Appliance Repair Answering Service FAQ
Quick answers on what an appliance repair answering service is, what it costs, how urgent calls are flagged, and how it compares with voicemail and a live call center.
What is an appliance repair answering service?+
An appliance repair answering service answers your business line when you cannot pick up, so a caller with a refrigerator that stopped cooling or a washer that will not drain reaches a conversation instead of voicemail. OnCrew is the AI receptionist version: it answers 24/7 in your company's name, takes the caller's name, callback number, service address and the problem in their own words, marks the call urgent when the caller says it is urgent or describes something that cannot wait for a routine callback, and sends your team the details by text and email with the transcript and recording. It does not send a technician, commit to an arrival time or quote a repair price. Your team still makes those decisions.
How much does an appliance repair answering service cost?+
OnCrew is $49 per month for 100 included calls, $149 for 400, and $349 for 1,000, then $0.99 per call. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial with no card to start, there is no setup fee, and nights, weekends and holidays run on the same plan with no surcharge. Live answering services price by the minute or by the call. Their own pricing pages list PATLive at $49/mo plus $2.99 per minute, Ruby at $250/mo for 50 minutes and Smith.ai at $300/mo for 30 calls (PATLive and Smith.ai checked October 16, 2026; Ruby checked October 2, 2026).
Is there an AI answering service for appliance repair companies?+
Yes. OnCrew is an AI receptionist for appliance repair companies: it answers the calls that get away while your techs are in a repair, asks what is wrong and where, confirms the callback number and the address, and asks for any details you list for it to collect, such as the brand, the model and the warranty status. On an urgent call you or your on-call tech gets a text with the caller's name, number, address and need, and the email with the summary, transcript and recording goes to every address on your alert list. Hear it answer on the demo line at (818) 578-4783, or start the 14-day trial with no card and forward one call to it.
What is the best AI answering service for appliance repair?+
The one that answers in your company's name, asks the questions your techs need answered before the callback, tells you plainly what it does not do, and bills in a way you can predict. Test any service, OnCrew included, on five calls: a refrigerator that stopped cooling on a Saturday night, a washer leaking onto the floor, a warranty call with a claim number, a question about the price of a part, and a wrong number. Then read what each one captured and what it promised the caller. OnCrew's answers are on this page: the intake fields it collects, an urgent flag on the caller's own word, no dispatching, no arrival time, no quoted price, and $49 a month for 100 included calls.
Is OnCrew an AI dispatcher for appliance repair?+
No. OnCrew triages and alerts; the dispatch decision stays with your team. It flags the urgent call, texts your on-call tech the caller's name, number, address and need, and sends the transcript by email, and a person on your team still decides who goes, when, and for what price.
How does the AI decide which appliance calls are urgent?+
On the caller's own word. Appliance repair does not carry a built-in list of urgent symptoms the way the HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roofing lines do, so a call is treated as urgent when the caller says the matter is urgent or an emergency, or describes something that clearly cannot wait for a routine callback. On an urgent call Sarah takes only the name, the callback number, the address and what is happening, and skips the email and the preferred time. If anyone is in immediate danger (fire, smoke, a medical emergency), she tells the caller to call 911 first. After hours an urgent caller hears that the team is alerted the moment the call ends and someone calls back as soon as possible; Sarah never promises an exact callback time.
Can it take warranty and brand-authorized calls?+
It takes the details and leaves the decision to you. On a routine call Sarah collects the caller's name, callback number, service address, whether it is a home or a business, the problem and a preferred time. If your notes list more to collect, such as the claim number, the brand, the model and the serial number, she asks for each one, one short question per turn, and skips anything the caller already said. She does not quote prices, confirm coverage or file the claim; the summary, callback number and transcript reach your team and you take it from there.
Does it work with Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan or Jobber?+
Housecall Pro connects from your OnCrew dashboard. It needs Housecall Pro's MAX plan (their tier, not an OnCrew plan). Each real caller lands there as a customer and a lead tagged OnCrew, with the call summary, callback number and service address. Jobber, ServiceTitan and other tools get one record per real call (summary, callback number, service address and a link to the call) through the webhook export. Connect it yourself with Zapier, or we set it up with you at no extra charge. It does not book onto your Jobber or ServiceTitan schedule. QuickBooks is not integrated.
Does it take commercial appliance repair calls?+
Yes, with the same intake. On every customer call Sarah asks whether the location is a home or a business, so a call about a restaurant ice machine or a laundromat washer reaches your team marked as a business. Your notes can list the commercial accounts you serve and the details to collect for them, asked on routine calls one short question at a time. Alerts follow your Team page, where each person has their own phone, email and the kinds of calls they hear about, and your team decides who takes the job.
Does OnCrew work for a one-person appliance repair shop?+
Yes. Starter is $49 a month for 100 included calls and is built for one-person shops that miss calls on the job: your own phone works exactly as before, and OnCrew answers only the calls that get away, in your company's name. Call alerts can go to you and 3 other people on Starter, and every plan includes the 14-day free trial with no card to start.
What happens when a caller insists on a real person?+
With live transfer off, the default, Sarah says the team is out on jobs (or, after hours, that the office is closed). She asks what the call is about and takes the details, with a note that the caller asked for a live person. If you switch live transfer on, she offers to connect the caller to the people you list. In the default handoff, if nobody picks up within about 25 seconds, or the ring time you choose, Sarah comes back on the line and takes a message; with the direct handoff the caller stays on that phone, voicemail included.