Stopping texts and emails

You control which texts and emails Bornbir sends you from your notification settings: open Account and choose Email notifications or SMS / mobile.

Choosing your notifications

The notification settings page has a switch for each kind of message, by channel:

• Email — Messages from providers (replies, reminders about replies, and interview updates), Care request updates (new matches and check-ins about your request), and Class reminders.
• SMS / mobile — Messages from providers (reply and interview texts) and Care request updates (a check-in text before your request closes). Texts need a phone number on your account.

Changes save instantly. The Manage your notification settings link at the bottom of our emails about your request, your messages, and interviews takes you to the same page.

The switches don't cover messages you need to get into your account or that are about something you bought or were sent: login and verification codes, reminders to verify your email, invoices and payment requests from a provider (and reminders about them), payment confirmations, background check results, class sign-up confirmations, and documents a provider sends you to sign.

What you'll get when providers reply

• A provider's first reply: we text you right away (if there's a phone number on your account) and email you. If we texted you, the email follows about 30 minutes later — and we skip it if you've already opened the conversation. If the reply comes with proposed interview times, the text and email say so and the email isn't held back.
• More replies soon after: instead of a text and an email for each one, we combine them into one text ("3 providers have replied to your request on Bornbir") and one email ("2 more providers replied to your request"), at most once a day. When several providers reply close together, the summary comes early rather than waiting out the day, but never within 2 hours of the last one. Replies you've already read are left out, and if you've caught up on everything, no summary is sent.
• Replies in a conversation you've already written in: texted and emailed right away, every time, since you're actively talking.
• A first reply you never opened: if a day goes by and you haven't opened it (and we haven't texted you since), we send one reminder text — "[Name] replied on Bornbir yesterday and is waiting to hear back".
• Reminder emails: if you haven't answered a provider while your request is open, we email "Reminder: You have 1 message waiting for your reply" a few days later — never more than one reminder email a day. Without a phone number on your account, the first reminder email comes after about a day, in place of the reminder text.

Other texts and emails

• Interviews: an email and a text when a provider proposes times, confirms, or cancels, and a reminder the day before. These follow your Messages from providers switches.
• Your request: check-in emails ("Did you find someone?") and, shortly before it closes, "Still looking? We'll close your request soon". If you've opened a conversation with a provider, you also get one text: "Your Bornbir request closes soon. Did you find a provider?" If no one has replied yet, we may email "We found more providers for your request". These follow your Care request updates switches.
• Invoices: emailed when a provider sends you one. If you verified your phone but haven't confirmed your email yet, we text you the invoice link instead. See "Paying a provider through Bornbir".

Stopping texts

Reply STOP to any Bornbir text. That pauses all Bornbir texts to your phone number, and your notification settings page shows "You replied STOP, so Bornbir texts are paused." Text START from your phone to turn them back on.

If our texts to your number keep failing — for example, it's a landline or not a valid mobile number — we stop texting it. Update it under Account → Phone number and texts go to the new number.

Stopping all emails about your request

As long as your care request is open, providers can message you about it. Closing it stops providers who never heard back from you — though providers you've already been writing back and forth with can still message you in that conversation; to stop one of them, use Ignore conversation. See "Editing, closing, or re-opening your care requests" and "Finding and messaging providers".

If you use your email app's Unsubscribe option on a Bornbir email, that turns off all but essential Bornbir emails (like login codes and payment receipts) to your address, and your notification settings page shows a Resubscribe button in case you change your mind. You can also email support@bornbir.com and we'll stop them for you.

Removing your phone number

Open Account → Phone number. You can update the number there, or click Remove phone number to delete it from your account — you'll stop receiving texts entirely. Prefer to keep the number but skip texts? Turn off the SMS switches on the notification settings page instead.