Blog · Trust and etiquette
Should an AI ever give your card number over the phone?
No. And it's worth thinking twice before you do it yourself.
By the CosVoice team · · 5 minute read
The moment it comes up
The booking is going well. Table for six, Saturday, eight o'clock, name taken. Then the person at the restaurant says, "and I'll just need a card to hold that."
An AI assistant should never answer by reading out your card number. Ours doesn't. It never gives out a card number over the phone and never agrees to a charge, on any call, for any amount. What it does is bring the decision back to you. We're not embarrassed by that limit. We think it's the right design, and most of the reasons apply to people as much as to software. (For the wider picture of what a calling assistant handles, see what it can and can't do.)
Why a spoken card number is risky for anyone
A card number said aloud goes to places you can't see. It might be typed straight into a payment terminal. It might be scribbled on the back of a ticket and left by the register until the rush is over. You have no way of telling which, and neither would an assistant.
You also can't always be sure who you're speaking to. If you dialed the number printed on the restaurant's own menu, fine, probably. If somebody rang you, or the number arrived in a text, all you really know is that a voice asked for your card.
And there's who's listening at your end. The train. The open-plan office. The people behind you at the pharmacy counter.
A spoken number can't be taken back, either. Once it's out, the only fix is a new card.
Why it's worse when an assistant does it
To read out your card, an assistant has to hold your card. That means your number, the expiry date and the security code sitting with a piece of software whose whole job is talking to strangers. Anyone who phones businesses all day gets asked for things. An assistant that is able to pay can be talked into paying.
Then there's judgment. You'd hesitate if the deposit sounded steep, or the person got pushy, or something about the call felt off. That hesitation is worth a great deal and it's hard to imitate. So we didn't try. We took the option away.
It keeps one question very simple, too. Who agreed to the charge? You did, or nobody did.
What happens instead
When a business asks our line for a card or a deposit, it doesn't provide one. It acknowledges the policy and the call comes back to you marked as needing the owner. The written summary tells you what was asked for and what has been agreed so far.
So the deposit lands as a decision on your desk, not a charge on your statement. From there it's up to you: pay it, ask for a different arrangement, or book somewhere else.
Yes, that sometimes means a second step. We think it's a fair price. The trust page puts the rule in a line: anything with a card or a contract comes back to you to decide.
How to pay once it's your decision
A few ways, roughly in the order we'd pick them. Your line has its own email address, so if a business sends a link or a confirmation there, it can be forwarded to your own inbox.
- A payment link or the business's own website. You type the number yourself, into a page you can look at. It's worth asking whether they can email one.
- In person. With a local business, paying when you arrive or dropping by beforehand is often fine. Ask.
- Ringing back yourself. If the phone is the only way, dial the number the business publishes, not one you were handed during a call. And not on speaker in a café.
Put the money question in the brief
You can make that second step quicker by telling your assistant what to find out. Something like: if they want a deposit, ask how much it is, whether it's refundable, when it has to be paid by and how they take it. Then the summary holds everything you need, and deciding takes ten seconds.
It helps to say what you're willing to do as well. "If there's a deposit, ask them to hold the table and I'll pay this evening" gives the person on the other end something to work with. They may say no. But they'll know a real customer is on the way. We've collected more wording like that in how to write a call brief your AI can actually use.
The same goes for the rest of your details
Card numbers are the obvious case. The principle is wider. An assistant on the phone should give out the minimum a booking needs: your name, a callback number, an email address. On our line the callback number and the email it gives are the line's own.
Bank details, security answers, your date of birth, the last four digits of anything? Those are yours to give, to people you've chosen. If a call can't go any further without them, that's a call to make yourself.
Common questions
Is it safe to give a card number over the phone at all?
It can be, if you made the call, to a number you trust, from somewhere private. It's still the weakest way to pay because you can't see where the number ends up. Use a payment page when one is offered.
Can I give my AI assistant my card so it can pay deposits?
Not on our line. It never gives out a card number or agrees to a charge. A deposit comes back to you as a decision, with the details in the written summary.
What if the restaurant won't hold the table without a card?
Then the booking isn't confirmed, and the summary says so honestly. You can ring back and pay yourself, ask for a payment link, or choose another restaurant.
Can the assistant spend my money some other way?
On a call, no. A booking or an appointment is the most it commits you to. Orders through connected apps, like dinner or groceries, only go through after you confirm them.
Read next: Seven things an AI should never do on a call · How an AI books a restaurant table · Money and commitments, in brief
Hear it for yourself.
Call our own AI agent and ask her anything, or get a number in your area code in about a minute.