Your AI, out of the box
Before you set anything up, your AI receptionist already handles calls the way a good receptionist would. This page lists what it does on its own, so you know when a call rule is worth adding and when it isn’t.
Situation by situation
| When the caller… | What happens by default | Can you change it? |
|---|---|---|
| Has an emergency | Jobs & Field Service: texts you an urgent alert right away, gets the address first, and offers the soonest same-day opening. Appointments: handled like any other call. | Yes, with a call rule (for example, transfer to you after hours). Safety advice always comes first, and your AI never hangs up on an emergency. |
| Asks for a person | Transfers the call to you if your call routing is AI answers, can transfer to you. Otherwise it takes a message. | Yes, with a call rule (for example, transfer to a team member), or by changing call routing on the Agent page. |
| Asks about a bill or payment | Takes a message for you. Billing is outside what it handles. | Yes, with a call rule (for example, text you or a team member). |
| Wants to cancel or reschedule | Does it on the call, inside your cancellation window. Inside the window, it explains your policy and offers to take a message. | Yes, with a call rule. The window itself is a setting under Booking rules. |
| Is upset or complaining | Takes a message so you can follow up personally. | Yes, with a call rule (for example, transfer to you during business hours). |
| Is selling something, or spam | Nothing special: it chats briefly and may take a message. | Yes, with a call rule (for example, politely end the call). |
| Is a new caller | Books them normally and asks for their name. | Yes, with a call rule (for example, book with a specific team member first). |
| Is an existing client | Greets them with “Welcome back, is this Jo?” and books with their name on file. | Yes, with a call rule. Caller memory (a setting) adds what they called about last time. |
| Asks something it can’t answer | Takes a message. | Teach it the answer in your FAQs and policies, or turn messages off on the Agent page. |
| Is on your blocked list | Politely ends the call. It won’t book, cancel, or answer questions. | Unblock the client on the Clients page. |
Booking
- Asks what service they want, then offers your real next openings, so the caller doesn’t have to guess days.
- Asks for a team member preference only when your booking page lets clients pick one and you have more than one person. Otherwise someone is assigned automatically using your assignment setting.
- Reads the details back once and books only after the caller says yes. It never says “you’re booked” unless the booking actually went through.
- If a day is full, offers your waitlist. If the caller would rather book themselves, it texts your booking link.
- With an arrival window set, it gives the time as a window (“between 9:00 and 10:00”).
Can you change it? The read-back and “booked only after yes” are always on. The team member question follows your booking page’s staff picker setting, and a call rule can send new or existing callers to a specific person first.
Existing appointments
- Looks up the caller’s bookings by their number and tells them when they’re booked, or in Jobs mode whether the tech is on the way.
- Adds notes for you, like a gate code or “running late”, and lets you know.
- Texts their personal manage link when asked.
Safety
For a gas smell or anything life-threatening, it tells the caller to leave and call 911 or their utility before anything else. Can you change it? No. It’s always on, and no rule can turn it off.
Outside your answering hours
If you’ve set answering hours, calls outside them hear that you’re closed and are invited to call back. If you turn phone calls off for the AI, callers are transferred to you (with transfer routing) or invited to text instead. Can you change it? Yes, with answering hours and the call and text switches on the Agent page.
After every call
You get a summary in your Inbox, and a text recap unless you’ve turned call summary texts off. New bookings get a confirmation text. Can you change it? Yes: call summary texts and booking confirmation texts are both switches on the Agent page, and you can choose to get summary texts only for some kinds of calls, like emergencies and complaints.
Call labels
When a call ends, your AI labels it: Booking, Reschedule or cancel, Emergency, Billing, Complaint, Sales / spam, Question, or Other. Labels use the same names as call rules, so a rule for “Billing” and a call labeled Billing mean the same thing. Use them to filter calls in your Inbox. Can you change it? Labels are automatic. A call your AI flags as urgent is always labeled Emergency.
Changing the defaults with call rules
On Premium, Agent → Call rules lets you change what happens in specific situations, such as “Emergency after hours → transfer to me” or “Sales call → politely end”. Your AI checks your rules top to bottom and follows the first one that fits. A rule can match a kind of call, or words the caller mentions (like “leak, flood”). Actions include transferring to you or a team member, booking with a specific person, texting someone, taking a message, giving the caller another number to call (like an after-hours emergency line), texting the caller a link (a price list, form, or payment page, only after they say yes), or politely ending the call (never for emergencies). Any rule can also:
- Text you or a team member, for example “Emergency → transfer to Mark, and also text Mandy”.
- Try backups on a transfer: if Mark doesn’t answer in 25 seconds, try Andy, then take a message.
- Ask a question first, like “What’s the address, and what’s leaking?”, so whoever picks up already knows.
VIP callers (part of call rules) are numbers that skip everything and ring you or a team member directly. If nobody answers, your AI takes a message. Anything your rules don’t cover keeps the default behavior above. Call rules are off until you turn them on.
Follow-up texts
On Premium, Agent → Follow-up texts lets you text callers something useful after a call, based on its label: your booking link after a booking call, a price list after a question, a “sorry we missed you” after a silent or dropped call. Each one is off until you turn it on. They’re never sent to callers who replied STOP, at most one per caller per day, and never after emergencies or sales calls.
Questions your AI couldn’t answer
When a caller asks something about your business that your AI doesn’t know, it’s saved under Business → FAQs as “Questions your AI couldn’t answer”, with how many times it was asked, and you get a notification the first time. Add an answer and it becomes an FAQ your AI uses from the next call on, or mark it not relevant.
Caller memory (also Premium, also off by default) lets your AI recall what a returning client called or texted about recently and their next visit, after they confirm who they are. Your own client notes are never shared with it.
Related: Setting up your AI receptionist · Teaching your AI · Forwarding your calls