The questionnaire SMS went out, or is scheduled to go out, on a date or time that doesn't look right. Send timing is driven by two things: the **Days Before Appointment** setting and the **Appointment Date** you entered. Get those right and the schedule follows.

## How send timing works

i-consult doesn't send the link when you create the episode. It schedules it to go out a set number of days before the appointment.

- **Days Before Appointment** (0–30, default **3**) controls when the link is sent. The default and recommended value is **3 days**, which balances fresh information before a consult against rushing the patient.
- The send date is calculated as the **Appointment Date minus the Days Before Appointment value**. For an appointment on the 10th with the setting at 3, the link sends on the 7th.
- A value of `0` means "Sending today": the link goes out on the appointment day itself.

```callout kind="info"
You set a per-episode value when you create the episode, and a personal default under **Settings → Profile → i-consult Preferences** (**Default Days Before Appointment**). The default seeds new episodes; you can override it on any single episode.
```

## What to check

```steps
1. Open the **Dashboard**, find the patient, and open the episode.
2. Check the **Appointment Date** (date and time). A wrong appointment date moves the send date with it, and this is the most common cause of an "off" send date.
3. Check the **Days Before Appointment** value. If it's higher or lower than you intended, the link sends earlier or later than expected.
4. Re-derive the expected send date yourself: appointment date minus days-before. Compare it to what the episode shows.
5. Look at the episode status stepper. **SMS Scheduled** means it hasn't sent yet (so you can still fix the schedule), and **SMS Sent** means it's already gone.
```

```callout kind="info"
When creating an episode, the **"SMS Reminder Scheduled"** preview confirms the calculated send date ("An appointment reminder will be sent from {date}") with a badge like "3 day(s) from now". Use that to sanity-check the timing before you submit.
```

## About timezone and time of day

The send date is calculated from the appointment date you entered, so if the appointment date or time is slightly off, the calculated send date can land on an unexpected day. Re-checking the **Appointment Date** resolves most reports of a wrong date or time.

```callout kind="info"
The number of days before the appointment is what you control per episode. If the *day* the link arrives is wrong, the fix is almost always the **Appointment Date** or the **Days Before Appointment** value. Correct those and the schedule recalculates.
```

## Fix it, then resend if needed

```steps
1. Correct the **Appointment Date** and/or **Days Before Appointment** on the episode and save your changes.
2. If the link hasn't sent yet (**SMS Scheduled**), the new schedule applies automatically, with no further action needed.
3. If the link has already gone out (**SMS Sent**) with the wrong timing, resend it so the patient gets the correct link. See [Resending a questionnaire link](/i-consult/resending-a-questionnaire-link).
```

```callout kind="info"
Related: if the patient never received any SMS at all, start with [My patient didn't get the SMS](/i-consult/patient-didnt-get-sms). To review how an episode is set up, see [Create a patient episode manually](/i-consult/create-a-patient-episode).
```