Question 1

Is there a genuinely free AI receptionist?

Accepted Answer

Not one you'd trust with your front desk. Free trials are everywhere (7 to 30 days is typical, and Electronic Receptionist runs 14), but a genuinely free plan caps calls or strips out booking, which defeats the point. Use the trial as a test bench: divert your line for a week and read every transcript. Torqueflow takes a different route. It's demo-led, so you book a demo, hear the receptionist handle a live call, and put your questions to it before any money moves.

Question 2

Can I keep my existing business number?

Accepted Answer

With any provider worth shortlisting, yes. The standard options are porting your existing business number across or taking a new UK number alongside it. Torqueflow does either during setup, so the number on your signage, your Google listing, and ten years of fridge magnets keeps working.

Question 3

Do callers know they're talking to an AI?

Accepted Answer

That's your call, within the rules. Good systems make disclosure configurable: the greeting either introduces the receptionist as an AI assistant or keeps it plain. In some cases disclosure is enforced, and where call recording is switched on, callers are told at the start that the call is recorded.

Question 4

Do customers mind talking to an AI?

Accepted Answer

Most don't, provided they get a real answer. A caller told "your car's ready at three" hangs up happier than one who leaves a voicemail and waits. The complaints start when the AI can only take a message, which is exactly the failure the diary question at the top of this guide screens out.

Question 5

Does an AI receptionist answer after-hours calls?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and after-hours is where the measurable wins live. Evening and weekend callers get answered instead of reaching an answerphone, and bookings made overnight are sitting in the diary when you open up at 7.30. It helps during opening hours too: Saturday morning's counter queue gets served while the AI absorbs the phone surge. You set the after-hours call handling yourself, from full service down to message taking.

Question 6

Can it take calls in languages other than English?

Accepted Answer

Some generic tools advertise 50-plus languages, so if that matters to your customer base, test it hard on trial. Torqueflow's answer is plainer: the receptionist takes calls in English. The staff screens are translated (Polish shipped this year), but call audio is English-only today.

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