AI receptionist
A receptionist with written rules.
Somebody answers while you're on the job. It books jobs. It does not touch the money. Below is everything the AI receptionist can do, what it can't, what it logs and how you turn it off.
On LevelAnswers calls and texts, on one plan.
A call, start to finish
An after-hours call, as it appears in your Inbox. It books a time from your real schedule and leaves the estimate to your team.
Thanks for calling Sample Heating & Air. I'm the virtual assistant. How can I help?
Hi, it's Maya. My furnace is 22 years old. Can I get a quote to replace it?
Happy to set that up. A technician can come out tomorrow between eight and ten, or between one and three. Which works better?
Eight to ten.
You're booked for tomorrow between eight and ten. You'll get a text confirmation.
- The visit is on the board. Tomorrow, 8 to 10 AM, for the tech you assign.
- The caller has a text. A confirmation of the time.
- The whole call is in your Inbox. The transcript, how it ended and the job it booked.
Sample call at Sample Heating & Air (demo data). The caller and the business are made up.
Answers when you can't. Hands off when it should.
Know the limits before the first call. Its tools are one short list; if it isn't here, it doesn't do it.
It can
- Look up the callerMatches the number against your customers, so it knows whose appointment or invoice it's talking about.
- Check your open timesOffers only the arrival windows your online booking would offer, from your real schedule.
- Book a visitBooks one of those times and the caller gets a confirmation text. Set booking to request instead, and your office confirms.
- Log a leadSaves who called and what they need on your pipeline, for a number that isn't a customer yet.
- Say what a customer owesReads the matched customer's open invoices, due dates and last payment, never anyone else's.
- Cancel a visit the caller asks to cancelOnly the caller's own upcoming visit, and only after they've confirmed which one.
- Take a callback requestAsks the office to call back, with when and why. It shows on Today under Customer activity (or as a lead, for a number that isn't a customer), and the office gets an email.
- Text a link to their accountOn a call, texts the caller a link to their appointments, estimates and invoices.
- Hand the call to a personWhen the caller asks, when it can't help, or when something goes wrong, the call goes to the people you chose.
It can't
- Change a priceIt states prices from your price book and never negotiates or makes one up.
- Write an estimate or an invoiceOnly people on your team can.
- Take a payment or issue a refundIt can text a link to the customer's account, where they can pay, but it never handles the money.
- Make up factsIt states times, prices and business details only from your schedule, price book, business info and the rules you write.
- Read out the name or address on fileFor anything more on the account it offers the text link instead.
- See anything owner-facingNo reports, team, time or settings. Its list of tools is short, and it's the list above.
- Speak anything but EnglishEnglish only, on calls and texts. Spanish isn't built yet.
Your rules. Your off switch. Every action logged.
You can read everything it did, set how it behaves, and switch it off.
Every call has a transcript.
Inbox, then Calls: the full transcript, how the call ended, the job it booked, and why it handed off if it did. Texts it answers stay in the same Inbox thread as everyone else's.
Every change has its name on it.
What the receptionist books, logs or cancels is recorded as the receptionist's. Callbacks it took and visits it canceled show on Today under Customer activity.
Recording is separate, and optional.
Call recording is its own setting. When it's on, callers hear a spoken notice first.
On Level
You set
Your rules
Write the things it must always do or say. They sit at the top of its instructions, and it follows them on every call and text, unless a rule would break its safety rules, such as pointing an emergency to 911.
Your facts
Add a short "about the business" for the details it may state: hours, service area, what you don't do.
Your greeting and voice
Edit the phone greeting (up to 300 characters) and pick the voice callers hear. The standard greeting says it's the virtual assistant.
Where hand-offs go
Your office phone and the staff taking calls in the app, a number you choose, or straight to voicemail. A call nobody picks up ends in voicemail, so the message is captured.
Booking mode
Let it book open times, or have it only take the details and your office confirms.
Limits, plainly
- English only, on calls and texts.
- A call is with the AI for at most 10 minutes. From minute 9 it tells the caller it's nearly out of time, then connects a person.
- Daily guards send a call to your people instead: 10 AI calls an hour from one caller, 300 AI-answered calls a day for a company, and 600 AI minutes a day.
- It won't answer a number that has opted out of texts.
- In an emergency it points the caller to 911 or the utility first, then hands off to a person.
- It needs a business phone number bought or assigned in Tandem. Moving your existing number in from the app isn't built yet.
- No approval cards or undo button for what it does yet. The limits above are the guardrails, and the off switch is yours.
Which plan has it, and what a minute costs
Read from the plans on sale, so it matches the pricing page.
- Plan
- Level, $299 a month
- Included
- 1,000 minutes a month
- After that
- $0.29 a minute
Solo and Crew don't include it. Past the included minutes the receptionist keeps answering and each extra minute is billed at that rate. A call's minutes run from when it answers until it hands off or the caller hangs up, rounded up to a whole minute. Time with your team after a hand-off doesn't count.
Full pricing · Everything Tandem does · Control and guardrails
Questions
What does it do when someone calls?
It answers on your business number with your greeting, asks how it can help, and uses the short list of things above: look up the caller, check open times, book, log a lead, take a callback, cancel a visit, text an account link or hand off. You read the transcript in your Inbox.
The AI will say something wrong.
It can. Nobody should promise you otherwise. What limits the damage: a short list of things it can do, no way to change a price, write an estimate, take a payment or refund; prices, times and facts only from your price book, schedule, business info and rules; a 10-minute cap on every call; a transcript of every call; a handoff to a person when it can't help; and an off switch. An approval step and an undo button for what it does aren't built yet.
My customers don't want to talk to an AI.
Some won't. The standard greeting says it's the virtual assistant, you can edit that greeting, and a caller who asks for a person is handed to the people you chose. How callers feel about it isn't measured yet: there are no completion or hang-up numbers to show you, and we won't make any up.
Can the caller reach a person?
Yes. If they ask, if it can't help, or if something fails (no answer from the model, a timeout, a limit), the call goes to the people you chose, or to voicemail.
Can it quote a price?
It can state a price that's in your price book. It can't change one, write an estimate or negotiate. Anything beyond that, it logs a lead or hands off.
How do I turn it off?
Settings, then AI receptionist. Calls and texts have their own switches. With calls off, your business line rings your team straight through.
Does it speak Spanish?
No. It speaks English only, and Spanish screens and calls aren't built yet.
Does it tell callers it's an AI?
The standard greeting says "I'm the virtual assistant." You can edit the greeting, so check that yours still makes that clear.
Can I hear it?
Not on a public line yet. Read the sample call above; once your shop is set up with a business number, you can call it yourself.
More answers on the FAQ.