An electrician has the power off at a consumer unit, both hands in the board, and the phone is ringing on the van seat. The caller may leave a message, ring back later or try someone else. There are four ways to deal with a call you cannot take, and which one fits depends on when you miss calls and who is ringing.
TL;DR
Four options: voicemail, a person on a divert, a missed-call text-back, or an AI receptionist. If you can answer texts between jobs, a text-back gives callers a way to reach you; if you cannot, the receptionist may suit you better; emergency call-outs need a person or a clear next step. The last three work by diverting calls from the number you publish, so the van keeps its number. Whichever you pick, a reply that turns into a quote accepted at the customer's door or by text can bring the consumer-contract rules with it.
The law, guidance and platform pages below were read on 10 and 11 October 2026. WebAsk is a web and automation studio, not a law firm, and this is not legal advice.
Before you choose: when do your calls go unanswered?
WebAsk is new and has no call data, so there is no figure here. Count your own missed calls for a week, whether you are a plumber, an electrician or a heating engineer. For each call that rang out, note when (on a job, on the road, evenings, weekends) and, if you found out, what it was: a new job to price, an existing customer, an emergency, a supplier. Put a rough value on the jobs. Those answers point to the option.
Four ways to handle a missed call, side by side
| Option | What the caller gets | What it needs from you | Rules and limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | Your greeting, and a message if they choose to leave one | A greeting that says when you ring back | Nothing new until you price a job |
| A person on a divert (partner, office, answering service) | A person, if one is free, who can take details, book or answer as far as you have briefed them | A divert; your diary, terms and emergency rules in writing; with an outside business, a written contract | What they say can become part of the job |
| Missed-call text-back | One text naming your business once the call counts as missed, with a way to reply and, if you want, to book | A divert set ahead of your voicemail; a line registered to your business; someone to answer replies | Rules on what the text may say |
| AI receptionist (inbound only) | An automated assistant that says so, then books, answers, transfers in your opening hours or takes details | A divert set ahead of your voicemail; a calendar; approved answers; a person to transfer to | Rules on recording and transcripts; a poor fit for emergencies |
Your own phone provider may charge for the diverted part of a call.
Voicemail: what you already have
The caller hears your greeting and can leave a message, though they may hang up instead, and hears nothing more until you ring back. Our suggestion: a greeting that says when you return calls and what to do if it cannot wait.
A person on the divert: partner, office or answering service
A divert sends calls from the number you publish to another phone: all calls, those not answered within a set time, or those while the line is engaged. At the other end, a partner, an office or a paid answering service can work only from what you have given them: your diary, call-out terms, which calls are emergencies and what not to promise.
On our reading, whoever answers speaks for you. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, anything said to a customer about you or the service "by or on behalf of the trader" is treated as a term of the contract if they take it into account when deciding to go ahead, subject to anything you said at the time that qualified it (section 50). An arrival time promised by whoever picks up can become part of the job.
An outside business that takes your callers' details does so, on our reading, as your processor under UK GDPR, and processing by a processor "shall be governed by a contract or other legal act" (Article 28(3)). The ICO says "there must be a written contract" (guidance under review). On our reading, the same goes for whoever runs a text-back or receptionist for you. WebAsk does not offer a person on the divert.
Missed call text back for tradesmen: one text, then you
With a text-back, the number on the van stays. Calls that ring out divert to a line on the platform, set ahead of your voicemail. Switching the divert off puts things back.
Once the call counts as missed, the caller gets one text. It goes from the platform line, not your number, so it opens with your business name; GoHighLevel, the platform behind it, says the sending number may differ from the one dialled. By our standard, the line is registered in your business's name, not ours. GoHighLevel's UK registration article says it "will review the details and approve or reject" the registration bundles, so no number is promised before approval. One text is our design; after that, you reply.
On our reading, a plain text-back (your name, the missed call, a way back to you) is a service message. A seasonal offer, such as money off a boiler service, makes it marketing: see what a missed-call text may say.
A new UK number in place of the divert is an optional add-on; you can start without one. Missed-Call Text-Back costs from £99 a month plus a one-off £249 set-up, excl. VAT, with usage billed on top at cost.
An AI receptionist: the call answered, inbound only
An AI Receptionist answers instead of texting afterwards, on a divert to its own line, again set ahead of your voicemail. In its first sentence it gives your business name and says it is automated; then it is scripted for four jobs: booking into a calendar on the platform, answering from a short list you approved, putting the caller through to a person in your opening hours, or taking details for a call back. As we set it up, it never dials out, and call recording is off unless you turn it on.
Our guide to how a call flows through one, and where it fits rates upset callers, complaints and emergencies a poor fit, needing a person. Our post on the law on AI receptionists covers disclosure, recording and transcripts. It costs from £199 a month plus a one-off £499 set-up, excl. VAT, with usage billed on top at cost.
Which fits your week
On your own, on the tools all day
Can you read and answer a text between jobs? If so, a text-back gives the caller a way to reach you; if not, the receptionist, which books or takes details without you, may suit you better. Voicemail needs nothing new but relies on the caller leaving a message.
A firm with someone in the office
Let the office take calls first, by a divert if the published number rings on your mobile. Then pick what catches the calls it cannot take (at lunch, after hours or while its line is engaged) from voicemail, a text-back or the receptionist. Brief the office in writing, as you would an answering service.
Emergency call-outs out of hours
If you sell emergency call-outs, the caller needs a person or a clear next step. Our suggestion: a person on the divert for the hours you sell, with the greeting above as the fallback. A text-back promises a reply, not a visit, and nothing anyone says for you should promise an arrival time you cannot keep.
When the reply turns into a priced job
The caller replies, you price the job, they say yes. Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, a yes given to you face to face in their home, or by text or phone straight after your visit (regulation 5's "immediately after", on our reading), makes an off-premises contract; a yes with no visit, where you take work at a distance as a matter of course, makes a distance contract. Either can carry a 14-day right to cancel (regulations 29 and 30). Some of the limits: a visit they specifically requested for urgent repairs or maintenance, though extra services, and goods beyond the parts the repair needed, sold on it can keep the right (regulation 28); a job paid at £42 or less under an off-premises contract, outside both the information duties (regulation 7(4)) and the cancellation rules (regulation 27(3)), which on our reading can include a yes by text just after a visit; a contract "for the construction of new buildings, or the construction of substantially new buildings by the conversion of existing buildings", to the extent it is for that (regulation 6(1)(e)); and a service fully performed, where work began after their express request and they acknowledged they would lose the right on completion (regulation 36(2)). Our trades and home services page sets out the duties either contract brings: information up front, a confirmation, and the customer's request before any start inside the 14 days.
The reply matters later too. The soft opt-in in PECR regulation 22(3) covers your own similar services, for details you got during a sale or "negotiations for the sale", with a simple way to refuse, free but for the cost of sending it, given at collection and in each message after. The ICO counts "requesting a quote" as such negotiations and says the opt-out must be offered "when you collect the contact details", so, if you may want to market to them later, offer it when you take details for the quote. On our reading, a missed call alone is not a quote request. By our build position, not a ruling, a reminder that a boiler service is due, inviting a new booking, is built as marketing (reminder rules).
Where to start
- Count a week of missed calls, then pick from the table.
- For the website and the rest of a trade's build, see what we build for trades.
- To have the phone run for you each month, see Local Business Plans.
Get in touch and tell us how your calls are answered now, and when they are not.