How much does it cost?
We charge a flat rate 99p per call but you can buy call credit at up to 15% discount, reducing call costs to 84p. Optional text messages cost 20p per message (up to 3 std text messages long).
What hours are available?
We operate 24/7. Normal working hours are Mon - Fri, 8.00am-6.00pm. Calls outside of office hours are processed with an additional service premium of 50p per call. However, you can choose to have calls go to voicemail instead for free.
Minimum Service Charge
There are no fixed monthly fees. However, there is a minimum account turnover of £5.00 per service number. This covers our cost of providing a dedicated line to our data centre. Therefore if you had spent £3.49p in call charges over the month you would pay a top up of £1.51 to cover the shortfall.
How Do I Divert Calls?
Your service provider has special codes you enter on your telephone keypad. BT numbers are as follows;
Call Divert - all calls - activate *21*(Number to divert to)#
Call Divert - all calls - to check *#21#
Call Divert - all calls - to cancel #21#
Call Divert - on busy - to activate *67*(Number to divert to)#
Call Divert - on busy - to check *#67#
Call Divert - on busy - to cancel #67#
Call Divert - on no reply - to activate *61*(Number to divert to)#
Call Divert - on no reply - to check *#61#
Call Divert - on no reply - to cancel #61#
Some service provider codes may vary please check with your operator or service manual.
I recommended you to Twitter friends, when do I get paid?
You will earn £10 for every client you recommend who subsequently signs up and adds call credit to their account. This can be paid to your bank or paypal account and will be credited within 7 days.
Who will be answering my calls?
When you sign up you will be assigned to a small team of 4 people who will primarily be responsible for your calls. If they are all busy your call would overflow to another group, but typically the same four people will be answering your calls. We find this approach works much better than anyone of 100+ handlers answering because it provides a more intimate relationship with account. Your clients, suppliers and key contacts will be typically speaking to the same people and we truly become an extension of your team.
Can messages be sent to different people?
Yes. You can set up multiple contacts i.e accounts, sales, etc. Each one can have different forwarding and messaging instructions.
I already have an advertised 08XX number, will this work?
Yes we provide a DDI number to route your 08xx service to us either for all calls or just on busy and no reply.
Is there any contact period?
No. You have the freedom to leave the service at any time. We're sure that if we do a good job you will be happy to continue the relationship over time.
Call Credit
This is purchased in blocks of £25, £50, £75, £100, £150 & £200. There are extra % options available on each block if the account is still in credit at the time of purchase. We operate a pre-pay service. Credit can be purchased through our website. Our system notifies the client when the balance is getting low.
Invoices
The invoice is generated at the time of purchase of call credit. There is an option to print the receipt but the system also sends email confirmation. At other times you can log on to your account at www.callanswering.eu and view usage information and download call details etc.
0844, 0845 Numbers
We recommend a trading partner www.yourfreenumber.co.uk which easily integrates with our 0161 routing number for a comprehensive call management and messaging solution.
Call Transfer
Due to low use and high support costs we no longer offer call transfer to mobile or landline (Dec 08). Call routing to a mobile can be achieved using our partner site www.yourfreenumber.co.uk with our answering service as a back up if the call cant be answered.
Co-Location Data Centre
We have structured our business to continue to operate should we lose services to our main site. We have multiple servers to continue service in all but the most extreme situations.
Non-Std Call Charges
We charge (as advertised rates) for calls received, and a lower fee of 39p for non standard incomplete calls like answering message recordings, caller didn't speak, etc. See our optional 'Junk Filter' to avoid calls of this nature.
Fax Calls
If a fax comes through on your main line we will transfer to our own fax server & forward to you by email.
Sales Calls
We are happy to request any cold callers do not call again without prior contact from you. We offer a TPS registering service to help stop nuisance callers. We also have a unique filter which identifies multiple offenders and sends them to voicemail instead of a live handler. Voicemail is forwarded by email as an attached mp3 file and is free.
Custom Handling Work
Non standard call handling is priced based on the following criteria;
1. Training - Primary call team (4 people) will be firstly trained on the type of calls expected and the responses, product, website navigation required. The cost is £75 per hour for as long as it takes.
2. Information - If custom info is required then a bespoke form needs to be created for logging the data. The cost is a one off £49 fee.
3. Call Time - This will be charged based on an average call length at a unit rate of 0.01p per second.
Outgoing Calls
We charge outgoing calls on behalf of clients at 50p premium on top of std call charges.
Junk Call Filter
We have an optional filter that sends 'known' junk call offenders direct to voicemail instead of a live handler. Answering thousands of daily calls, we can easily identify the main companies responsible for this type of activity (the switch energy providers, the Indian call centres, improve your Google position, etc). You still receive the message as an MP3 email attachment, but don't have the cost of the call.