HVAC Answering Service
New callers are asked who they are before your phone rings. Every call to your cell comes to VettedCalls first. We answer in your business name, put real callers through to you, and ring you right away when a caller says a priority word. On Receptionist, a call you don't pick up goes to an AI receptionist with instructions written for HVAC technicians, unless it's a priority call or a saved contact, which go to voicemail.
Get started with VettedCallsJuly: the no-cool calls
When the heat sets in, the phone is about cooling. The AC stopped. There's no cool air coming out of the vents. The coil is frozen. Someone wants to know if you can come out today.
Every one of those rings through as a priority call without you touching a setting. Every HVAC account starts with priority words that include "no AC", "no air conditioning", "AC stopped", "no cool air" and "frozen", and "today" is one of the six universal priority words every account has. When a caller says one, the call skips the press 1 or 2 question and rings you right away, for up to 40 seconds, at 2 pm or 2 am.
The priority words don't check the weather, though. "My AC stopped" on a mild evening in May rings you the same way it does in a heat wave, and "frozen" catches an iced coil in July as well as frozen pipes in January. You can't switch a trade default off; you can only add up to 20 of your own on top.
Calls without a priority word, like a unit making a new noise, hear the press 1 or 2 question and then ring you. If you're up in an attic and can't get to the phone, the plan decides what happens next. On Receptionist, during business hours your phone rings for 12 seconds and then the AI receptionist answers. On Pro it rings for 25 seconds before voicemail picks up.
January: no heat, frozen pipes, and alarms
Winter callers are cold, and some of them can't wait for morning. The HVAC defaults cover "no heat", "no heating", "furnace out", "frozen" and "pipes frozen". "Carbon monoxide", "CO alarm" and "gas smell from vents" are on the list too, so those calls ring you as priority calls at any hour, on every plan.
Not every cold caller uses those words. Someone whose furnace keeps clicking while the living room gets colder may never say "no heat". That call gets the press 1 or 2 question like any other. If you miss it on Receptionist, the AI receptionist takes it, and its HVAC instructions list the indoor and outdoor temperature, and whether infants, elderly people or pets are in the home, among the things to gather. The answers are in that call's transcript in your dashboard, and for an urgent issue the AI has a tool that texts you an escalation.
Before the first cold snap, add the phrases your priority words miss. These come from the calls HVAC shops get in winter:
- no warm air
- heat stopped working
- furnace not working
- pipes will freeze
- burning smell
April and October: tune-ups, quotes, and getting ready
Between the rushes the calls change: annual tune-ups, maintenance plans, thermostat upgrades, a quote on a new system. None of them are emergencies. On Receptionist, the AI receptionist picks up the ones you miss, gets the caller's details and the days that work for them, and leaves the appointment for you to confirm when you call back. On Pro, a missed quote request goes to voicemail, and if the caller pressed 1 they get a text from you saying you're on a job, with the number you'll call back from.
The slow weeks are also when to get the account ready for the next peak:
- Set your business hours. You set them day by day, in your own time zone, and on Receptionist they decide whether a screened caller rings you first or goes straight to the AI receptionist. Stretch them for the long days, and pull them back when the season ends.
- Add a login for whoever else takes calls. With Team answering on Pro, you can add up to 4 more people, such as your techs, for $10 a month each. When a call connects they all ring together, and the first to answer gets it.
- Save your maintenance-plan customers and the builders you work with as saved contacts. A saved contact never gets the greeting and rings you around the clock.
For more on the AI side, see our AI receptionist page. Other home trades are on our home services page.
Priority Passthrough
Priority Passthrough lets customers who say one of your selected priority words ring straight through to you, regardless of the time of day. Every account starts with six priority words: urgent, emergency, help, asap, right now, today.
An account set up for HVAC technicians also has these trade priority words, on by default:
- no AC
- no air conditioning
- AC stopped
- no cool air
- no heat
- no heating
- furnace out
- frozen
- pipes frozen
- carbon monoxide
- CO alarm
- gas smell from vents
You can add up to 20 of your own in the dashboard, and the trade defaults stay on. When a caller says one, the AI flags it as a priority call. It skips the text question and rings you right away, for up to 40 seconds, in or out of business hours, on every plan.
Miss a priority call and it goes to voicemail, on Receptionist as well as Pro. You get a text alert. The caller isn't texted, because a priority call skips the press 1 question.
Common calls for HVAC technicians
Each one tagged by how soon it needs you.
- No heat in winter or no AC in extreme heat emergency
- Carbon monoxide alarm went off emergency
- Burning smell from vents emergency
- Pipes about to freeze emergency
- AC stopped cooling soon
- Heat stopped working soon
- Strange noises from unit soon
- Unit short-cycling or frozen soon
- New system quote routine
- Annual tune-up / maintenance plan routine
- Thermostat upgrade routine
The work it knows about
On Receptionist, the AI receptionist answers with instructions written for HVAC technicians. They cover this work:
Cooling
- AC repair and diagnostic
- AC replacement
- Heat pump service
- Mini-split / ductless install
- Refrigerant top-off and recovery
Heating
- Furnace repair and diagnostic
- Furnace replacement
- Heat pump
- Boiler service
Ventilation & Indoor Air
- Ductwork repair and replacement
- Whole-house ventilation
- Thermostat installs
- Air quality / UV / HEPA
- Annual maintenance plans
What it asks callers
The AI receptionist gets the caller's name and reason, confirms the callback number by its last four digits, and asks what days work. Its instructions for HVAC technicians list more to gather:
- Service address
- Make / brand of the system if they know
- Approximate age of the system
- What's happening
- Indoor temperature right now and outdoor temperature
- Any infants, elderly, or pets in the home
Sample replies
A few of the example replies in the AI receptionist's instructions for HVAC technicians.
What the AI receptionist won't do
- It doesn't book appointments. It asks what days work, and you confirm the time when you call back.
- It doesn't ask callers for their email.
- If a caller asks whether it's an AI, it neither confirms nor denies.
- It confirms the callback number by its last four digits.
The AI receptionist comes with the Receptionist plan. Pro has no AI receptionist, so a call you miss on Pro goes to voicemail. Receptionist is coming soon, and Pro is available now.
Questions about VettedCalls for HVAC Technicians
What happens to my included minutes in a busy month?
They reset each billing month; on an annual plan they're counted month by month from your signup day. Past the included amount, each extra voice minute is $0.07, and each extra AI minute on Receptionist is $0.25. Every answered call rounds up to the next whole minute, and that includes spam we block.
Can I change my business hours by text when the season turns?
Yes. From your cell, text HOURS with a start and end hour in 24-hour time, like HOURS 7-19, to your VettedCalls number. It sets your weekday hours and leaves the weekend alone. Commands only work from your own cell, and you can require a PIN on commands that change settings.
I'm on Pro. Will tune-up requests ring my phone at night?
Yes. Pro has no AI receptionist to hand calls to, so a caller who passes screening rings you whatever the hour, and goes to voicemail after 25 seconds. On Receptionist, a caller outside your business hours goes straight to the AI receptionist, and priority calls still ring you.
Which plan fits an HVAC shop with two people on call?
Pro, with Team answering. Add up to 4 more people for $10 a month each. Everyone's phone rings together and you share the minutes. If it's just you and you want the calls you miss handled by the AI receptionist, Receptionist (coming soon) is $99.99 a month. If spam is your real problem and you're happy to return every call yourself, Pro alone is $29.99 a month, the plan on sale today.
Related trades
The AI receptionist has instructions written for 58 trades and professions, plus a general set for everyone else. Here are a few of them.