Frequently asked questions.

Yes, by default. Ringmere opens the call by saying it is an automated assistant, and that the call may be recorded when recording is switched on, as expected in the UK. The disclosure is a setting in your control, and we recommend leaving it on. In practice, most callers simply want a fast answer and a booking.

Yes. Connect the number your customers already know, or we include a new local number free with your plan. Either way, setup takes minutes.

Ringmere escalates sensitive, urgent or emotional calls to your team immediately with full context, and never gives medical or legal advice.

Yes. Ringmere books into Google Calendar or Outlook / Microsoft 365 and checks live availability, so it will not book a slot that is already taken.

The booking is stored at the correct time; it only looks shifted when your calendar timezone does not match your business timezone. Set your Google Calendar or Outlook timezone to your local one (London / GMT for the UK) and the times line up.

Yes. Restaurants choose reservations, takeaway orders, or both on one line. Hotels get room bookings with live availability, either from Ringmere’s built-in room inventory or through your channel manager (Beds24 or Cloudbeds), which keeps Booking.com and Airbnb in sync automatically.

Minutes. Add your services, opening hours and number, and go live, often the same day.

Yes. Data is hosted in the UK/EU, encrypted, and GDPR-ready. Ringmere only uses the business information you approve. Answering a call needs a few vetted sub-processors (telephony, AI, email), some of which process outside the UK under UK GDPR transfer safeguards, and they are all named in our privacy policy.

It does both jobs, with AI instead of an agent. Like an answering service, it picks up your calls 24/7 under your business name. Like a virtual receptionist, it answers questions, takes messages and books appointments straight into your calendar. Because it is an AI receptionist, it costs from £49 a month rather than a per-call agent fee, never puts anyone on hold, and on Growth and Pro replies on WhatsApp and text as well.

Plans start at £49/month (Starter, 150 minutes), £99 (Growth, 240 minutes) and £249 (Pro, 700 minutes), each with a 7-day free trial (a card is taken at the start, nothing is charged for 7 days) and a local number included free. Extra minutes are £0.25/min, or £0.20 on Pro.

No. Ringmere runs entirely in the cloud, you just point your phone number at it.

Yes. You can set it to answer all your calls, or to step in only when you’re busy, closed, or don’t pick up.

Yes, if you want them to, on Growth and Pro. Give a department a key and callers can press it at any point in the call to be put straight through while it is open. You can also switch on a short keypad menu that plays before the receptionist answers (“For Bookings, press 1”), and anyone who stays on the line gets the receptionist. The menu is off until you switch it on: the receptionist already puts callers through from what they say, so nobody has to sit through a list of options.

Yes, on Growth and Pro. Set up departments such as Bookings, Accounts or Emergencies: up to 5 on Growth with up to 3 numbers each, or as many as you like on Pro with up to 10 numbers each. The receptionist puts each caller through to the right one from what they say. A department rings its numbers all at once or one after another and keeps its own hours, and if nobody answers or it is closed, the receptionist takes a message for it. Talk time after a call is put through to a department counts towards your plan’s minutes; a transfer to your main team number does not. Starter has one team number for live transfers.

Yes. On Growth and Pro, customers can message your business on WhatsApp or SMS and the same AI that answers your calls replies: it answers questions from your approved information, books appointments and takes orders. You connect your own WhatsApp number in about five minutes, and every plan sends SMS booking confirmations and missed-call text-backs.

Not to hear it. Creating an account is free, and you can set up your receptionist and talk to it on a real call in your browser, up to five minutes in total, before you add a card. Starting the 7-day free trial takes a card; nothing is charged for those 7 days, and you can cancel before then.

Yes. Every plan runs the same voice model and follows the same rules: it only says what you approve, never invents a price or a policy, and escalates sensitive calls the same way. Higher plans add capabilities such as extra languages, WhatsApp chat and integrations, not a better-sounding AI.

Yes. With nothing bookable configured, Ringmere works as an information line: it answers callers’ questions about your products, services, prices and hours from the information you approve, and takes the caller’s name, number and reason as a message for you. Add bookable services later and it starts booking too.