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. |
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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?
Besides the base rate and usage charge, what other fees might I expect on my bill?
How is the time I use every month on my account calculated?
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?
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. If you would like to learn more about call forwarding services, please visit our Call Forwarding page.
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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?"
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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. Although many answering services do not follow this same policy, at AnswerFirst, you will never have any long distance fees or toll-charges associated with your account. This includes not only providing a toll-free number for your incoming calls, but also any outgoing calls we make on your behalf. 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, because we do such a high volume of "long distance" calling every month, the price we pay for long distance is virtually the same as a local call for us.
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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. The other option is to use an answering service located in your area who can supply you a local phone number.
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Q. Besides the base rate and usage charge, what other fees might I expect on my bill?
A. Unlike many answering services, AnswerFirst includes many features other services charge for at no cost to you. For example, you will never pay extra because you wish your messages to be delivered via e-mail or alpha-pager. We also do not charge for recording all the calls coming in to your account nor do we charge for archiving every message we take for you. You also never have additional fees for long distance outbound calls and you will never pay for unused calls or "rounded up" minutes again.
Certain clients will choose some of the optional services we do offer for their account. If you would like to see what optional services are available to you, please visit our Optional Services page.
Beyond the fees a client may pay for choosing an optional feature for their account, typically the only other fee is update time, 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. We bill for update time at our standard live operator rate of $0.99 per minute.
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. Update time is something a client needs to request from us, there are generally never any occasions where we would bill for update time unless the client makes a specific request for us to do so.
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
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Q. How is the time I use every month on my account calculated?
A. AnswerFirst is fairly unique among answering services in that we utilize true one second billing. For a typical message, e.g. name, phone number w/ area code and what the call is regarding; you may calculate 35 - 45 seconds of time being billed for each message taken. One of the big differences between us and others is for calls not generating a message. For example, if a person calls and asks for you but tells us they will call you later at home when they find out you are not available, we will only bill for the time used, maybe 8-10 seconds (12 to 15 cents). When compared to a service billing you a certain price per call (say 65-80 cents), this can represent a significant savings. Most businesses are going to receive a certain percentage of calls where no message is taken and the difference in what you are billed for these type calls can represent a significant savings. We do not calculate time in six second increments or round the time up to the next minute, we bill in only true one second increments.
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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 at 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.
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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.
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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.
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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
While it is generally a matter of which method is most convenient for you, we sometimes can make suggestions to you for alternative methods.
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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.
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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. Answering service software setup is billed at $75.00 per hour with a one (1) hour minimum. Most accounts will not exceed the minimum one hour. Order Entry or other accounts requiring database, web or other specialized featues generally have a four hour minimum at our advanced setup rate of $100.00 per hour (minimum $400.00)
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Q. What is Update Time?
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. We bill for update time at our standard live operator rate of $0.99 per minute.
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. Update time is something a client needs to request from us, there are generally never any occasions where we would bill for update time unless the client makes a specific request for us to do so.
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.
CLICK HERE for more information.
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