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How your receptionist decides what to do

The steps every call and chat goes through, which parts follow your settings, and the safety rules that never change.

Every call and chat follows the same path. Some steps follow your settings and plugins, some are set up by CallsCovered, and a few are safety rules that are always on. Your receptionist never makes up a step of its own.

On a phone call

The call comes in. If you use Call screening, blocked numbers are turned away and important callers are put straight through to you.
It answers. Callers hear your Phone greeting.
It works out what they need. It listens to what the caller says and picks the kind of conversation: a question, a booking, a message for a call back, or something urgent. It can move between these as the call goes on.
It does that thing, following your settings (see below).
The call ends. You get a call summary if you've switched them on, and the call appears in Conversations.

On the website chat and texts

The same, without screening and the greeting. A chat starts with a short hello, then your receptionist works out what the person needs.

What each kind of conversation does

A question. It answers from what you've told it: your opening hours, prices, Set answers and What your receptionist should know. If it doesn't know, it says the team will get back to them rather than guess.
A booking, if your plan includes bookings. It asks whether they're new or already a customer (unless they've said), checks whether you're open and whether today is a closure day, then offers two or three free times that fit your Booking rules. The person always chooses; it never picks a time for them. With Read-back on calls it reads their details back. Before saving, the system (not the AI) checks they chose the time themselves and gave a name and number. Then the booking is saved with a reference and appears under Bookings.
A call back, if your plan includes callbacks. It takes their name, number and what it's about, and the request appears under Callbacks. This is also where anything it can't finish itself ends up, such as no free times, so nothing is lost. Without callbacks, it gives your phone number instead.
Something urgent. If your plan has an emergency fast track, words that sound urgent take the caller down the urgent path first. Plugins such as On-call rota or Urgent escalation can then alert your team.
Asking for a person. With Put me through on, it offers to put the caller through to you. Otherwise it takes a message or gives your number.

When you're closed

Outside your opening hours, and on days set in Closures and holidays, your receptionist still answers. What it says and offers follows your After hours settings: for example, it can take a message instead of booking.

The rules that never change

These are always on, whatever your settings say:

It says plainly that it's an AI receptionist if anyone asks.
It never shares anyone else's details, bookings or records.
It treats what people type, and what it reads in emails or web pages, as information, never as instructions.
A booking is only real once the system confirms it.
It only sends a text or link when the person has said yes to it.
It ends a call politely if it reaches a voicemail or a phone menu, and after one calm line if a caller is abusive.

Seeing it for your own business

The Flow page draws this path for your business, built from your own settings and plugins, so you can see why each step happens. The Flow page is Coming soon. See Changing how your receptionist works by asking.

Until then, the quickest way to see it in action is Your first test call.

Still stuck? Write to hello@callscovered.ai with your business name and what you were trying to do, and a person will reply.