. Go to Billing → Manage Subscription to access the Stripe customer portal, where you can change or cancel your plan. Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period.

Yes. VoiceBen never stores card details. All payments are handled by Stripe, which is PCI DSS Level 1 certified. We only store a Stripe customer ID.

Your data is retained for 30 days after cancellation. You can export your audit log and member data as CSV during this window. After 30 days all personal data is permanently deleted.

We offer a pro-rata refund within 7 days of a new paid subscription if you haven't used the paid features. Contact us at billing@voiceben.com for billing disputes.

Go to Account in your dashboard sidebar. Scroll to the "Change Password" section, enter your current password and your new password twice, then click Save.

Go to Settings in your dashboard. Update your display timezone — this affects how dates appear on your dashboard but does not affect member check-in scheduling (each member has their own timezone).

Click "Forgot Password?" on the login page. Enter your email address and we'll send a password reset link valid for 1 hour.

Contact us at hello@voiceben.com from your registered email address. We will permanently delete your account and all associated data within 5 business days and send you a confirmation.

No. We use Stripe for payments, Twilio for SMS, and Mailtrap for email delivery. These providers only receive the minimum data needed to perform their function (e.g., a phone number for SMS). We never sell or share personal data for marketing purposes. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

Check these in order: 1. Confirm the member has a schedule configured (Dashboard → Members → Manage → Schedule). 2. Verify the member's email address and timezone are correct. 3. Ask them to check their spam folder. 4. If SMS isn't arriving, verify the phone number includes the country code (e.g., +1 for US). 5. Check the Notifications page for failed delivery status.

Check-in tokens are single-use and time-limited to the check-in window. If the member clicks the link after the window has closed, they'll see an expired message. This is by design — the system will have already registered a missed check-in. No action is needed.

Verify the contact's email/phone is correct on the Contacts page. Check quiet hours — if the alert fired during quiet hours, delivery may have been suppressed or queued. Check the Notifications page for the delivery status.

Plan upgrades happen via Stripe webhook — usually within 30 seconds of payment. If it's been more than 5 minutes, contact billing@voiceben.com with your account email and we'll resolve it immediately.

The cron script generates check-in windows daily. If windows aren't generating, it may mean the cron is not running. Contact support with your account email — this requires admin investigation.