Answers, not brochure copy
Every question below gets a straight answer, including the ones where the answer is not in our favour. If a question you have is missing, ask it on the contact form and we will add it.
What it costs
How much does an AI answering service cost?
AI answering services run from about $100 a month for a basic call-and-message bot to around $2,000 for a custom agent that triages, transfers and books. Kende charges $1,200 a month for one location, including 750 talk minutes, with a one-time $399 activation fee.
AI answering service or a human answering service: which is better?
A human answering service costs $200 to $600 a month, takes one call at a time, and reads from a script written by someone who has never seen your shop. An AI agent costs more, knows your services and rules, and answers every call at once. Judgement is where humans still win.
Does an AI answering service work for a small business?
It works best for exactly that: a small service business where the owner is also the person under the house. That is where a ringing phone and a job in progress collide every day, and where one captured call a week covers the fee.
How it works
What is an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone and holds a spoken conversation with the caller. It answers questions from information you approved, takes the details, and either transfers to a person or leaves you a message, on rules you set.
Will my customers know they are talking to AI?
The agent tells any caller it is AI whenever they ask, every time, without hedging. That is written into our client agreement rather than left as a setting. Most callers never ask, because what they want is somebody who picks up.
Can an AI answering service transfer emergency calls to a real person?
Yes, and it follows a rule you wrote rather than deciding for itself. During setup you define what counts as an emergency at your company and who receives one at each hour of the week. The agent transfers those calls immediately and takes a message for everything else.
What happens if the AI does not understand a caller?
It asks once more, and if it still cannot follow, it stops trying and hands the call to a person or takes a message. Guessing at what somebody said is worse than admitting it did not catch it, so the agent is built to fail toward a human.
Can an AI answering service answer calls in Spanish?
Yes. English and Spanish run inside the same Kende agent, so a caller who starts in one and switches to the other is followed rather than transferred to a second number. Both are included in every plan at no extra charge.
What happens if the AI answering service goes down?
Calls fall back to your own line. Forwarding is a setting on your carrier account rather than something we hold, so if the agent cannot answer, the call rings where it rang before. Kende targets 99% monthly availability.
Can an AI agent book appointments into my calendar?
Yes, on the Professional plan at $1,800 a month. The agent checks your calendar, books the slot while the caller is still on the phone, and texts them the confirmation before they hang up. That is the difference between a message you chase and a job on the books.
Will an AI answering service annoy my customers?
The comparison that matters is not the agent against you answering. It is the agent against four rings and a voicemail beep, because that is what those callers get today. Most of them do not leave a message, they call the next company.
Can an AI answering service screen spam and solicitors?
Yes, on rules you set. The agent recognises solicitation and known spam patterns and ends those calls without reaching anybody, and every one it blocked appears in your monthly report so you can check what it caught rather than assume.
How many calls can an AI agent answer at the same time?
All of them at once. There is no single line to be busy on and no hold queue, so sixty people calling the morning after a hailstorm get sixty conversations. This is the one thing no human answering service can match at any price.
Legal and compliance
Is it legal for AI to answer my business phone?
Yes. Using an AI agent to answer calls people make to your business is legal across the United States. The rules that carry real penalties cover outbound calling, call recording consent, and telling a caller they are speaking to AI when they ask.
Is it legal to record business calls in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma is a one-party consent state, meaning a party to the conversation may record it. Callers dial in from states that require everyone's consent, so announcing the recording at the start of the call is the practice that holds up everywhere.
What happens to my customer data and call recordings?
It stays yours. Kende stores recordings, transcripts and captured details to run the service and produce your monthly report, and nothing is sold or used to market to your callers. You can request an export or deletion at any time.
Switching over
Do I have to change my phone number?
No. You keep your existing business number and your existing carrier account. Setup is call forwarding from your current line to the agent, which you configure once and can switch off yourself at any time.
How long does it take to set up an AI answering service?
About a week. You fill in a ten-minute form, we work through transfer and emergency rules on a call, we build the agent, and you test-call it yourself and approve it in writing. Only then does forwarding go on and a real customer reach it.
How do I cancel an AI answering service?
With Kende it is 30 days' written notice, with no penalty and no minimum term. Because call forwarding sits on your own carrier account, you can stop calls reaching the agent yourself the same minute, without needing anything from us.
What if I already have an answering service?
Run both for a month. Forward calls to the agent, keep your existing service as the fallback, and compare the agent's transcripts against the messages your service sends you. The comparison settles it better than anything we could tell you.
Still deciding?
Call the demo line. Ninety seconds with the agent settles more than another page of reading will.
That’s our AI answering. It’s the same system we build for you.