The 11 p.m. emergency
A burst pipe, no heat in January, a tenant locked out. The caller is deciding between you and the next listing, and the one who answers gets the job. A closed-hours recording loses it in the first ten seconds.
Solutions by problem · after hours
Your customers still call
after you close.
Nights, weekends and holidays are when the emergency calls come and when the office is empty. The receptionist answers them the way it answers a weekday call: from the information you approve, with your emergency policy stated as you wrote it, and with a transfer to the person on call.
From $49/month with 250 AI minutes and one US local number included. See full pricing
Where the calls go today
The Sunday browser
Most after-hours calls are not emergencies. They are customers with a free moment asking whether you do the work, what it costs and when you could come. They are happy to be called back Monday, as long as someone took the request.
The holiday closure
You are closed, your voicemail says so, and the caller cannot tell whether you will be back Tuesday or next month. A receptionist that knows your holiday hours answers the question and captures the request for the first working day.
What happens when the receptionist answers
Your hours decide the route
Set your business hours in your timezone, with a separate route for closed hours and your holiday dates. The receptionist knows which it is when the call comes in, so a 9 p.m. caller hears the closed-hours answer and a 9 a.m. caller does not.
Closed hours get your closed-hours answer
Your reopening time, what happens with the request, and the emergency policy exactly as you approved it: whether you dispatch after hours, which situations qualify and how the after-hours fee is explained.
Emergencies try the person on call
When the caller’s situation matches the urgency rules you set, the receptionist tries the on-call transfer and the teammates you listed in turn. If nobody answers, it returns to the caller and takes the full request marked urgent.
Everything else becomes a morning request
Non-urgent callers get the questions you approved answered and the request captured, and are told when to expect a call back in your words. The record is waiting in the inbox when the office opens.
An example call
Illustrative example A Saturday at 9 p.m., for a locksmith whose policy is to dispatch after hours for lockouts only. The business, the caller and the policy are invented; the receptionist opens every real call with its AI disclosure.
- AI receptionist
Thanks for calling Keystone Lock and Door. I am an AI receptionist for the team. We are closed until Monday at 8 a.m., but I can help with an emergency or take a request. How can I help?
- Caller
I am locked out of my apartment. Can someone come tonight?
- AI receptionist
Yes, Keystone sends a locksmith for lockouts after hours. There is an after-hours service fee, which the locksmith explains before any work starts. Where are you?
- Caller
19 Harbor Street, apartment 3B, in Port Haven.
- AI receptionist
Port Haven is in the service area. Are you somewhere safe while you wait?
- Caller
Yes, in the lobby.
- AI receptionist
Good. Let me try the on-call locksmith now. Please hold for a moment.
- AI receptionist
The on-call locksmith did not pick up, so I have sent your request as an urgent lockout. Can I get your name and the number to reach you?
- Caller
Marcus Bell, this number.
- AI receptionist
Thank you, Marcus. Your lockout at 19 Harbor Street, apartment 3B, is with the team marked urgent, and someone will call you back on this number. Please stay somewhere safe.
What your team sees
Synthetic example record The inbox shows an urgent after-hours lockout: 19 Harbor Street 3B, Port Haven, caller waiting in the lobby, Marcus Bell at the number he called from, on-call transfer attempted at 9:04 p.m. and not answered. The on-call locksmith returns the call from the record.
What it handles, what it captures, what it does not do
The same table on every receptionist page, because the limits matter as much as the features when you are choosing.
| On a call | Today | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Questions about hours, services, areas and prices | Handled on the call | Answered from the business information you approve. A question you have not covered gets a plain "I do not have that" and a message for your team, never a guess. |
| Reaching a person on your team | Handled on the call | A transfer to one eligible US destination, with the teammates you list tried in turn when the first does not pick up. |
| Closed hours, a busy line and holidays | Handled on the call | Your closed-hours message, a bounded waiting queue with position announcements, and the fallback path you configure when every AI line is busy. |
| Messages and callback requests | Captured for your team | Name, number, the request in the caller’s words and the details you ask for, in your inbox and on your webhooks the moment the call ends. |
| Appointment and estimate requests | Captured for your team | The request, the address and the caller’s preferred times. Your team confirms the time from the record; the receptionist writes no calendar. |
| Emergencies and safety | Captured for your team | Only the safety wording you approve, such as where a shutoff valve is, then the on-call transfer and an urgent request. It gives no medical, legal or electrical advice of its own. |
| Dispatching a crew or promising an arrival time | Not part of the receptionist | Not the receptionist’s job: your dispatcher assigns the work and your team confirms the visit from the record it leaves. |
| Texting the caller afterwards | Not part of the receptionist | It sends no text messages. Requests reach you in the inbox, on your signed webhooks and through the API. |
| Writing to a calendar, a CRM or a dispatch system | Not part of the receptionist | No named connector exists. Results reach other systems through signed webhooks, CSV export and the API. |
| Recording the whole call | Not part of the receptionist | Full-call recording is not part of the receptionist offer. Every call leaves a record of what was asked and what was answered. |
| Languages other than English | Not part of the receptionist | English today. |
| Guaranteed answer rates, response times or outcomes | Not part of the receptionist | Capacity is per plan on shared fleet, not reserved hardware. When every AI line is busy, callers follow the fallback path you chose. |
For this problem in particular
- It dispatches nobody and promises no arrival time. It states your policy, tries the person on call and captures the request; the locksmith, plumber or technician decides.
- A caller in danger gets only the safety wording you approve. For a life-threatening situation, approve a line that tells the caller to hang up and call emergency services.
- It answers within your plan’s capacity, at 2 a.m. the same as at 2 p.m. When every AI line is busy, the caller follows your fallback path.
- It sends no text messages. The urgent request reaches the person on call through the inbox and your webhooks, and the missed transfer is recorded on the call.
What you set up
Write the emergency policy once
What qualifies, who is on call, how the fee is explained and what to say to a caller whose situation does not qualify. The receptionist reads it as written and adds nothing of its own.
List the on-call order
The first person to try and the teammates after them. Each is tried in turn inside the one call, and a missed transfer leaves an urgent request in the inbox instead of silence.
Set holidays before they arrive
Holiday dates use your closed-hours route automatically, so the receptionist that is right on the day needs no change on the day. The greeting generator drafts a closed-hours greeting you can edit.
Setup starts from your website: the receptionist drafts its answers from your public pages and you review every one before paying. How setup works, step by step.
Questions before you decide
Is this a 24-hour answering service?
It answers at any hour your number forwards to it, within your plan’s simultaneous-call capacity on shared fleet. There is no staffed desk behind it and no availability guarantee; a caller who arrives when every AI line is busy follows the fallback path you chose.
Can it reach my on-call person?
Yes. Configure one eligible US transfer destination and the teammates to try after it. The receptionist tries them in turn inside the one call and, if nobody answers, takes the full request marked urgent.
What does it say to a non-emergency caller at night?
Whatever you approve: the reopening time, that the request has been taken, and when to expect a call back in your words. It answers the questions you approved about services, areas and prices just as it would during the day.
How do holidays work?
Add the dates once. Holidays use the closed-hours route, and the emergency rules still apply if your policy allows after-hours work on those days.
Does it cost more at night?
No. AI time is metered the same way at every hour, against the included minutes of your plan. Connected transfers to the person on call and non-AI incoming time have their own published rates.
Keep reading
Phone greeting generator
An after-hours greeting that says what happens next.
Hear your receptionist
The voices, and the answer a caller gets from your facts.
AI receptionist for plumbers
A burst-pipe call at night, handled from the policy you wrote.
Overflow call answering
What happens when three people call at once.
Stop Missing Business Calls While You Work
Most small businesses miss calls for one reason: the person who should answer is doing the work.
Overflow Call Answering When Your Team Is Busy
A busy line is a good problem until the third caller gives up.
Phone Lead Intake and Callback Requests
A missed-call notification tells you a number.
Plumbing Answering Service for Missed Calls
Plumbing calls arrive while you are under a sink.
HVAC Answering Service for After-Hours Calls
HVAC phones follow the weather.
Electrician Answering Service, After Hours
An electrician’s phone mixes real danger with routine estimates.
Be answered after you close.
Set your hours, write your emergency policy once, and let the on-call transfer do the rest.