Everything people ask before they sign up

Your mobile rings as normal. If you do not answer within 20 seconds, the call diverts to your While You Work line. A natural British voice answers in your business name, takes the caller’s name, number, location and what they need, and tells them you will ring back. You get the details by email within a minute, and on Pro and Business urgent calls are texted to you straight away.

Yes. Nothing changes about the number on your van, your shop front or your Google listing. You add a divert-on-no-answer to a number we give you, so there is no number porting. Turn it off any time by dialling one short code. If you want a national number as well, see our guide to 0333 numbers.

You choose, from the Phone page in your dashboard. Calls you miss is the default. You can also send calls when you are busy or your phone is off, every call, or every call only in the evenings and at weekends. Each choice shows the one code to type on your mobile.

Yes, 24 hours a day, every day. You choose whether out-of-hours callers are told you will ring back in the morning or that urgent calls will reach you straight away.

Yes, because it tells them. The greeting says it is the automated assistant for your business and that calls are recorded, then it takes the details in a natural British voice. It never pretends to be you.

For trades, a gas smell, a leak through a ceiling, no heating, a burst pipe or a lock-out is flagged as urgent. For driving instructors, a lesson cancelled inside 24 hours is urgent, and for other businesses anything that cannot wait, such as a problem with today’s appointment. The caller is told you will be alerted straight away, and for a gas smell they are given the National Gas Emergency number as well. On Pro and Business your text is marked URGENT.

There are three plans, all + VAT. Starter is £39 a month for 50 calls. Pro is £69 a month for 150 calls, and adds urgent calls put through to your phone, text alerts, website chat, won-job tracking and booking links. Business is £129 a month for 400 calls, and adds diary booking, email replies, Facebook and Instagram messages, a second location at half price and priority support. With VAT that is £46.80, £82.80 and £154.80 a month, and VAT-registered businesses can reclaim it. There is no set-up fee and no contract.

Yes. The first 50 businesses in the UK to join get Pro for £49 a month + VAT for their first 12 months. After that it is the normal Pro price of £69 a month + VAT. Once 50 businesses have joined, the offer closes.

Yes. A year costs ten times the monthly price, so you get 2 months free: £390 a year for Starter, £690 for Pro and £1,290 for Business, all + VAT. The money-back guarantee is the same.

Yes. 7 days free with no card, up to 30 calls or 60 minutes. After that add a card to keep your receptionist, or do nothing and the line stops. There is also a 14-day money-back guarantee once you pay. You can also ring our own receptionist on 01202 144997 or hear a sample as your business before you pay. Start the free trial.

You pay for your first month, or your first year. Straight after paying you fill in a short set-up form, or let us fill it in from your website, and your line switches on as soon as you save it, usually within minutes. The 14 days of the money-back guarantee start on the day your line goes live.

From your dashboard or by emailing support@whileyouwork.co.uk. Inside the 14 days you get a full refund. After that, cancellation takes effect at the end of the month you have paid for. No notice period, no exit fee.

Per call, not per minute. A call counts once however long it lasts, up to 10 minutes, so a long chat with a customer costs you nothing extra. Starter includes 50 calls a month, Pro 150 and Business 400.

The receptionist keeps answering. Each extra call is 60p on Starter, 50p on Pro and 40p on Business, + VAT. If you often go over, the next plan up may work out cheaper.

No. Your price stays as it is.

Yes, so you can listen back and so your messages are passed on accurately. Callers are told at the start of every call. Recordings are kept for 30 days and then deleted. Transcripts are kept for 12 months.

Your account, call records and messages are on our servers in London. To answer and understand each call, the audio and transcript are also processed by our voice and AI providers in the United States, under UK transfer safeguards. The privacy notice has the rest.

It never asks for card details. With diary booking on the Business plan, the booking confirmation text carries your own deposit link from the payment provider you already use, so a deposit goes straight to you and nothing is read out on the call.