# Top 10 Questions to Ask Before Buying an AI Receptionist

Source: https://voksha.com/blog/top-10-questions-to-ask-before-buying-an-ai-receptionist/
Published: 2026-04-13

> Ten grouped questions to ask any AI receptionist vendor, covering real cost at your call volume, HIPAA and BAAs, call recording law, and trial terms.

Before buying an AI receptionist, ask about your actual call volume and its cost at that volume, what happens when a call needs a human, whether it books into your real calendar, how it handles compliance if you take regulated calls, what security standard it follows, whether it actually offers a free trial or something else, its cancellation terms, its language support, how it handles call recording law, and how fast you can realistically get it live. Ten questions, grouped below, with what a good answer sounds like for each.

This guide is for an owner or office manager evaluating AI receptionist vendors who wants a structured set of questions to bring to a sales call or trial, rather than a single ranked product list. It complements a full buyer's checklist with the specific questions that separate a good fit from an expensive mistake.

> **Key Takeaways**
>
> - Pricing structures vary widely by vendor: some charge per call, some per minute, and included volume ranges from 15 calls to 500+ minutes a month (prices checked September 2026), so ask for your actual monthly call count before comparing plans.
> - Under HIPAA, a covered entity (a medical, dental, or mental health practice) must have a signed business associate agreement with any vendor handling patient information on its behalf ([HHS, Business Associates](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-entities/index.html), retrieved 2026-09-25). Ask whether a BAA is available and on which plan.
> - Federal law requires only one party's consent to record a call, but roughly a dozen states require everyone on the call to consent ([FCC consumer guidance on recording telephone conversations](https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/recording-telephone-conversations), retrieved 2026-09-25). Ask what the vendor's system does by default.
> - Not every AI receptionist vendor's "free" offer means the same thing: some, like Dialzara, list a 7-day free trial on every inbound plan (prices checked September 2026), while others use a demo call and a money-back guarantee instead. Read the fine print rather than assuming.
> - Ask what happens on a call the AI cannot or should not handle. A vendor with no clear escalation path to a human is a bigger risk than one with slightly higher pricing.
> - "Multi-language support" claims vary in specificity across the industry. Ask which languages are actually supported on your plan, not just whether the feature exists.

## Questions about your real cost

**1. What does this actually cost at my call volume, not the advertised starting price?**

Every AI receptionist plan has an included call or minute allowance, and the real cost only shows up once you go past it. Get the vendor to run your actual monthly call count, pulled from your phone bill, against their plan and overage rate. Published example rates checked September 2026: Voksha's Starter plan is $14/month for 15 calls, then $1 per call; [My AI Front Desk's](https://voksha.com/pricing-comparison/my-ai-front-desk/) Business-in-a-Box plan is $99/month (or $79/month billed annually) for 200 voice minutes, with overage priced in credits at roughly $0.25 per minute; [Dialzara's](https://voksha.com/pricing-comparison/dialzara/) Business Lite plan is $29/month for 60 minutes with $0.48/minute overage. A plan that looks cheapest at its base price can end up costing more once your real volume is applied.

**2. Is there really a free trial, or is it a demo and a guarantee?**

These are not the same thing, and vendors word them differently. [Dialzara](https://voksha.com/pricing-comparison/dialzara/) states that every inbound AI receptionist plan includes a 7-day free trial (prices checked September 2026). Other vendors, including Voksha, do not offer a free trial; instead they offer a free demo call plus a money-back guarantee window (Voksha's is 7 days) after you become a paying customer. Ask directly which one you are getting, and what you owe if you cancel on day 3.

**3. What is the cancellation and refund policy if it doesn't work out?**

Ask for this in writing, not as a verbal assurance. Is it month-to-month or does it require a contract term? Is there a setup fee that isn't refunded? What is the exact refund window?

## Questions about compliance and security

**4. If I take medical, legal, or otherwise regulated calls, can you sign a business associate agreement?**

Under HIPAA, a covered entity that lets an outside vendor handle protected health information on its behalf is required to have a written business associate agreement in place with that vendor ([HHS, Covered Entities and Business Associates](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-entities/index.html), retrieved 2026-09-25). If a vendor cannot produce a BAA, or only offers one on its most expensive tier, that is a real limitation, not a technicality. Voksha, for example, offers BAAs on its Enterprise plan; see [Voksha's enterprise page](https://voksha.com/enterprise/) for what that tier includes. Confirm this with your own counsel; a vendor's sales team is not a substitute for legal advice on whether your specific use case is compliant.

**5. What encryption and data handling standard does the system use?**

Ask specifically about encryption at rest and in transit, and where data is physically stored (which country or region). Vague answers like "we're secure" are not an answer. A vendor should be able to name a standard; see Voksha's own [security page](https://voksha.com/security/) as an example of the level of specificity to expect from any vendor.

**6. Does the system record calls, and is that legal where my customers are?**

U.S. federal law requires only one party's consent to record a call, but a group of states, commonly cited as roughly a dozen, require consent from everyone on the line ([FCC consumer guidance on recording telephone conversations](https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/recording-telephone-conversations), retrieved 2026-09-25). If your customers call from multiple states, the safest practice is a spoken disclosure that the call may be recorded. Ask whether the vendor's system includes that disclosure by default or whether you have to add it.

## Questions about what the AI actually does on a call

**7. Does it book directly into my real calendar and scheduling system, or just take a message?**

There is a meaningful difference between an AI that answers politely and takes down a callback number, and one that checks live availability and puts an appointment on your actual calendar. Ask for the specific list of scheduling and CRM tools it integrates with (most vendors publish this list) and confirm your specific software is on it, not just "calendar integrations available."

**8. What happens when a call needs a human, and how fast does that handoff happen?**

Every AI receptionist should have a defined escalation path for calls it cannot or should not fully handle: a distressed caller, a complex negotiation, an emergency. Ask what triggers a handoff and where the call goes when it does. A vendor without a clear answer here is telling you something important.

**9. Which languages does it actually support, and on which plan?**

"Multi-language support" is a common claim across this industry, but specifics vary by vendor and by plan tier. Ask for the exact list of supported languages available to you, not a general feature name, especially if a meaningful share of your callers speak a language other than English.

**10. How long does setup actually take, and does it require new hardware?**

Ask what "live in minutes" or similar claims actually involve on your end: forwarding an existing number is a very different lift than installing new phone hardware or migrating your number to a new carrier. Confirm whether your existing number stays the same.

## What a strong answer sounds like versus a weak one

| Question area | Weak answer | Strong answer |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | "Plans start at $X" | "Here's what your specific call volume would cost, including overage" |
| Compliance | "We take security seriously" | "Here's our BAA, available on this plan, and our named encryption standard" |
| Escalation | "It can handle anything" | "Here's exactly what triggers a handoff to a human, and where it goes" |
| Trial vs. guarantee | "Try it free" (unspecified) | A written explanation of exactly what's free, for how long, and what you owe after |

## How This Guide Was Sourced

Written by the [Voksha team](https://voksha.com/), which builds and sells an AI receptionist, so this guide is not a neutral third-party review, though we've tried to write it as one. Regulatory claims on HIPAA and call recording come from HHS and the FCC, linked with retrieval dates. Competitor pricing figures come only from Voksha's own published, dated pricing comparison research (prices checked September 2026); we do not quote competitor prices from memory or a third-party roundup. No Voksha call data is used in this guide. Every figure above is external and linked.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How many vendors should I actually compare before deciding?

There's no fixed number, but comparing at least three, including at least one AI-only and one human-or-hybrid option, gives you enough of a price and feature range to see where a given vendor is unusually cheap or unusually limited.

### Should I ask for references from other small businesses?

Yes, and ask specifically for a business similar to yours in call volume and industry, not just any customer. A reference that fields 50 calls a month tells you little if you field 500.

### Is a longer contract term ever worth a lower price?

Only if you are confident the fit is right after a real trial or demo period. A lower monthly rate locked into a year-long contract is a worse deal than a slightly higher month-to-month rate if the product doesn't end up working for your call patterns.

### What should I do if a vendor won't give me a straight answer on pricing at my volume?

Treat that as a signal. A vendor confident in its pricing should be willing to run your actual numbers before you sign anything.

## Conclusion

The right questions do more work than a ranked list of vendors, because they force a concrete answer instead of a marketing claim. Bring the ten above to every sales call, and get pricing, compliance, and escalation answers in writing before you switch your number over. For a step-by-step checklist to run alongside these questions, see the [Best AI Receptionist Buyer's Checklist](/blog/top-10-questions-to-ask-before-buying-an-ai-receptionist/). If you're ready to see how Voksha answers these questions for your own call volume, [see Voksha's pricing](https://voksha.com/pricing/).