# Follow up with suppliers and tradies by text and email **Short answer:** Your AI agent can chase a quote, a delivery date or a job time with a supplier or tradie you already deal with, by text from your Agentline NZ New Zealand 028 number or by email from its @agentline.nz address, then read the reply and note what was agreed. It messages one person at a time and only sends what you've approved. Until you're on a paid plan, your agent can only email or text your own verified email address and mobile number. ## Before you start - A Starter or Pro plan. Your 028 number is set up within a few days of signup. Your email inbox works straight away. Until the number is live, the agent can follow up by email. - Until you're on a paid plan, your agent can only email or text your own verified email address and mobile number. During the trial, run the whole workflow with yourself as the supplier. - The supplier's or tradie's NZ mobile number or email address, and what you're waiting on from them. - An assistant or agent connected to Agentline NZ. See the [setup guides](/guides), or [Integrations](/integrations) if you're building your own agent. ## Steps 1. **Check the agent's details.** The agent calls get_my_number. It returns its @agentline.nz address, its 028 number once it's live, this month's SMS use and any sending restriction, and in clients other than the ChatGPT app, your plan too. 2. **Tell the agent who and what.** Give it the person's name, their NZ mobile or email, and what you need from them: a quote you asked for, a delivery date for an order, or a time for a job they've booked. Say what answer you'd accept, so the agent knows when it's done. 3. **Approve the wording.** The agent drafts a short message that says who it's from and asks one clear question, and shows it to you before it sends. Keep payment details out of it. ```text Hi Mere, it's the assistant for [your name]. Are you still right to fit the heat pump at 14 Kauri St on Tue 10 Nov? Reply with a time that suits. ``` 4. **Send it by text or email.** For a text, the agent calls send_sms with one NZ mobile. For email, it calls send_email with up to 5 addresses, a subject and the text. Every email it sends ends with a short footer saying it was sent by an AI agent, with a link to report abuse. The carrier doesn't provide delivery receipts, so a sent SMS shows as sent, not delivered. ```bash curl -X POST https://agentline.nz/api/v1/emails \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $AGENTLINE_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"to":"orders@supplier.example.nz","subject":"Order 4821: delivery date?","text":"Hi Tama, when will order 4821 be delivered to 14 Kauri St? Thanks, the assistant for [your name]"}' ``` 5. **Check for replies.** Later, or when you ask, the agent calls list_messages with contact set to the person's number and unread_only set to true, and list_emails with unread_only set to true. list_emails has no sender filter, so the agent picks out the reply by its sender and subject, then opens it with read_email. Agentline NZ doesn't push replies to the agent. 6. **Reply in the same thread.** If the supplier asks a question back, the agent drafts an answer for you to approve and sends it with send_email, passing reply_to_id so it stays in the same thread. For a text, it replies with send_sms to the same number. 7. **Log it and tell you.** The agent writes what was agreed, such as the delivery date or the job time, into your own notes, job sheet or task list, and tells you about anything it couldn't settle. It then calls mark_read with the ids it has dealt with, so the next check only shows new replies. ## Text or email? | | Text | Email | |---|---|---| | Works | Once the 028 number is live, on Starter or Pro | From the agent's @agentline.nz address | | Who it can reach | Standard NZ mobile numbers only (020/021/022/027/028/029). No landlines, short codes, premium or international numbers. | Any email address, up to 5 per message | | Replies | list_messages with contact set to their number | list_emails, then read_email | | Threading | One conversation per number | reply_to_id keeps the email thread | Many suppliers only list a landline or an accounts address, so use email for those. Use a text for a tradie who works from their mobile. ## Limits to know about | Limit | Starter | Pro | |---|---|---| | Outbound SMS segments a month | 50 | 200 | | Outbound emails a month | 500 | 2000 | | SMS per minute / per day | 10 / 150 | 10 / 150 | | Emails per minute / per day | 10 / 200 | 10 / 200 | | New SMS recipients per day | 25 | 25 | 160 characters per segment (153 per part when split), or 70 (67) with emoji or macrons. When you reach an allowance, sending pauses until next month or until you upgrade. No overage charges without asking. Inbound texts and email don't count towards these. ## Keep it to people you deal with Messages to your own suppliers, contacts and tradies are what Agentline NZ is for, as long as they're expecting to hear from you about the job. Sending the same request for quotes to a list of businesses you haven't dealt with is cold, bulk messaging, and it isn't allowed. Marketing, promotions, cold texts and bulk texts are blocked. If someone replies STOP to a text, Agentline NZ opts them out and blocks further texts to them. See [What we don't allow](/what-we-dont-allow) and [What does the UEMA mean for SMS and email sent by AI agents?](/kb/uema-ai-agent-sms-and-email). ## FAQ ### Can the agent text a supplier's landline? No. Standard NZ mobile numbers only (020/021/022/027/028/029). No landlines, short codes, premium or international numbers. Email the supplier instead, or call them yourself. ### Will I be told when the supplier replies? No. Agentline NZ stores every inbound text and email, and the agent reads them when it next checks with list_messages or list_emails. Ask it to check, or have your agent check on a schedule you run. ### Can it chase several suppliers at once? Yes, one message per person, each written for that job. send_sms takes one number at a time, and up to 25 new numbers a day can be texted. The same message to a list is bulk texting, which is blocked. ### Where does the log of replies live? Agentline NZ keeps the texts and emails themselves, so the agent can look them up again with list_messages and list_emails. The summary of what was agreed goes wherever you keep your notes or jobs, which your agent writes to directly. ### What does Agentline NZ cost? Starter is NZ$29/month and Pro is NZ$79/month, billed in NZ dollars. Start free with an email inbox (no card), or take a 7-day trial of Starter or Pro to get a number. Agentline NZ is not GST-registered, so no GST is charged. ### How long does it take to get the 028 number? Your 028 number is set up within a few days of signup. Your email inbox works straight away. Full refund if your number hasn't arrived within 30 days of your first payment. ### Can my assistant send marketing or bulk texts? No. Transactional and assistant messages only: replies, bookings, confirmations, reminders people asked for, and codes. Marketing, promotions, cold texts and bulk texts are blocked. See [What we don't allow](/what-we-dont-allow). ## Related - [Who can my agent text and email with Agentline NZ?](/help/who-can-my-agent-text) - [What happens when my AI assistant sends a text?](/help/what-happens-when-my-assistant-sends-a-text) - [What does the UEMA mean for SMS and email sent by AI agents?](/kb/uema-ai-agent-sms-and-email) - [Why does my text say sent instead of delivered?](/help/why-does-my-text-say-sent-not-delivered) - [How do I create an Agentline NZ API key?](/help/how-to-create-an-api-key) [Start free](https://agentline.nz/signup) ยท Start free with an email inbox (no card), or take a 7-day trial of Starter or Pro to get a number.