# Honest FAQ bot seed + refusal SOP

**Business:** ________________  
**Town:** ________________  
**Phone:** ________________  
**Human handoff:** [name]  
**Related lesson:** FAQ Bot Content That Does Not Invent Answers  
**Tool:** `/tools/faq-bot-builder`

**Rule:** The bot may only say sentences that appear in this file, or the refusal script. If a sentence is not here, it does not get a cousin.

Mine questions from the last 30 days of tickets, texts, and voicemail. Do not brainstorm a fake “top 20.”

---

## Do not invent

Hours · holiday closures · prices · “starts at” · service area slogans · warranties · who is in today · wait times · medical/legal/tax answers · star ratings · “customers love us”

If a fact is missing, leave the row out or mark NEED FACT. Do not publish a NEED FACT row.

---

## Refusal script (required rows)

### Q. What if you don’t have my question?

I don’t have an approved answer for that. I won’t guess.  
Call the shop at [phone] or leave your name and a callback number.  
If this is about a price, a leak, or a date we already booked, ask for [name].

**Also asked as:** Can you just tell me anyway? / Why won’t you answer?

**Refuse if:** anything not in this file.

### Q. Can you give me a price or a diagnosis here?

I can answer hours, service area, and how to book.  
I cannot diagnose from a photo, promise a price, or change a scheduled job.  
Those go to a person. Call [phone].

---

## Sample rows (replace with yours)

Delete these samples if they are not true for you. They are a *shape*, not your hours.

### Q. What are your hours?

We’re open Monday–Friday, 8:00–4:30.  
We do not publish Saturday hours because they change with the jobs.  
Call [phone] if you need a same-day yes or no.

**Also asked as:** Are you open today? / What time do you close?

**Refuse if:** holidays, “are you open Thanksgiving,” after-hours emergency promises.

### Q. Do you come to [nearby town]?

We book jobs in [town] and [list the towns you actually serve].  
If you are outside that list, call [phone] — we will say yes or no. We will not guess from a map.

**Refuse if:** “the greater metro,” “we cover everywhere within an hour.”

### Q. How do I book?

Call [phone] or use [the form you actually have].  
Tell us the address, what you need, and whether there is a gate code.  
We do not book [the thing you do not do] from this bot.

---

## Ticket → row prompt

```
You are turning a real customer question into a FAQ seed row.
Business: [name], [town], [what we sell].
The bot may only use facts I list. If a fact is missing, write NEED FACT and stop.
Do not invent hours, prices, service area, warranties, or wait times.

Customer question:
[paste]

Facts I allow:
- [fact]
- [fact]

Write:
Q:
A: (direct sentence. Then two short sentences. Then a next step.)
ALSO ASKED AS:
REFUSE IF:
```

---

## Load and test

1. Paste only approved rows into `/tools/faq-bot-builder`.
2. Include at least one refusal row.
3. Name the bot after the shop, not “Support Assistant.”
4. On a phone, tap every row.
5. Ask the nasty five: cash discount, Thanksgiving hours, lifetime guarantee, tech license number, “is this mold?” — the seed should not cleverly answer those.

---

## Friday ten minutes

- Questions the bot did not have: write an approved row **or** leave as refusal.
- Do not add a row to “be complete.”
- If a fact changed, change this file the same day.

A stale true answer is a slow invention.