How do you choose an AI receptionist? 12 questions to ask before you sign

Choose an AI receptionist by calling it and asking twelve plain questions: does it say it's an AI, what does it do when it doesn't know, who writes the script, can you hear it before you pay, what does it book into, who owns the number and recordings, what decides the price at your volume, how does it handle nights and holidays, what languages, how do you leave, what's promised in writing, and what happens when a promise is missed. We answer every one of them below, in writing, so you can hold us to it.

How to use this list

Start with a phone, not a feature list. Call each vendor's demo line, say you're a customer, and listen. Then put these twelve questions to the vendor and write the answers down, because the answers are what you'll hold them to.

We've put our own answer under each question. We sell an AI receptionist, and we're happy to be checked: the questions work on any vendor, including us.

What the caller hears (questions 1 to 3)

1. Does it say it's an AI? A receptionist that dodges 'am I talking to a person?' loses the caller's trust the moment they work it out. Honesty up front keeps it. Ask to hear the greeting, and ask what it says when a caller asks directly. Our answer: ours says it's an AI in its greeting and whenever asked, and tells the caller the call is recorded.

2. What happens when it doesn't know? Every receptionist, human or AI, meets a question it wasn't given. What you're really buying is what it does next. The wrong answer is to make something up: a price, a time, a 'yes, we do that'. The right answer is to say so, take a message, and get it to you fast. Ask the vendor to describe it, then test it: call the demo and ask for a price. Our answer: it says so, takes a message, and texts you; it never guesses a price it wasn't given or promises a time you didn't approve.

3. Who writes the script? The script is the product. With software plans, you write it, in a dashboard, at night. With a done-for-you service, someone writes it from your call types and tests it against them. Ask who writes it, who tests it, and who updates it when your hours change. Our answer: one of our specialists writes your script from your kickoff call, sets your call flows and emergency rules, and runs the test calls with you; you approve it before it answers a single call. That's the heart of the one-time Get Answered setup fee.

Proof before payment (questions 4 to 6)

4. Can you test-call it before paying? A trial still asks you to set things up first. Better is a live line you can call now, as your business, before any setup. Our answer: call (866) 413-5421, name your business, and it answers as you; on your fix-list call (15 to 30 minutes) you hear it answer with your business name before you pay anything.

5. What does it book into? 'Integrates with your calendar' can mean anything from a two-way sync with your scheduling software to an email that says 'please book this'. Ask for the list of systems it books into, and ask what happens when a caller wants a slot you'd never offer. Our answer: your calendar or scheduling tool, connected at kickoff: Google Calendar, Calendly, and most calendars and the common trade and clinic systems. It offers only the times you approved.

6. Who owns the number and the recordings? If the vendor gives you a new number and you print it on your truck, leaving means porting it out. If the vendor keeps the recordings and transcripts, leaving means losing your call history. Ask for the ownership line in the contract, and for the export process. Our answer: you forward your own number to us and can un-forward it in a minute, and it works behind a cell phone by conditional forwarding. Recordings, transcripts, leads and customer data are yours, with full export within 14 days of asking, during the agreement or within 30 days after.

Money (questions 7 to 9)

7. What does it cost each month at your call volume? Ask for the included minutes or calls and what happens past them, then check it against your busiest month. Ask what the setup fee buys, item by item. Our answer: Get Answered comes in three sizes, matched to your call volume on a short call or by email, and you see the monthly fee, the minutes and the setup fee on a one-page Order Form before you sign; it's month to month, cancel any time. The setup fee builds everything: a script written for your business, your call flows and emergency rules, your answers from your own information, calendar booking, number forwarding set up with you, text-message registration with the carriers, a greeting tuned to you, test calls, the go-live checklist, and the Seven Days promise behind it.

8. After hours and holidays? Ask whether 24/7 is in the price, how holiday closures are set, and what happens to an emergency at 3 a.m. Our answer: 24/7 is the plan; your hours and holidays go in your script; life-safety callers are told to hang up and call 911, and urgent jobs go to your on-call person by live transfer.

9. Languages? If your callers speak Spanish or French, ask whether the second language is included, an add-on, or a separate line. Our answer: tell us on your call, and a second language, Spanish or French, goes into your script and your quote.

Leaving and promises (questions 10 to 12)

10. How do you leave? Ask for the notice period, any minimums, and what happens to your number on the last day. Our answer: no long-term contract and no minimum term. Every monthly service is month to month and you can cancel any time by email before your next billing date; your service runs to the end of the month you've already paid for, and you un-forward your number in a minute.

11. What's written down as a promise? Marketing copy says a lot. Contracts say exactly what counts. Ask which claims on the website appear in the terms with a trigger and a remedy: answer time, go-live date, refund window, ownership. Our answer: four written promises, each with its remedy. Two rings: calls that reach our line are answered within two rings, every hour of the year, and downtime is credited by the hour. Seven days: live within 7 business days of kickoff, or, if the delay is ours, the Get Answered setup fee comes back. Thirty days: not for you in the first 30 days after go-live? Email us and the first month's plan fee comes back. Yours: your number, recordings, data and paid-for website are yours.

12. How is a missed promise made right? A promise without a remedy is a slogan. Ask what you get, automatically, when the vendor misses: a credit, a refund, a release. Then ask how you claim it. Our answer: downtime on the two-rings promise is credited by the hour on your next invoice; a late go-live on our side refunds the Get Answered setup fee; the 30-day refund takes an email, no form, no argument. The fine print is short: the two-rings clock starts when a call reaches our line, so rings on your own carrier before the forward, forwarding you turned off and carrier outages sit outside it; the seven-day clock pauses while we wait on you; and the 30-day money-back covers the first month's plan fee, once per client.

Test the questions on our line

Call (866) 413-5421, toll-free from Canada and the US, any hour. Say you're a plumber, a physio clinic, a real estate office or a music school, or name your own business and it answers as you. Then try to trip it up.

Do the same on every other vendor's line. The one that admits what it doesn't know, books only what you'd allow, and tells you what it is, is the one that will behave the same way with your customers.

• Ask if it's a real person.
• Ask for a price on a job it hasn't been given a price for.
• Ask to book a time outside normal hours and see whether it offers one.
• Describe an emergency and listen to what it does.
• Give it a street name with an odd spelling and ask it to read it back.
• Ask what happens to the recording of this call.

Voice and realism: trust your ears

Is the most realistic voice the best one? Judge it on a live call, with your own ears, and judge it on honesty too: the best voice is the one that sounds right to your callers and still tells the truth when it doesn't know.

And what ours never does: guess a price you didn't give it, promise a time you didn't approve, or give clinical, legal or financial advice. You get a summary of every call, so you always know what was said.