Don't worry, Alcmeon handles this seamlessly! If a customer sends a new message while you're typing a reply, Alcmeon will automatically archive the message you were working on and assign you the new message. The page won't even refresh, and your partially typed response will be preserved.

Check for any red elements on the page. These indicate mandatory fields that must be completed before you can send a response. Specifically, ensure you have routed the message to a team, and selected a value for all mandatory tags.

This means another Alcmeon user has already assigned this message to themselves. Alcmeon ensures only one user can work on a message at a time. You'll see a notice like "[name] is currently working on this message" and a "Steal from him" button.  If necessary, you can click this button to force the message to be assigned to you and unassign it from the other user.

This is particularly useful if another user has held a message for too long or forgot to log out. Remember, it's really important to log out of Alcmeon! 😉

You're likely viewing the Conversation Page in "spectator mode." This happens when you access the page by clicking an "eye" icon from an inbox tab like "Replied" or "Archived," as Alcmeon doesn't automatically assign the message to you in these cases. If you wish to take ownership and begin working on the message, simply click the "Process Message" button.

This usually occurs in two common situations:

• The message was deleted by its author on the channel (customers have this option e.g., on Facebook or Google Business Places).
• The message was deleted by the platform itself (e.g., for moderation reasons or a GDPR request).

In these cases, any reply you send would not reach the customer. To save you time, Alcmeon makes archiving the message your only available option.

This specific behavior applies to the WhatsApp channel due to their messaging rules. WhatsApp allows businesses 24 calendar hours to respond to a customer's last message. This 24-hour window doesn't account for weekends or your customer service's operating hours.

If you respond after this 24-hour period, you can only do so by using a pre-configured template. These templates are pre-approved by WhatsApp and set up by an administrator in your Alcmeon environment. Please note that Meta (WhatsApp's owner) directly bills your company for each template use, without going through Alcmeon. 

Hence, using a template is your only option to reply to a customer on WhatsApp more than 24 hours after their last message.