Every no-heat call answered at two in the morning, triaged the way your best CSR does it.
On the first hot Saturday the phone rings faster than the office can answer, and the homeowner who reaches voicemail books whoever picks up next. The AI receptionist answers as your company, asks the questions you wrote, looks the caller up, and books into a real window or pages the tech on call.
HVAC calls bunch up in ways a two-person office cannot staff for
A heat wave turns a slow Tuesday into a day when both lines ring from eight in the morning until well after dark, and the first cold snap does the same in reverse. Hiring for the peak means paying for the shoulder months. Staffing for the shoulder months means voicemail during the peak. A call answering service that takes a message solves nothing, because the caller wanted a time slot, not a promise that someone will call back.
The HVAC call is a triage call. Is there any cooling at all. What is the indoor temperature. Is anyone in the home elderly, an infant, or on oxygen. Is there a smell of gas. Is the carbon monoxide alarm going off. Then the membership lookup: a member gets the priority they paid for, and a non-member hears the diagnostic fee and the after-hours terms before anything is booked. Then the booking, into a window that exists on the dispatch board. A receptionist that cannot do all three is a message pad with a voice.
It also has to know what it may not say. It does not diagnose a bad capacitor over the phone, does not promise the part is on the truck, does not quote a repair, and never tells a caller to open the furnace cabinet. Its answers are the ones you approved, and nothing else.
What an AI receptionist for an HVAC company has to do
The words are the product. Ours come from your CSR's playbook and get tuned on your real calls.
Run your triage, in your order
Any heating or cooling at all, indoor temperature, who is in the home, how old the system is, whether anything was recently serviced. A caller who smells gas or whose carbon monoxide alarm is sounding gets the wording you approve: leave the house and call the gas utility or 911 from outside, before anything else.
Know the member before the caller says so
The phone number matches the customer record, so the receptionist greets a member as a member, sees the equipment on file, applies the priority rule and, if an agreement visit is due, offers to book it while they are on the line.
Say the fee before the booking
The diagnostic fee, whether the fee comes off the repair, and the after-hours terms, in your words, repeated in the confirmation text. Callers who heard the terms clearly rarely dispute the invoice later.
Book into the real board
Windows come from the dispatch board, with the capacity you hold back for emergencies respected. An after-hours no-heat with a vulnerable person in the home pages the on-call tech by text and by call, and escalates to the backup if nobody answers.
Offer only the pre-visit steps you approve
Check the filter, replace the thermostat batteries, confirm the thermostat is set to cool, reset the breaker once and no more, switch the system off if the line is iced so the coil can thaw before the tech arrives. Each step is yours to include or strike.
Route what is not a service call
Parts suppliers, job applicants, a commercial account manager's customers, the warranty question about last year's install and the inspector confirming a time each go to the right person with a summary texted ahead.
How we set it up for a heating and cooling company
Your number does not change, and you hear the test calls before it goes live.
Your line, answered when you choose
Overflow when the office has not picked up by the fourth ring, nights and weekends only, or every call. The number on the trucks stays the same, and the office can still pick up first.
A script from your CSR and your dispatcher
We sit with the people who answer your phone today, listen to recorded calls where your state allows it, and write the script from what they say and ask. You approve every line, including what the receptionist may never say.
Heat wave and cold snap modes
A setting that changes the greeting, tells callers the honest wait, moves tune-up requests to a callback list, keeps emergency booking open and widens who gets paged.
Every call on the customer record
A recording where your state permits it and the caller is told, a transcript, a summary, the booking and the triage answers, all on the customer in the CRM, with a morning digest to the owner. The recording rules by state decide what we switch on.
What you own on day one.
Every account is opened in your company's name with you as the owner. If you ever leave, you change a password, not your business.
- Domain, hosting and the site files
- Phone numbers and call recordings
- The CRM and its database
- Email and text lists, with consent records
- Google Business Profile and every listing
- Analytics and Search Console
AI Reception for hvac, answered.
Will it diagnose the problem over the phone?
No. It collects symptoms and books the diagnostic. A tech with a meter decides what is wrong. The receptionist can explain what a diagnostic visit involves and what it costs, and that is where it stops.
What does it do when a caller smells gas?
Exactly what you tell it to, in your wording. A sensible script tells the caller to leave the house, not touch switches, and call the gas utility or 911 from outside, then logs the call and alerts you. Safety instructions are yours to approve before the first call.
Can it tell members from non-members?
Yes. The caller's number is matched to the CRM, and the receptionist applies the priority you promised, mentions the member discount, and sees whether a maintenance visit is due. A new caller is offered the plan if you want it to.
What happens during a heat wave when every slot is gone?
It tells the truth. Members go first, non-members go on a callback list with an honest estimate, emergencies with a vulnerable person page the on-call tech, and everyone gets a text when a slot opens. No one is promised a time you cannot keep.
How is this different from the answering service we use now?
An answering service takes a name and a number and reads a generic script. This one sees your board, your members and your equipment records, books real windows, pages your tech, and logs everything on the customer. Our list of questions to ask any provider is a fair way to compare.
AI Reception for hvac. Owned by you.
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