Phone calls

How a call works

1. The caller dials the brand’s number. Each brand has its own number, so the call is answered as that brand from the first word, with its own voice, language and hours.
2. The greeting tells the caller they’re talking to an AI and that the call is recorded. It can’t be interrupted, so the caller always hears both in full.
3. The caller talks. A few quick words in a row are put together into one turn, and each turn becomes a message on the call’s ticket.
4. The ticket is worked the way a chat or an email is: library answers first, then the agent inside the limits you set, and a person for anything it must not handle alone.
5. Every reply is checked before it is spoken, like a written reply, with extra checks for the phone: it must be short, with no links or formatting, and nothing a caller can’t act on by ear.

While the agent works, the line may say one of the brand’s approved holding phrases, such as “One moment, I’m checking that”, at most two in a turn. Apart from replies that passed the checks, the brand’s approved phrases are the only words the line ever says.

After the greeting, the caller can interrupt. What they heard before they interrupted is written on the ticket, so the next reply picks up from there.

Consent and recording

You choose how each line asks for consent to record:

• Ask every caller first. The greeting asks whether it’s OK to record the call. Only a clear yes starts the recording, and an unclear answer never counts as a yes. A new line starts with this setting.
• Ask all-party-consent area codes. Callers from area codes on the list are asked first, and so are callers whose number is hidden. Everyone else hears the notice, and recording starts when they speak. Today the list holds Pennsylvania’s area codes.

A caller who says no hears how else to reach support, and the call ends. Nothing is recorded or transcribed, and no ticket is made.

A recording is copied into Serene Resolve and then deleted from the phone provider, so only one copy exists. It plays from the ticket page, for your account only. When one person’s data is deleted, their recordings and call transcripts are deleted too.

Who is calling: the one-time code

Caller ID is easy to fake, so a phone number on its own never opens a customer’s account.

• Unknown number. Public answers only. If the caller asks about their account, they hear your brand’s line explaining that accounts can’t be looked up on this call.
• Known number, not verified. The number matches a customer, so it’s probably them. They still get no account details and the agent uses no account tools.
• Verified by code. The caller gave this call’s one-time code. They get the same help as a verified customer in chat or email, inside the same limits.

To verify a caller, the agent offers to send a six-digit code to the verified email address or phone number on the customer’s account. The caller says the code or types it on the keypad.

• A code works for 10 minutes, and only on the call it was sent for.
• After three wrong tries it stops working, even if the right code is given later.
• At most three codes can be sent on one call.
• The code is never written on the ticket.
• If the caller can’t give the code, no account details are given and the agent hands the ticket to your team.

Card numbers are never taken by voice

The agent never asks for a card number. If a caller starts reading one out, they are stopped with your brand’s card warning. Digits that look like a card number are removed from the transcript, whether they were spoken or typed, and the ticket’s history shows that they were removed. Voicemails are checked the same way.

When you write the card warning, don’t offer a payment link. There isn’t one yet.

Refunds and other approvals: the answer comes by email

Some actions need a person’s approval, such as a refund. For a verified caller, the agent can ask for one, but the caller isn’t kept on the line waiting. They hear that a person will review it and how they’ll hear back, and the call ends. Nothing is refunded on the call.

The approval waits in your queue like any other. Once the call has ended, the reply goes to the caller by email, at the address on their account.

How approvals work is in Approving the agent’s requests.

When a person takes over

A caller who asks for a person, or presses 0, is handed to your team straight away. So is a call about a topic the agent must never handle alone, or one that reaches the agent’s limits.

The agent writes a summary and a draft follow-up on the ticket. The caller hears your brand’s line saying how a person will follow up, using the contact on their account, and the call ends politely. Calls aren’t put through to a person live: the person follows up afterwards.

If the brand’s agent is in shadow mode or paused, your team keeps the ticket. The caller hears the follow-up line and the call ends, so nobody waits on hold for a draft.

Silence, long calls and after hours

• If the caller goes quiet, the line asks once whether they’re still there, then ends the call politely.
• Each line has a maximum call length. A call that reaches it ends with a promise to follow up, and the ticket goes to your team.
• Outside the line’s hours, callers hear a recorded message with the recording notice and can leave a voicemail. It’s saved on a ticket for your team, and the agent doesn’t work it.

What the ticket shows

A call’s ticket is marked via Phone. It holds what the caller said and what the line spoke, plus a Phone call card with:

• who called: Unknown number, Known number, not verified, or Verified by code
• how consent was given
• how long the call lasted, and who ended it
• the recording, played from Serene Resolve

Setting up a line

Open Settings and choose Voice. Only an account admin can change it. For each brand you set:

• its phone number, one per brand
• how consent is asked
• the voice, language, time zone and opening hours
• how long a silence lasts before the line checks in, and the maximum call length
• Answer calls, to switch the line on or off

Beside the settings is the list of phrases the line may say, such as the greeting, the consent question, the card warning, the after-hours message and goodbye. Each one is saved as a draft and is said only once an admin approves it. A line won’t answer until every phrase it needs is approved. Editing a required phrase makes it a draft again, and the line is switched off until it’s approved. Every change is recorded.

For now there is one house voice.

The per-minute rate for calls is in Billing and plans. Calls aren’t charged while no line takes real calls.