What an AI answering service costs

What happens if you go over

Extra minutes are 60 cents each and extra texts are 10 cents each. Calls themselves are never charged: minutes and texts are what the carriers and the voice service bill us for, so a call's length is the cost and its existence is not.

That has a consequence worth stating plainly, because it works in your favour. A business that takes many short calls can pass the call allowance on its plan and pay nothing extra at all. The call number is still a published limit and still triggers the choice you set about what happens at your quota; it simply does not raise a charge on its own.

Texts are counted in segments rather than messages, which is how carriers bill them: a long reply goes out as two or three. The count covers everything your assistant sends on your behalf, including the text back after a missed call, booking and callback confirmations, appointment reminders and the review request after a won job. What it does not include is anything we send you about your own subscription, such as a notice that a payment has failed. We pay for those.

Compared with a human answering service

Traditional answering services in Canada are generally sold by the minute, with a setup fee and a higher rate for after-hours cover. That model prices your busiest week highest, which is the week you could least do without it.

Ours is a flat monthly price that does not change with the hour or the season, and the assistant books the job rather than taking a message for you to ring back. Compare whoever you are considering on their own published rates: what matters is the total for a month that looks like your months.

Questions about the bill

Am I tied in?

For as long as the plan you bought runs, and no longer. A month is a month: stop renewing whenever you like and it ends when that month does. Paying yearly is a year, which is what the two free months are for, and you can move UP mid-year at any time paying only the difference.

There is no way to stop a term part way through, and we would rather say that here than have you find out on the day. There is a full refund if you tell us in your first month, unless you had a trial of 30 days or more: a long trial IS the month you would otherwise be refunded, and paying at the end of it is the decision. The terms say it precisely.

What counts as an answered call?

A call the assistant actually picks up and handles. Your own test calls from the portal do not count against your allowance.

Do I need a new phone number?

No. Your number stays yours. You forward it to us when you cannot answer, and you can stop forwarding at any time.

What if we are busier than the Pro plan?

Then a tier is the wrong shape and we should talk: more calls, more numbers, more vans or chairs, priced for what you actually run.

Can we try it before paying?

Yes. The trial runs on the calls you are already missing, you hear every recording, and at the end you get the numbers: calls answered, leads captured, what it was worth.