How long does setup take?
A few minutes. Create a free account, tell it about your business, and it calls your phone so you can hear it. Then pick your number, pay to go live, and turn on call forwarding. See how it works.
Is there a free trial?
No. But you can set up your receptionist and hear it on a test call before you pay. Monthly plans have no contract, and the money-back guarantee covers your first payment.
Can I keep my phone number?
Yes. Most businesses forward their current number to FrontDesk Talk, so customers keep dialing the number they know. You can also port your number to us. Find your forwarding guide.
Do I get a new number too?
Yes. Every business gets its own local FrontDesk Talk number at no extra cost, and you can search for one by area code. Forward your business line to it, or give it out as your business number.
Should I forward or port my number?
Start with forwarding. It takes about a minute with a code from your carrier, and you can turn it off anytime. Porting moves your number to us and can take a few days to a couple of weeks. To port, contact us and we handle the request with your carrier. How porting works.
Can my phone ring first?
Yes. Choose “Ring my phone first” and FrontDesk Talk answers only the calls you miss. Or choose “Receptionist answers every call.” The app gives you the code for your carrier and then calls your business number to check that forwarding works. Get your forwarding codes.
Can I change what it says later?
Anytime. Update your greeting, hours, prices, answers, or what counts as urgent, and the change applies to the next call. How to test your receptionist.
Does it sound like a robot?
No. It uses natural, human-like voices and handles interruptions and follow-up questions. If a caller asks, it says plainly that it’s an AI receptionist for your business. Try the demo on the home page to hear it.
What can it do on a call?
Answer questions about your business, take messages, ask your intake questions, and transfer urgent calls. After every call you get a Talk Note, the summary of the call, by text and email. Booking and Talk Back, our missed-call text back, start on the Real Talk plan.
How many calls can it answer at once?
Up to 10 at the same time for each business. When a few people call together, nobody hears a busy signal or hold music.
What if it doesn’t know the answer?
It answers only from what you tell it, and it never makes up prices, hours, or policies. If something isn’t covered, it takes a message with the caller’s name, number, and question. Add the answer in the app and it knows next time.
Can callers ask for a person?
Yes. If a caller asks for a person, or your urgent rules say so, it tells them it’s connecting them and transfers the call to the number you set. If you haven’t set a transfer number, it takes a message instead. Urgent call transfer.
Does it speak Spanish?
Yes, on every plan. It answers in English unless you change it. Choose Spanish, or English and Spanish. With English and Spanish, it answers in whichever language the caller speaks. Spanish-speaking receptionist.
Can I choose its voice?
Yes. Every plan can pick a voice from our list of natural voices, set how fast it talks, and choose a tone like friendly or professional. A custom voice made for your business is coming soon to Big Talk.
Will it give advice or take payments?
No. It doesn’t give legal, tax, financial, insurance, or medical advice. It won’t take card numbers or bank details over the phone, and it isn’t a 911 service. It asks for a Social Security number only if you add that question to your call intake, and then the number is stored encrypted and shown only to owners and managers.
Can I pause it?
Yes. Owners and managers can pause it for an hour, until the next morning, or until they turn it back on, for up to 7 days. While it’s paused, calls ring the phone you choose. Those calls don’t use Talk Time.
Can it call customers for me?
Not yet. Outbound call campaigns are coming soon to Big Talk. Today every plan answers the calls that come in. Outbound call campaigns.
Which calendars does it book into?
Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar. It checks your calendar during the call and only offers times that are free. It doesn’t connect to other booking apps yet. Appointment booking.
Is booking on Small Talk?
No. Booking starts on Real Talk at $199 a month. Small Talk answers questions, takes messages, and transfers urgent calls.
How do I control when people can book?
You set the hours you take appointments, how long each service takes, how much notice you need, how far ahead people can book, and a buffer between appointments. Busy time on your connected calendar is blocked too.
Do callers get a confirmation?
Yes. When it books on a call, the caller gets a confirmation text. You can also send a reminder text from 1 hour to 3 days before the appointment. Texts to customers start once your texting registration is approved. Write your reminder texts.
Can callers cancel or reschedule?
Yes. They can call back from the number they booked with to move or cancel. They can also reply C to the confirmation or reminder text to cancel.
Is there an online booking page?
Yes, on Real Talk and Big Talk. Turn on your booking page and share the link, or add a booking button to your website. It books from the same calendar and rules.
What is Talk Back?
Talk Back is our missed-call text back. When a caller hangs up before they get help, FrontDesk Talk texts them so the conversation keeps going. It’s on Real Talk and Big Talk. How Talk Back works.
Who gets a Talk Back text?
Callers who hang up before they’re helped, like a very short call or a hang-up before the receptionist could answer their question. Each caller gets at most one every 12 hours. Calls that ended in a booking, a message, a transfer, or spam don’t get one.
Can I change what the text says?
Yes. Edit the missed-call text in your texting settings. It can include your business name and the caller’s name, and a booking link when your booking page is on. Missed call text ideas.
Can customers text my business?
Yes, on Real Talk and Big Talk. Customers text your FrontDesk Talk number, and you or your team reply from the app. The AI doesn’t answer texts on its own. Call forwarding doesn’t carry texts, so texts sent to a line that only forwards calls don’t reach us. Two-way texting.
Why do I have to register for texting?
Phone carriers have to approve a business before its texts reach customers. The owner applies in the app with the business’s legal name, address, and EIN. Approval usually takes 3 to 7 business days. Your own Talk Notes arrive by text the whole time.
What if a customer texts STOP?
They’re opted out right away. We record it on that phone number and don’t text it again, even if the contact is deleted. SMS Terms.
What’s Talk Time?
The minutes your receptionist spends on the phone. Calls that ring your own phone (while it’s paused, or when it rings you first) don’t use Talk Time: they’re unlimited within the US, under fair use. Each plan includes a set number of minutes of Talk Time a month, and your dashboard shows exactly what you’ve used.
How much Talk Time do I need?
Small Talk includes 200 minutes a month, Real Talk 450, and Big Talk 1,000. Multiply your calls a day by how long they last to estimate, or let the calculator do it. Talk Time calculator.
Is Talk Time rounded up on every call?
No. We add up the exact seconds of every call. Only the month’s total is rounded up to a whole minute.
Do test calls use Talk Time?
No. Your test calls, the forwarding check, and the demo call on our website don’t use Talk Time. Spam calls, like robocalls and sales pitches, are filtered out of your Talk Notes, but their time on the line still counts.
What if I run out of Talk Time?
Your receptionist keeps answering. We text and email you when you’ve used 80% of your minutes and again at 100%. Extra Talk Time is $0.45 a minute, billed with your next payment, or each month on a yearly plan. If moving up a plan costs less, you can switch.
Do unused minutes roll over?
No. Your minutes reset each month, on yearly plans too.
Can I switch plans?
Anytime, from Billing in the app. Upgrades apply right away with a prorated charge. Downgrades start with your next billing period. Compare plans.
Is there a contract?
No. Monthly plans are month to month. Yearly plans are paid once a year: 2 months free on Small Talk and Real Talk, 1 month free on Big Talk. If your business hasn’t paid for FrontDesk Talk before, your first month on a monthly plan is $49 for Small Talk, $99 for Real Talk, or $249 for Big Talk.
How do I pay?
By card, through Stripe. We never see your full card number. Update your card or download invoices from Billing in the app. Prices don’t include taxes.
Are calls recorded?
Every plan keeps a transcript of every call. Recordings start on Real Talk, and Small Talk keeps no recordings. Recording laws vary by state, and some require everyone on the call to agree, so add any notice you need to your greeting. Recordings and transcripts.
Do you use my calls to train AI?
No. We don’t sell your data or use it for marketing, and we don’t use call content to train AI models, ours or anyone else’s. Security.
Who on my team can see calls?
Anyone you invite. Owners see everything, including billing. Managers run settings and the team. Staff work calls, texts, tasks, and the schedule. Only the owner changes roles or removes people.
I run a healthcare practice. Is this for me?
It can be. FrontDesk Talk protects health information callers share with HIPAA safeguards, and we sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). It doesn’t connect to electronic health records. Practices that need EHR connections and clinical tools should use FrontDesk Care. How Talk handles health information.
Do you sign a BAA?
Yes. You accept our Business Associate Agreement when you create your account, by checking the box agreeing to the BAA, the Terms of Service, and the Privacy Policy. We send a countersigned copy on request. Read the BAA.
Will texts and emails show caller details?
Not until you say so. Unless you tell us your callers don’t share health information, texts, emails, and push notifications only say that a call came in. The caller’s name, number, and summary are in the app.
How do I cancel?
The account owner cancels from Billing in the app. Your receptionist keeps answering until the end of the period you paid for. Before then, turn off call forwarding so your calls ring your own phone again.
Do I get a refund when I cancel?
Outside the money-back guarantee, no. We don’t refund partial months, unused minutes, or unused time on a yearly plan. Cancellation terms.
What happens to my number?
If you forwarded your number, it never left your carrier. Turn off forwarding and it works as before. We keep your FrontDesk Talk number for 90 days after you cancel, so if you restart your plan in that time, it’s still yours.
What happens to my data when I cancel?
Canceling doesn’t delete it, so you can come back. Client documents are deleted 90 days after your account stops being active. The account owner can delete the account in the app at any time, which erases your calls, transcripts, texts, contacts, and settings. Deleting your account.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes. If FrontDesk Talk isn’t the right fit, you can get a full refund within 14 days of your first payment, as long as you’ve used under 60 minutes of Talk Time. To ask, open the app and go to Billing, or email help@frontdesk.talk. The refund goes back to the card you paid with, and your plan is canceled right away. It covers your first payment only, once per business. Guarantee details.
What counts toward the 60 minutes?
Calls your receptionist answers. Calls that ring your own phone, your test calls during setup, and the demo call on our website don’t count.
Stop paying for voicemail.
Setup takes a few minutes. Cancel anytime.