Oregon AI Every AI receptionist sounds smooth in a sales video. The only way to know whether one will work for your business is to call it yourself and try to trip it up. These are the ten calls we suggest, in the order we would make them.
You can try all ten on our demo line at (541) 243-7025. It answers as Riverbend Heating, a made-up heating and cooling company, so nothing you book is real. US numbers only, a few calls a day per caller.
The ten calls
- Ask if it is a person. A good one says it is an AI assistant, plainly, the first time you ask. Disclosure is the honest default, some laws already require it in certain situations, and customers trust it more when it is upfront.
- Book something. Ask for a repair visit tomorrow morning. It should offer real open times, confirm your name and number, and read the booking back.
- Change your mind. Halfway through, ask for a different day. Listen for whether it keeps track or starts over.
- Ask a price. It should give the prices the owner approved, and say "the technician will confirm" for anything it does not know. It should never invent a number.
- Describe an emergency. Say you smell gas. The right answer is to tell you to leave the house and call 911 or the gas company first, then alert the on-call person. Anything else is a fail.
- Interrupt it. Talk over it mid-sentence. Good systems stop and listen.
- Ask something off-topic. Ask for a mortgage rate or a stock tip. It should politely decline and steer back to what the business does.
- Switch languages. If your customers speak Spanish, try it. Many systems can answer in Spanish; confirm it before you count on it.
- Ask for a human. It should take a message or offer a callback, with a clear time, not loop you.
- Hang up and check what the owner gets. Ask the vendor to show you the summary from your test calls. The text or email the owner receives is the product; the call is only half of it.
What to ask the vendor afterwards
- Who owns the number and the recordings? They should be in your name, or easy to move if you leave.
- What happens when it breaks? Calls should fall back to your voicemail or cell, never to silence.
- Is there a spend cap? Per-minute pricing needs a monthly ceiling you agree to in writing.
- How long is the contract? Month to month is normal for small businesses. Be wary of a year up front.
- Who changes the script? Prices, hours and services change. Ask how fast an edit goes live and whether it costs extra.
When an AI receptionist is the wrong fit
If almost every call needs a licensed professional's judgment, or your callers are mostly existing clients who want one specific person, a simple missed-call text-back or an answering service may serve you better. Our missed-call worksheet helps you decide whether the gap is big enough to fix, and the AI receptionist guide covers costs and the rules in more detail.