Business Answering Service FAQ's
Please find below a list of common questions potential users of an answering service typically ask. We hope these questions and answers will resolve most of the questions you may have regarding the use of an answering service. You will also find below a link to commonly asked questions regarding Order Entry type accounts. If you have further questions or are not sure how something is going to work, please feel free to contact our toll-free sales line to speak with one of our account specialists.
- How do I get you to answer my calls?
- How will you answer phone calls to my account?
- My business is not in the same state as your answering service, does this mean I will incur long distance fees or toll charges when using your service?
- I need to use the phone number you supply for my account, but I need a number that is local in my community. Does this mean I have to use an answering service in my area?
- If I have a problem or issue with my account, how and when will it be corrected?
- Do you charge extra for answering my phones during the holidays?
- When will I receive my bill?
- Can I pay my bill with my credit card?
- In what ways may I receive my messages?
- I have several people in my office who will receive messages, are we limited to all using the same delivery method?
- Is there a setup fee to start my account?
- What is update time?
Q. How do I get you to answer my calls?
A. For most businesses, this means answering calls placed to your existing office phone number. In this case, your office phone will need to be "forwarded" to the phone number our answering service has assigned to your account. Another scenario involves clients who wish to use the phone number we assign to their account as their main "business line". In this case, no forwarding is required as callers will be directly dialing the phone number we have assigned to your account.
Q. How will you answer phone calls to my account?
A. Everything about your account will be customized specifically for your needs. This includes the "answer phrase" we will use when answering calls, the information we collect from callers, information you may want us to provide to callers (your address, fax number, etc.) and how we are going to deliver the messages we take for you. A typical "answer phrase" go something like this: "Good morning, thanks for calling ABC Services, this is Jim, how may I help you today?"
Q. My business is not in the same state as your answering service, does this mean I will incur long distance fees or toll charges when using your service?
A. No. At AnswerFirst, you will never have any long distance fees or toll-charges associated with your account with the exception of international calls. If we have to make a call on your behalf out of country, we would re-bill you for whatever international fees our provider charges us. This is typically based on the country we are calling and whether the call is to a cellular phone or land line. We included a toll-free number for your incoming calls and no long distance is ever charged to any phone number within the continental U.S. Delivering messages via fax, alpha-pager, digital pager, telephone and text messaging will all technically be long distance calls from our service to you, but again, as long as the calls are placed to phone numbers in the continental U.S., no long distance fees ever apply.
Q. I need to use the phone number you supply for my account, but I need a number that is local in my community. Does this mean I have to use an answering service in my area?
A. No, but you certainly will need to make some additional arrangements if you are to use a service outside of your local area and need a local area code for your clients to call. You will have to secure your own phone number from your local provider and then forward that local number to the toll-free number we supply to enable us to answer your calls. One of the more economical options is to secure what is known as a "switch-based" phone number from your local provider. A switch-based local phone number is different because it only resides in the telephone company switch and must always be forwarded to another phone number, such as the toll-free number we supply you. Costs for switch-based numbers are generally less than a traditional phone line, usually about half the cost.
Q. If I have a problem or issue with my account, how and when will it be corrected?
A. We have lead operators on staff 24 hours a day, 365 days a year who can personally deal with your issue. Most times, these lead operators will be able to resolve the issue, but in the rare instance they can not, the issue can be escalated on a 24 hour basis to our management staff. You may contact our staff with your issue by telephone or with the following support e-mail address: support@answerfirst.com
We appreciate the importance of each phone call placed to your business and will make every effort to correct any issues in a very timely manner.
Q. Do you charge extra for answering my phones during the holidays?
A. While it is a common practice with most services, we never charge extra for answering your phones during holidays, weekends or nights. Though our operators do receive holiday pay, we do not pass that cost on to you.
Q. When will I receive my bill?
A. We utilize a 28 day billing cycle for two reasons. First, our telephone provider bills us on a 28 day cycle and we also pay our agents exactly twice during a 28 day cycle. Those items represent a significant portion of our expenses, so it is the best billing length for us. You will pay your bill with Answerfirst 13 times each year, which in essence means you pay one extra base rate each over the course of 12 months. The usage you have over these 365 days will remain the same regardless of the billing cycle.
Q. Can I pay my bill with my credit card?
A. Yes. You can pay your bill at any time with a credit card. We accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express. We also offer recurring credit card billing where you keep a credit card on file we charge once every 28 days. We also of course are happy to send you an invoice each month for payment by check as well, though a security deposit is required when paying by check.
Q. In what ways may I receive my messages?
A. The choice is yours and we do not charge any additional fees for any specific type of message delivery method. Some methods may take a bit longer for our operators to deliver and thus will use slightly more operator time each month. For example, it is much quicker for an operator to deliver an e-mail message as compared to calling you on your cell phone and reading you the message while you jot it down. Here are a few of the ways we can deliver messages for you:
* Hold For Call In
* Call And Give You Message
* Call And Leave Message in Voice Mail For You
* Alpha-Page
* Digital Page
* Text Messaging
* E-Mail
* Fax
* Submit Web Form To E-Mail Message To You
While it is generally a matter of which method is most convenient for you, we sometimes can make suggestions to you for alternative methods.
Q. I have several people in my office who will receive messages, are we limited to all using the same delivery method?
A. No. You can use a different method for delivery for each person, the choice is yours.
Q. Is there a setup fee to start my account?
A. Yes. Setup fees are reflective of the different technologies your account may require. For most messaging accounts, this means setting up our answering service software to handle incoming calls to your account. Visit our Rates Page for more info.
A. Occasionally, a client will need us to perform work for them beyond the scope of answering their calls. A common example of update time is a client who asks us to change their on-call schedule. While most of our clients now perform this task themselves through our Client Web Access without any charge, occasionally clients will find it more convenient to just call in to have us make the change.
Another example of update time are instances where the information you provided us when you first started your account changes. This may be because you have moved to a new office and need us to update your address or perhaps we are handling new and different type of calls where the instructions on how to process these particular calls needs to be added.
Some clients need to have reports generated for their account detailing call activity, but this function is available to you any time at no charge by using the free Client Web Access report generator. For those clients who want us to generate the reports for them, we do charge update time for the time required to produce those reports.
