Questions people ask before they hand the phone over
Nineteen of them, answered the way we would answer them on the phone. Open any one. Where the honest answer is that it will not do something, that is the answer you get.
How it works
How does an AI receptionist work?
Your business number points at it instead of at a handset. When somebody rings, it answers, listens, and talks back in a normal conversation.
It knows your hours, your services and your diary, so it can answer questions and book work without asking anyone. Everything it hears is written down and sent to you.
Is an AI receptionist the same as an automated phone menu?
No, and the difference is the whole point. A phone menu gives the caller a list and makes them choose from it. An AI receptionist lets them say what they want in their own words and works it out. Nobody is ever asked to press one for accounts.
Can it transfer a call to a real person?
Yes, on rules you set. An emergency goes to whoever is on call, an account query goes to the office, and anything it cannot handle goes to whoever you nominate.
If nobody picks up it books a callback rather than dropping the caller into voicemail.
What happens if it does not understand the caller?
It asks again once, in different words. If it still has not got it, it says so, and either transfers the caller or takes a callback. It does not guess and it does not loop. There is a transcript of exactly that.
Can it answer text messages as well as calls?
Yes. The same number takes texts and the same agent answers them, with the same knowledge of your hours and your diary. A booking made by text lands in the same place as one made by voice.
Your number and your systems
Do I have to change my phone number?
No. Keep the number on your van, your website and your Google listing. You divert that line to your AI receptionist, so the number your customers already know keeps working.
If you would rather start fresh, you can take a new +64 number instead.
How do I divert my calls to it?
It is a setting on your existing phone service and it takes a couple of minutes. We give you the exact steps for your provider during setup.
You choose whether it takes every call, or only the ones you do not pick up yourself.
Which calendars and systems does it work with?
Google Calendar and Calendly for the diary. HubSpot, Pipedrive and GoHighLevel for contacts and enquiries. Xero for customers and what they owe. Slack and Microsoft Teams for telling your team.
There is also a REST API, webhooks and Zapier for anything with a hook of its own.
What if I use software you do not support?
Tell us what you use and we will quote the integration work. If it has an API we can usually connect it, and if we cannot, we will tell you that rather than sell you a workaround.
What it will and will not do
Can it take payments over the phone?
Card details are never read out to it. It can text the caller a secure payment link while they are still on the phone, which they open and complete themselves, and it hears back whether the payment went through.
Can it quote a price?
It quotes what you have told it to quote, word for word, and nothing else. Anything outside that gets written down as a question, with the name of whoever will answer it and by when. It never invents a number.
Can it handle an emergency call?
It can tell an emergency from a routine job using the rules you give it, and it puts real emergencies straight through to whoever is on call.
It is triage, not treatment. It will never give clinical, legal or financial advice.
Can I change what it says?
Yes. The greeting, the voice, how formal it is, what it calls your services, and the exact wording of anything it says often. A change you make is live on the next call.
Does it answer in more than one language?
It answers in English and says te reo Māori names the way they are said here. If you need another language on your line, ask us and we will tell you straight whether we can do it.
Data, cost and getting going
Is it legal to have an AI answer calls in New Zealand?
Yes. New Zealand businesses record and handle calls every day, and the Privacy Act 2020 governs what you then do with what you have collected.
It can announce that a call is recorded if you want it to, and it always says it is an assistant when a caller asks. If you work in a regulated trade, check your own obligations as well.
Where are my recordings and transcripts kept?
In New Zealand. Calls are answered on +64 numbers held in New Zealand data centres, and the recordings, transcripts and summaries stay there. Australian businesses are answered on +61 numbers in Australia.
What happens if my internet goes down?
Nothing. Your calls are answered in the data centre, not on a computer in your office. A power cut at your place, a dead router or a flat phone battery does not stop the phone being answered.
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
Pay as you go is NZ$10 a month for the number plus NZ$1 a minute. The business monthly plan is NZ$129 for the first three months, then NZ$199.
The monthly plan includes 200 minutes, 50 texts and three calls at once. There is no setup fee and no lock-in.
How quickly can it be answering my phone?
The account opens instantly. Your agent is deployed and trained within 24 hours. You listen to it handle your calls before any customer does.
Still got one we have not answered
Ask it on the form and we will come back the same working day. If the answer is that this is not right for you, that is what we will say.