Cost-effective 24/7 and after-hours call answering

Even if you have an in-house reception team, you likely miss calls from customers who phone in the evening, on the weekend or before they start their work day. Having virtual receptionists answer calls after-hours is the solution.

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4.9 stars | 32 reviews

Ensure your phone is answered at the times when it’s most convenient for customers to call

UK receptionists

Calls are answered by professionals in the UK, with overflow support 24/7 to ensure a fast speed of answer.

Choose when we answer

You can simply turn on call forwarding at the end of each business day if you only want us to answer after-hours calls.

Custom call greetings

We answer your calls with your custom greeting to ensure your callers enjoy a seamless experience.

After-hours emergencies

We can utilise call scripting to determine when an emergency response is needed and transfer such calls to on-call staff.

Appointment bookings

Whatever time someone calls to make an appointment or reservation, we can schedule it using your software.

Instant emails or texts

Receive email or SMS messages after each call, containing caller details and their reason for calling.

How after-hours call answering works

1 Set up within minutes 2 Customer calls you 3 We answer for you 4 We deliver your messages

Set up within minutes

Tell us about your business, your preferred greeting and how you’d like us to interact with your callers. Then simply confirm who should receive messages or, depending on your plan, call transfers when they’re available.

Customer calls you

By forwarding your business phone to the unique number we provide at the end of the business day, your after-hours calls will divert to us and we’ll know when an incoming call is for you.

We answer for you

Our friendly and professional receptionists will answer your business calls with your preferred greeting. Depending on your plan, we can take messages, transfer selected calls, answer FAQs, submit leads into your CRM, take orders, process payments, schedule your appointments and more.

We deliver your messages

After each call you’ll immediately receive a message by email, SMS or both (as chosen by you) including details such as the caller’s name, phone number and, of course, the reason for their call.

Our virtual receptionist services

Bombarded by calls in the evening, on the weekend or on public holidays and wish someone else could handle them for you? Or worried that missed calls out-of-hours are costing you opportunities? Whatever your industry, complexity of calls or call volumes, if you need an after-hours phone answering service, we have a solution to suit with no lock-in contracts.

	MessageExpress	MyReceptionist	MyAssistant	MyDiary
Compare our live call answering services	Call answering and message taking for one individual or team. from £15* per month See pricing	Messages, support and call transfers for multiple staff or departments. from £15* per month See pricing	Tailored scripting and virtual assistance for unlimited staff or departments. from £30* per month See pricing	Appointment booking, using your preferred software, for unlimited staff or departments. from £30* per month See pricing
Caller greeting	Personalised	Fully customised	Fully customised	Fully customised
List staff or departments	One person or team	Unlimited contacts	Unlimited contacts	Unlimited contacts
Collect information from callers	3 details	5 details	Up to 11 details	Up to 11 details
Warm call transfers
Advise business hours/location
Answer common questions
Scripted questions & responses
Quote fees & take payments
CRM input or submit online forms
Appointment scheduling
Diary management
	About MessageExpress Enquire now	About MyReceptionist Try our 7-day free trial	About MyAssistant Enquire now	About MyDiary Enquire now

* Plus after hours calls surcharge. Refer to Terms & Conditions.

MessageExpress

Call answering and message taking for one individual or team.

from £15*

UK receptionists
No lock-in contract
Personalised greeting
Instant email or SMS messages
One person or team listed as message recipient
Mobile app & portal
24/7 service upgrade option
an 0800 number upgrade option

Find out more

Hear a sample call

MyReceptionist

Messages, support and call transfers for multiple staff or departments.

from £15*

All MessageExpress features plus

UK receptionists
No lock-in contract
Instant email or SMS messages
Mobile app & portal
24/7 service upgrade option
0800 number upgrade option

Fully customised greeting
Warm call transfers
Multiple staff or departments listed as message or transfer contacts
Collect 5 pieces of info
Advise business hours/location

Find out more

Hear a sample call

MyAssistant

Tailored scripting and virtual assistance for unlimited staff or departments.

from £30*

All MyReceptionist features plus

UK receptionists
No lock-in contract
Instant email or SMS messages
Mobile app & portal
24/7 service upgrade option
0800 number upgrade option
Fully customised greeting
Warm call transfers
Multiple staff or departments listed as message or transfer contacts
Advise business hours/location

Collect 11 pieces of info
Custom scripting or FAQs
CRM input or online form submissions
Quote fees & take payments

Find out more

Hear a sample call

MyDiary

Appointment booking, using your preferred software, for unlimited staff or departments.

from £30*

All MyAssistant features plus

UK receptionists
No lock-in contract
Instant email or SMS messages
Mobile app & portal
24/7 service upgrade option
0800 number upgrade option
Fully customised greeting
Warm call transfers
Multiple staff or departments listed as message or transfer contacts
Advise business hours/location
Collect 11 pieces of info
Custom scripting or FAQs
CRM input or online forms
Quote fees & take payments

Appointment scheduling
Diary management

Find out more

Hear a sample call

* Plus after hours calls surcharge. Refer to Terms & Conditions.

Switch off at the end of the business day, yet remain awake to opportunities

Are missed business calls and voicemail hangups after-hours proving costly? Diverting your number to ReceptionHQ outside standard business hours means no missed calls and no lost opportunities!

Bombarded by calls at all hours? Getting burnt out? Start enjoying more quality time with your family or much-needed R&R!

Need to ensure emergency calls are handled at any hour? We can manage these as per your requirements for different scenarios.

Enquire now

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FAQs

Why should I get a live call answering service?

Many callers hang up when their call goes to voicemail, so you can miss out on vital conversations or leads. Ensuring your calls are answered by a live person, increases customer satisfaction, builds loyalty and improves your opportunity to create a rapport and obtain caller details.

Live call answering also allows you to screen calls, as you can advise your receptionist to transfer or take messages for only those call types you wish to receive. Once answered, you can see each message as it’s taken and prioritise who you will call back first.

Live call answering increases revenue through better customer connections, reduces costs as you’re not paying for a full time receptionist and helps you to be more efficient with your time.

Where is ReceptionHQ based?

ReceptionHQ is based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and is a subsidiary of OfficeHQ, a global virtual reception company headquartered in Australia.

Do you offer a 24/7 live call answering service?

Yes. Our receptionists are available 24/7 and you can opt-in to receive after hours live call answering on any ReceptionHQ subscription.

Without after-hours call answering turned on, our receptionists will answer your calls between 8:00am and 6:00pm on weekdays. Outside of these standard business hours, calls will then go to voicemail and your voicemail message recordings will be emailed to you.

If you need after-hours call answering, please let us know when you sign up or contact us.

Are calls answered within the United Kingdom?

Yes. ReceptionHQ’s team of receptionists based in the United Kingdom answer the majority of calls for our UK clients during standard office hours, with overflow support available from our teams in Australia and the US. Calls are always answered by our team in the UK whenever possible, however calls overflow to Australia or the US after hours and during unforeseen peaks in call volumes. This enables us to provide 24/7 coverage for businesses that need it and ensure calls are always answered as fast as possible.

What’s the difference between MyReceptionist and Message Express?

The MessageExpress service works best for those clients who just need messages taken for one person or team. The receptionist will answer with a greeting such as “Good morning, [your business name]. May I take your message please?” Messages can be instantly sent by email or SMS, however call transfers are not available on this service. On the MessageExpress service, receptionists are focused primarily on message taking, so are unable to provide general business information to callers.

The MyReceptionist service offers more flexibility and customisation so we can give the impression we are part of your business. It’s designed for those clients who would like to provide a more personal touch. When subscribing to the MyReceptionist service, you’ll receive a fully customised greeting, the ability to take different messages or make transfer calls to different people or departments in your organisation, plus receptionists can answer basic questions about your business, such as the location, your website URL, what your business does and when calls might be returned.

If you’re not sure, please speak to our friendly consultants or sign up for a free trial of our MyReceptionist service so you can test it out. Once you subscribe, you change between package types whenever it suits your business. No penalties apply.

Are you able to book appointments for us?

Yes, we have a dedicated team of highly experienced receptionists who can book appointments for you. The MyDiary service is ideal for professionals who depend on appointments being made and managed while they are focused on their clients. Our receptionists can schedule and reschedule appointments, manage cancellations and even take payments in your preferred software. We support a large number of third-party appointment booking tools and CRMs. Please contact us for more information.

Can email or text messages be sent to multiple recipients?

Yes, messages can be sent to multiple email addresses and mobile numbers – it’s your choice. We can also attempt to transfer calls to multiple people in sequential order. How your calls are managed can be updated instantly via your ReceptionHQ online client portal or mobile application at any time.

We make managing your virtual reception service simple

You can easily manage the receptionist’s greeting, call transfer availability and message preferences in real-time, plus add additional staff of departments as contacts for transfers or messages, using our online client portal or mobile app (iPhone and Android).

Try our 7-day free trial

After-hours answering service add-ons

+ Voicemail to email

Have voicemails instantly emailed to you, on numbers not live answered, to ensure no important communications are ever missed.

Find out more

+ Phone numbers

Add multiple additional local numbers or an 0800 freephone number to the free local number you receive with your live call answering package.

Find out more

What our customers love

You can be anywhere (in vacation, at the office, at home with your children); customers … won’t notice anything with this very professional receptionist service.

REN BAK

It’s extremely reassuring knowing we’ll never miss an important call or potential appointment, and at a very affordable price.

We Clean Any Home

Read all testimonials

Trusted by more than 25,000 businesses

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Have questions? Please fill in your details and we’ll be in touch.

Want to try our telephone answering services for free?

Put the United Kingdom’s leading virtual receptionist solution to the test! We’re ready to answer your phone FREE for 7 days.

Start your free trial

Want to try our call answering services for free?

Put the United Kingdom’s leading virtual receptionist solution to the test! We’re ready to answer your phone FREE for 7 days.

Start your free trial

What does the free trial include?

Our free trial is based on our MyReceptionist service, with remote receptionists able to take messages and transfer calls based on your availability settings.