AI receptionist and answering service for a small business: what it does and what it costs

What an AI receptionist does — and how Cindy does it

On the phone, a receptionist's job comes down to a few things: pick up, answer the question, book the time, write the order down and make sure nothing gets lost. Cindy does each of them on your business number while the caller is still on the line:

• Picks up in your business name — immediately, or after 10 to 40 seconds of ringing — on a number bought in the app or on the one your customers already know.
• Answers from your business profile: what you do, your hours, address, services and terms, with your answers to frequent questions given word for word. A returning customer is recognised by their number and greeted by name.
• Quotes only your own prices. If something is not on your price list, she says she will check and get back to the caller instead of inventing a figure.
• Books into genuinely free time: your working hours, minus the orders already booked, minus the busy times in your calendar. If the day the caller wants is full, she offers the nearest opening.
• Takes the whole order — who, what, when, where, the agreed price — and records it before saying goodbye. It waits in your orders as “Not confirmed” until you check it and tap “Confirm”.
• Texts a confirmation once the caller says yes. The sender is “Weyvox”, and the text starts with your business name.
• Leaves you a note in the chat with that number — who called, what was learned, what was agreed — and reports important arrangements, such as a booked visit, separately.

How a single call runs, step by step, is covered in Can AI answer phone calls for my business? This guide is about the receptionist decision: what to compare, what to check, how to set it up and what it costs.

A working day with an AI receptionist

• A plumber on a roof. Auto-answer is set to 20 seconds. The phone rings, his hands are full, and Cindy picks up. Sophie Martin needs her boiler looked at; Thursday is already booked, so Cindy offers Friday at 10:00, records the order and texts Sophie the confirmation. When he climbs down, the chat reads: “Sophie Martin called about her boiler. Booked her for Friday at 10:00 and sent an SMS confirmation.”
• A stylist in the middle of a haircut. She declines the call with one tap, and Cindy answers at once instead of waiting for the timer. The caller asks what a colour costs and whether Saturday is possible: the price comes from “Services and prices”, the time from your open slots. A question the profile does not cover gets “I'll check and get back to you” — never a guess.
• A transfer driver at the wheel. Auto-answer is set to “Immediately”, so the phone does not ring while he drives. He once told Marc how he works — “transfers: pickup time, destination, flight number” — so Cindy asks every caller exactly that, and the order arrives complete.
• A guesthouse and a guest from abroad. Cindy opens in the language of your app, the caller answers in German, and she carries on in German. Your note still arrives in your own language.

Auto-answer works the same inside and outside your working hours, and it runs on Weyvox's servers, not on your handset — so a call in the evening is answered even with your phone switched off, as long as there is credit or balance on the account.

AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist, answering service and voicemail

The names get mixed up, so first the terms. A virtual receptionist usually means people: a remote team that answers calls for many businesses, each under its own name, from a brief you give them — although some AI products use the same label. An AI receptionist is software that holds the conversation itself. Here are the usual options side by side:

A person on staff is still best where judgement is needed, and voicemail costs least but leaves the work to the caller. An AI receptionist fills the gap between them — the calls that arrive while you are working — and Cindy's work is billed per minute of conversation, not per hour of someone waiting by the phone. To put a figure on that gap for your own business, see How many calls do small businesses miss — and what does a missed call cost?

How to choose the best AI answering service: eight questions

Which one is “best” depends on your business, but a few questions separate an AI that picks up from one that finishes the job. Ask them of any AI receptionist; here is how Cindy answers each.

1. Does it say it is an AI? Cindy does, at the start of every call, and it cannot be switched off.
2. Where do its answers and prices come from? Only from your business profile and your price list. Anything else she promises to check rather than invent.
3. Does it book into your real free time? Yes: your hours, minus booked orders, minus the busy times in Google Calendar or your phone's calendars. Weyvox keeps only the start and end of each busy time, never event titles.
4. Where does the order go after the call? Into your order list, where Marc can turn it into an invoice or any other document from your own templates.
5. Can you listen in and step in? While Cindy talks, the call sits in the app as a mini card: listen, tap “Take the conversation” or end the call. “Hand it to the agent” gives it back to her.
6. Does it depend on your phone? No. Cindy answers on Weyvox's servers, so it works with your phone off or out of signal.
7. Can you keep your number? Yes. Forward it to your Weyvox number and connect it in the app for a one-off €5.
8. How is it billed, and what happens when the money runs out? Per minute, from your plan's credit first and your balance after it. With both used up, Cindy stops answering and calls ring on your phone as ordinary calls.

Setting up AI call answering: Cindy as your receptionist

1. Sign up and meet the team. Tell Leo what your business does; Marc fills in your business profile from it. In the introduction Cindy calls your own phone, you play a customer, and she takes a real order and sends the SMS — before you choose a plan.
2. Choose a plan: Start, Business or Professional.
3. Give her a line. Settings → Cindy → “Buy a phone number”. Some countries require the operator to check documents first; a temporary number can be used while that runs. To keep the number on your cards and your van as well, add it on top: “Connect a business number”, then switch on call forwarding with your carrier.
4. Check what she will say. On Marc's page, “Business profile” holds your hours, address, terms and answers to frequent questions, and “Services and prices” is the only source of prices. Tell Marc how you work, and he adapts the order fields and tells Cindy what to ask callers.
5. Connect your calendar on Leo's page → “Calendar”: Google Calendar or the calendars on your phone.
6. Turn on “Agent auto-answer” in Settings → Cindy and choose when she picks up: “Immediately”, or after 10, 20, 30 or 40 seconds. 20 seconds is recommended — you hear a few rings and can still answer yourself. Each delay is described in the documentation.

An AI voice agent in over 40 languages

Cindy speaks over 40 languages at the pace of a live conversation: she hears tone of voice and stops to listen when she is interrupted. An incoming call starts in the language of your app — or in the one she already used with this caller — and moves to the caller's language as soon as they clearly speak another or ask her to switch. The SMS confirmation is written in the customer's language; your note always comes in the language of your app. For a business with tourists, expats or customers across a border, this is often where an AI receptionist earns its keep.

She says she is an AI agent — and what is recorded

At the start of every call Cindy says she is the AI agent answering calls for your business and that the call is recorded for a call note. This is a product rule, not a setting, and it cannot be turned off. In the European Union, Article 50 of the AI Act requires people to be told when they are talking to an AI system; Weyvox applies the same rule on every call, everywhere.

• “Recorded” means written down. Weyvox makes no audio recordings and stores no call audio. The conversation is transcribed as text, Cindy writes her note from it, and the full transcript is kept for 24 hours.
• An SMS only after a yes. A confirmation goes out only if the caller agreed to it on the call.
• Opt-outs are respected. Cindy does not answer calls from a number blocked at weyvox.com/optout.

More on the legal side: sections 11 and 17–19 of the Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy and the guide Are AI phone calls legal?

What an AI receptionist costs

Weyvox works on a monthly subscription, and each plan adds credit for the agents' work. Cindy's minutes come out of that credit first, then out of your balance, which you top up in the app.

• A minute of Cindy on a call: €0.15 for the voice and the conversation plus the agent's work — about €0.23 in total — and on top of that the operator line, which depends on the country.
• An average call: the cost simulator on the pricing page counts about 2 minutes, ≈ €0.50.
• An SMS confirmation: ≈ €0.08 per segment (up to 160 Latin characters), depending on the country.
• The line: an operator number has a monthly fee by country and number, shown in the app before you buy, and your first number is €5 cheaper. Connecting your own business number on top of it is €5 once.

A worked month. Cindy answers about 80 calls and sends 50 confirmations:

• 80 calls × ≈ €0.50 = ≈ €40
• 50 SMS × ≈ €0.08 = ≈ €4 (one segment each)
• Total: ≈ €44, plus the number's monthly fee, which also comes out of the credit.

On Start, the €25 credit covers the first €25 and about €19 comes from your balance: with the subscription, roughly €19 + €19 = €38 a month excl. VAT. On Business, the same ≈ €44 fits inside the €110 credit, and the rest pays for the other agents' work. Unused credit expires at the end of the month on Start and Business, and moves to your balance on Professional. Every unit price and each country's line rate are on the pricing page.

What it will not do

• Answer without funds. When your plan's credit and your balance are both used up, Cindy does not pick up: the call rings on your phone as an ordinary call, and the app tells you why.
• Answer while switched off. With “Agent auto-answer” off, calls simply ring for you; with Cindy switched off, there is no auto-answer at all.
• Be a person. A complaint, an unusual request or a negotiation that needs you — take the call over from the mini card.
• Make things up. Prices, times and terms come only from your profile, price list and calendar; whatever she could not answer goes into the note for you.
• Handle money. She never marks anything as paid and never commits you to a fee, deposit, refund or discount.
• Work as a call centre. There is no call queue, and each number rings one phone.
• Stand in for emergency calls. Weyvox may not be able to reach emergency services; keep another way to call them.
• Guarantee an outcome. A caller can change their mind, and a booked time can still be cancelled.

One of a team of four

A receptionist who only takes messages leaves the rest of the work to you. Cindy is the telephony agent of Weyvox, an AI team of four, so what she agrees on the phone keeps moving:

• Marc keeps the orders and the calendar she books into, and turns an order into an invoice or a contract from your own templates — see how an AI invoice generator works.
• Leo leads the team, reminds you on time and, on the Business and Professional plans, can take on a goal such as “fewer missed calls” — see AI for small business: what AI employees can really do.
• Alice runs your social media — see an AI social media manager.

In Results, “What the team did” shows Cindy's calls and the orders that came from them, and “Needs your attention” shows missed calls nobody has returned yet. Cindy also calls people for you — see how AI phone calls work — and if you work on your own, there is a guide to AI for sole traders and freelancers.

Questions people ask

Hear Cindy take a call

The introduction right after you sign up includes a test call: Cindy rings your own phone, you play a customer, and she takes a real order and sends the SMS — before you choose a plan. Weyvox is available for iPhone and Android.

Meet the team · Plans and prices · All guides