Virtual Receptionist Service

Peace of mind with a trained receptionist

Our Virtual Receptionist Service is guaranteed to be friendly and professional.

Have you ever called someone but hung up when you got their answer phone?  It's a natural reaction because answer phones are horrible to talk to and they don't create a professional image for a business.   But what if potential customers are hanging up on you?

Our virtual receptionist team are based in the UK and provide a call answering service with calls in your company name.  They will politely explain that you are unavailable at the moment and will take a message from the caller with their contact details.  Your virtual receptionist will send this message to you immediately as an email.

Free - message by text

Your virtual receptionist can now send each message by text to your mobile for free.  This means you can call back within minutes, even if you are away from your computer.  When comparing costs you are likely to find other call answering services charge for text messages.

Full time receptionist

Our virtual receptionists are ready to take your calls from 08.30 to 18.00 Monday to Friday.  Your business will have a full time call answering service, even if you are only available part of the time.  

Guaranteed to be professional

Our virtual receptionist team work hard to maintain the quality of calls and message taking.  They have become so good that we can now GUARANTEE the quality of their answering and message taking.  If you are unhappy with any message the virtual receptionist team has taken for you we will not charge you for the call, and give you your next five calls for free to show we are serious about our quality.

Why choose Office Answers

We provide a call answering service and other virtual office services exclusively to small companies of up to 5 people who are working from home or a small office.  Office Answers is a UK family run small company so we understand what it is like to be building a business and know how important it is to have partners you can trust.  We have been providing virtual receptionist services for five years and have provided services to over 500 small businesses.

We are always amazed how many potential customers say "we rung three call answering services and Office Answers is the only one that has called us back".  Go on, call us and ask for Clare or Ian.  If we are not available you will be speaking to one of our receptionist team who will take a message, just like they would for you.

To give you further confidence that Office Answers will be the right virtual receptionist service for you we are very happy to offer a free trial.  See below for details and how to register for a trial.  We also only ask you to use the service for a minimum of three months so you are not tied into long contracts.

What our customers say

We have recently updated our website and asked our customers to provide some feedback on the virtual receptionist service.  Below is a summary of some of the comments we have had back.  The full reviews are on Virtual Receptionist Reviews

“We have used Office Answers for over three years and remain impressed with their professionalism.”
Wrotham Computer Care Ltd

“Office Answers have become an integral part of our business growth.”
Gurkha Cleaning Services

“The service I have received from Office Answers has been invaluable.”
A2B PR

“Professional Friendly Service.”
Miller and Young UK Ltd

“Office Answers help us provide a very professional approach to dealing with enquiries.”
Partners in Time

"Consistently responsive and supportive." 
Shirley Greenaway Business Coaching

"Office Answers has provided an invaluable, cost effective and extremely professional service."
EyeVis UK

Competitive Pricing

We pride ourselves on simple, competitive pricing, with no hidden charges.  Our virtual receptionist charges are:

All prices are subject to VAT.

Are you researching prices?

We are very clear and open about our services and prices.  If you would like an email with more details of our services and prices please click on the following link:
 virtual receptionist further information  

Alternatively please give us a call and we can discuss your specific requirements and work out the costs.
 

Pricing explained

There are a number of virtual receptionist services available on the market and several include a "bundle" of calls.   This may work for larger corporates with a steady high volume of calls but the problem for small companies is that the number of calls goes up and down a lot from one month to another, so it is hard to predict the right size virtual receptionist bundle.  The result is that some of the bundle goes unused, making the true cost per call far more expensive.

At Office Answers we provide virtual receptionist services to small businesses ONLY, and we have found that keeping the monthly subscription down and charging per minute for the virtual receptionist time is a fair way to price the service and simple to understand. 

If you have a quieter month, or answer more calls yourself, your virtual receptionist charges will be less.

The average call duration across all our customers is around one minute. 

We trust our customers, so we do not ask for a deposit and do not ask for payment of several months in advance.  If you are comparing our telephone answering service with other providers please look out for the need to pay a deposit and commit to a long term contract.

How to control costs

Our customers fall into two categories, those with an established telephone number and those in startup phase wanting a new telephone number.

If you have an established telephone number you would typically divert your line to the virtual receptionist team when you are not around to answer yourself.  This means we can assume you are not available, so we don't extend the length of the call by trying to transfer it to you, the receptionist will simply say you are not available at the moment and take a message.  This keeps the call as short as possible and helps to keep the costs down.

If you are a startup, we can provide you with a number and set it to ring you on a UK landline for 15 seconds before our virtual receptionist team answer.  If you answer there is no call charge.  It's a simple way of helping you control costs.

Order a Virtual Receptionist Trial Today
No credit card required

You can order the Virtual Receptionist trial at any time via our website - click here  

No Credit Card required !

Or you can order over the telephone.  Please call the office on 0207 11 11 085 and ask for Clare or Ian.

We will confirm the details of the trial with you and be ready to answer your calls by the next working day.

We do not ask for your card details before running a virtual receptionist trial.  We will monitor the trial and check you are happy with the virtual receptionist service before proceeding beyond the trial.  Even then, we only ask for a three month commitment after which you can end the service with a months notice.

Please call us now on 0207 11 11 085 or order the virtual receptionist trial online here.

Further information

How to divert calls to your virtual receptionist

If you are a business with an established telephone number that is fine, simply divert your telephone to your virtual receptionist number whenever you want us to make use of the virtual receptionist service. The instructions below work for the major UK telecoms providers. We can help you with setting up a divert on your telephone if required.

Divert All Calls - dial *21*your virtual receptionist number # - this will divert all your calls directly to our virtual receptionist service without your telephone ringing. Importantly, your callers will not hear any BT messages so will believe the call has been answered by a receptionist in your office.

Divert when engaged - dial *67* your virtual receptionist number # - this will divert your calls when you are on the telephone rather than the caller hearing the engaged tone or going to BT Call Minder.

Divert on not answered - dial *61* your virtual receptionist number # - this will ring your telephone for 15 seconds before diverting. Unfortunately BT play an announcement to the caller before transferring the call to the virtual receptionist team which shatters the illusion that our receptionist is in your office. You will need to ask BT to remove this announcement.

Is a virtual receptionist the same as a call answering service?

The simple answer is yes but there may be a subtle difference.  For example, some mobile networks provide a call answering service.  The call may be answered "answer service for xxx, can I have your message please".   The caller is left with the clear impression they have got through to your call answering service.  Our virtual receptionist service is very different and will give the impression to the caller that the receptionist is in your office.  That is the difference.  They won't lie to the caller, for instance the caller may ask if there is any parking free outside your office which would be impossible for them to know, but they are trained to handle these situations. 

Call Us now

Please call us to discuss your virtual receptionist requirements
0207 11 11 085