Being busy isn’t a problem with overflow call answering

Are you struggling to avoid missed calls during peak times, even though you have an in-house receptionist or inbound call centre in place? Need coverage to assist during staff absences or at times when they’re serving customers face-to-face? Our dependable call overflow service is an affordable solution.

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4.9 stars | 31 reviews

Ensure your phone is always answered, regardless of spikes in call volume or staffing issues

UK receptionists

Calls are answered by professionals in the UK, with overflow support to ensure the fastest possible speed of answer.

24/7 live call answering

We operate all day, every day, so we can seamlessly answer your overflow calls whenever your call demand increases.

Custom call greetings

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

Instant emails or texts

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

Your tools are our tools

We can input leads, book appointments, raise support tickets and more using your preferred software.

No lock-in contract

Month-to-month subscriptions and no cancellation fees mean flexibility to scale up (or down) as needs change.

How our call overflow service 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

Divert your phone to the unique number we provide so we know when an incoming call is for your business. You can choose to divert all calls to us or only those calls you can’t answer in-house. For example, you may only want us to take calls which go unanswered after a certain number of rings, calls not answered within a certain time limit or calls arriving when your line is busy.

We answer for you

Our friendly and professional UK-based 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

Finding it difficult to adequately staff for fluctuations in call volumes? Has a spike caused by seasonal demand left you scrambling to avoid missed calls resulting in lost opportunities or waning customer satisfaction? Need a solution that doesn’t involve an additional wage plus recruitment and training costs?

Whatever your industry, complexity of calls or call volumes, if you need an overflow 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

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

A flexible back-up option to keep your calls answered

Increase your capacity to professionally handle inbound calls, while at the same time minimising costs. Sound too good to be true? It’s not!

An overflow answering service provides seamless support to your in-house reception team, so you don’t need to hire unnecessarily. ReceptionHQ’s team of virtual receptionists are available 24/7 to answer calls whenever you need us to.

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.

Can you prevent me from missing calls?

Yes, our receptionist can answer calls you’d usually miss. You may be on another call or simply unable to answer because you’re busy at the time. Our receptionists will take a detailed message and send to you instantly by email or SMS. Many clients who subscribe to our service are surprised when they learn how many calls they’d been missing prior to having their calls answered by ReceptionHQ.

Are you able to answer just some of our calls?

Yes. This is referred to as “call overflow”.

A lot of companies require their phone calls to be answered only when they are unable to take the call themselves. For example, if you step out of the office for an hour or your in-house receptionist goes to lunch, is on leave or is busy on another call and you have multiple calls coming in at the one time.

You can set your business phone number to divert (to the unique local phone number we allocate your business during the Free Trial setup process) only when the phone rings for more than a specified period (such as after 5 rings) or if your line is busy/engaged.

In such instances our receptionists will then answer the phone as if we were in your office. You’re always in control and can relax knowing you will never miss another important call again!

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.

Let us manage your calls so you can manage your business

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

Overflow 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

I have complete confidence in ReceptionHQ answering and transferring all our calls. I know they will be answered professionally.

Salon Aquaflow

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

Clients appreciate the quick call responsiveness they’re receiving, which can be difficult to manage [in-house] due to the peaks and troughs in call volume.

Scott McSwan, WorkLegal

We never miss a business opportunity but don’t have reception staffing issues to deal with. It’s an ideal solution.

John Lombard, Sales Recruit Partners

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.