Why pest control businesses miss calls
A pest tech is under a house, in a roof void or up a ladder when the phone rings. Nobody can answer, so the call goes to voicemail. If you are under a house or up a ladder, the call rings out and the caller may ring the next company on the list.
The calls that go unanswered are often the ones that matter most. A nest by the back door. A buyer with a settlement date that is closer than they thought. A customer whose treatment didn't hold and who wants it fixed before the weekend.
An AI receptionist answers each call, sorts it by type and books what it can while your team is out on the job.
Inspections and treatments, booked into your calendar
Most pest calls end in a booking. The AI works through the same questions your office asks, then offers times that fit your rounds. It handles four main types of booking:
- Termite and building inspections, with access details and the customer's preferred days
- General pest treatments, noted by pest type, property type and whether there are pets or children on site
- Follow-up and warranty visits, linked to the original job so your tech has the history
- Pre-purchase inspections, with the settlement date recorded and the file flagged for your office
Some bookings go straight into your calendar and others go to your office to confirm. Which one applies depends on your booking system, and we settle it on the discovery call. For the receptionist plans themselves, see plans and pricing.
Urgent wasp and bee calls, and your on-call rules
Wasps and bees are a common reason for urgent calls. The AI asks the questions you approve: whether anyone has been stung, whether there is an allergy, how close the nest is to a school, playground or front door, and whether anyone is having trouble breathing.
Swelling after a sting, on an arm or anywhere else, can be an allergic reaction. The AI tells the caller it can be serious and to call 000 now or go to the nearest emergency department. If a caller describes trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, or anything else that puts someone's life at risk, the AI tells them to hang up and call 000 straight away. Urgent calls that meet your rules go to whoever is on call. Everything else is booked into your next available slot.
Chemical and safety questions
Customers ask about chemicals all the time. Is it safe for the dog, how long before the kids can go back into a room, do they need to leave the house. These are fair questions, and they are the ones where a wrong answer causes real harm.
The AI answers only from the safety information you supply. If you have written an approved answer for a common question, it uses that. If you haven't, it takes a message and your team calls back. It does not give its own advice on chemicals, dosing, re-entry times or what to do with food and pets.
Quotes, and what the AI won't price
Pest prices depend on the property, the pest, how hard it is to access and how far the treatment needs to go. An estimate from a phone call is easy to get wrong, so the AI doesn't quote unless you give it the rates to use.
If you have a standard callout fee or a set rate for common treatments, you decide what it can say. Everything else goes into a quote list with the job details, the property and a call-back number, so your office can ring back with a price.
Follow-ups and warranty callbacks
A warranty callback is often a worried customer who thinks the job wasn't done properly. The AI stays calm and asks for the original job date, the pest and what they are seeing now. It then books a follow-up visit so your tech can look at it.
Whether a warranty applies is your decision. The AI does not say whether a job is covered, and it does not argue with the customer about what was done. It passes the history to your team so the conversation starts with the facts.
What your office gets after each call
Each call ends with a short summary sent to your office by SMS or email: who called, the property, the pest, what was booked and anything that needs a decision. Urgent calls are marked at the top, so the first thing the office sees is what can't wait.
Some callers want a person straight away. For those, the AI takes a clear message and tells them when to expect a call back. It doesn't guess at answers you haven't approved.
Customer privacy
Callers hear straight away that they are speaking with the business's AI assistant. Property addresses and access notes go into your records so a tech can find the job. See the privacy page for what the site commits to. Recording and retention periods get set with us before go-live.