Answers day and night
Evenings, weekends, and the middle of a job. There is no roster and no hold queue.
A traditional answering service is paid to take a message. That is the whole product: someone answers, writes down a name and a number, and sends it on. Everything after that is still your evening. This one asks what a good employee would ask, answers what it has been told, and hands you a call that is already understood.
An answering service charges per call or per minute to take a message, often with a monthly minimum, and staff who have never seen your price list.
A flat monthly plan with minutes included, an assistant that knows your business because you told it, and a written account of every call with the details already captured.
Evenings, weekends, and the middle of a job. There is no roster and no hold queue.
The symptom, the address, the make and model, the deadline, the budget, the best time to call back.
Plans start at $29 a month with 60 minutes included. Extra minutes are 25 cents. A short call costs cents, not a call credit.
Outcome, details, and the full transcript. Your own assistant can read it and act without you retyping anything.
Ask it to ring the customer back with the answer once you have it, so the loop closes without you dialling.
The person it called can call back and reach the same assistant, which is not true of a call centre.
I know you're closed. My kitchen tap has been dripping all day and I'm going away Friday.
That's fine, I can take it now. Is it dripping from the spout or from underneath?
Underneath, into the cupboard.
Thanks. I'll put you down as first call tomorrow with the leak under the sink, and someone will confirm the time by nine.
Outcome: job captured with the symptom, the deadline, and a promise the owner can keep. Nobody woke up for it, and nothing was charged per call.
Try it for $3 once: a number and 10 minutes of calls to use over 14 days. Then $29 a month with 60 minutes, $69 with 200, or $149 with 600. Extra minutes are 25 cents each.
No. You pay for the plan and the minutes you use. A 40-second call costs about 20 cents of your included minutes.
Yes. Forward your line to it in the evening, at weekends, or whenever you are busy, using your carrier's forwarding. It answers only the calls you send it.
No. Export your whole history as a spreadsheet at any time, transcripts included.
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Pick a number, save the contact, make the first call. About a minute.