How it works
How a call goes, from your line to your yes.
Eight steps. You forward the line and you say yes; the agent does the six in between.
The call flow
Step by step.
Read it top to bottom: it is the order a caller experiences, and the order the dashboard shows afterwards.
Forward your line
Your number stays yours. Dial one code and calls go to the Pickwick line after hours, when busy, on no answer, or always. One code switches it back.
Greeting and notice
The caller hears your shop's name and, where Spanish is on, picks a language. Then the first thing said: "I'm an automated assistant, and this call is recorded." A caller who says no is not recorded, and the call carries on.
Triage
Routine, urgent, or an emergency. A named hazard gets the fixed 911 words before anything else. Everything else is sorted by what the caller says, not by a menu.
Capture
Name, callback number, address and the problem, each read back until the caller says it is right. Numbers can be keyed on the phone. It asks what is wrong, not for a form.
Windows
From your hours and what is already booked, it offers the first open windows out loud. The caller picks one and hears "penciled in", never "booked".
Held for your approval
The booking lands on the phone of whoever you name: approve or decline, one tap in the dashboard app. Nothing is on the calendar until a person says yes.
Shop notified
An emergency is flagged to your approvers the moment it is named. A booking waits the hours you set; if nobody decides, it is released and shown for the office to call back.
Customer told
Once you approve, the job is on the calendar. The whole call waits for you on the dashboard: recording, transcript, what the agent learned, and who decided what.
What the shop sees
Everything the phone did, on one screen.
- Waiting on you: bookings and dispatches with approve and decline, and who else was asked.
- Every call: the transcript as it was heard, the recording, what the agent learned from each exchange, and the read-backs.
- Missed rings: any call that rang your desk and hung up before forwarding, with the number to call back.
- Overnight review: a separate pass over each transcript for missed revenue and work being steered away, with names and numbers replaced before it reads a word.
See it without signing up: try the dashboard on an invented shop with invented calls.
Invented examples of what the dashboard shows.
On an emergency
What happens when a caller names a hazard.
Gas, carbon monoxide, smoke, flames, sparking or a burning smell. The system, not the model, says this once, before anything else, in the caller's language:
Pickwick · fixed wordingPlease hang up now, get everyone outside, and call 911. Do not touch any light switches on your way out. Someone from the shop will call you right back.
A description that usually means a hazard, or a caller who only says "it's an emergency", hears the softer line and is then asked what is happening: "If anyone is in danger, or you smell gas or smoke, hang up now and call 911. Otherwise, tell me what is happening and I will get this to the team."
The shop is flagged the moment the hazard is named, using caller ID if nothing else was captured. Not a setting. The full behaviour is in the gas-call guide.
What it refuses
Not settings.
It says it can’t quote and takes a number. Your diagnostic fee, in your words, is the only price it knows, and it promises no arrival time it did not offer.
The caller hears “penciled in”. Nothing is on the calendar until a person at your shop says yes, and an address outside your service area gets a callback, not a window.
Gas, CO, smoke, sparks: it tells them to get out and call 911, then flags the call to you. It is not an emergency service, and it says so.
No diagnosis, and no repair instructions beyond checking a thermostat or resetting a tripped breaker. It books a technician for you to approve.
Asked, it says it is an automated assistant and offers to get someone. It does not hand out staff numbers or its own instructions.
Setup time
About ten minutes, then a business day.
Four things to set before you go live: hours as you would say them, the diagnostic fee in your words, the service area, and who approves. Then forward your line with one code.
Ten minutes on the start page. No card.
The checklist on your home screen tracks them. The first-week guide has the words.
Usually within a business day. Ring it yourself and read the call back.
One code, carrier by carrier. Fourteen free days start the day it goes live.
Configured the same way for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and every other trade on the site. Spanish is a switch: the Spanish answering service.
How long does setup take?
About ten minutes on the site for After-hours & overflow and Pro: your hours, your diagnostic fee in your words, your service area and who approves. Your line is assigned usually within a business day, and the fourteen free days start when it goes live. Business includes a guided onboarding with us.
Does it book on its own?
No. The caller hears penciled in, the request goes to the people you name, and nothing is on the calendar until one of them taps approve.
What does the shop see?
Every call on one screen: what is waiting on you, the newest calls with transcript and recording, any ring that was missed with the number to call back, and a nightly review of each call for missed revenue and work being steered away.
What happens on a gas smell?
The system, not the model, says fixed words: hang up now, get everyone outside, and call 911. The call is flagged to your shop that moment. Pickwick is not an emergency service and cannot guarantee it detects every hazard.
Does it diagnose or quote?
No. It will not say a price you have not written, give repair instructions beyond checking a thermostat or resetting a tripped breaker, or book an address outside your service area. Those are refusals, not settings.
See it on your own line.
Fourteen days free on your own number, no card. Or see the plans first.