Call protocol
HVAC call script: no heat or no cooling
Short answer
When a customer calls your heating and cooling company with no heat or no cooling, a 100% AI receptionist answers, says it’s an AI and works through this HVAC call script in order: is the system completely off or just weak, is anyone at risk, is there a smell of gas or burning on a heating call, and where is the home. Real emergencies go straight to your on-call technician; everything else is booked into your next open slot. You get a summary of every call, and the AI never tells anyone how to fix the unit.
This is the protocol we start from. You change what doesn’t fit and approve it before it answers a single call.
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Example call: AC out in a heat wave
Northside Heating & Air · AC out in a heat wave
Urgent
- AI
- Northside Heating & Air, AI Receptionist here, the AI assistant. How can I help?
- Caller
- The AC stopped and it’s 98 degrees in the house.
- AI
- Is the system completely off, or still running?
- Caller
- Completely off.
- AI
- Is anyone in the home elderly, very young or unwell?
- Caller
- My baby’s here.
- AI
- Then this is urgent. Your address and best number?
- Caller
- Ana Delacroix, 1428 Cedar Lane, 555-0102.
- AI
- Thanks, Ana. I’m connecting you with our on-call technician now.
Summary sent to you
- Urgent
- AC off, 98°F indoors, infant at home.
- Caller
- Ana Delacroix, 1428 Cedar Lane, 555-0102.
- Done
- call transferred to the on-call technician. No arrival time promised.
The script, step by step
-
Confirm the problem
Find out whether the system is completely off, blowing air that isn’t hot or cold, or just struggling. Those are three different calls.
The AI says: “Is the system completely off, or is it running but not heating?”
-
Check who is at risk
Elderly people, infants, anyone unwell, or a pet left inside move the call to urgent, whatever the weather. That’s the default we start from; you can change it.
The AI says: “Is anyone in the home elderly, very young or unwell, or is a pet left inside?”
-
Check for gas or burning
On heating calls, and any time a caller mentions a smell, the AI asks about gas or burning. If the caller mentions a gas smell, smoke or a burning smell, the script stops. The AI reads your approved safety line, lets the caller go, and alerts your on-call technician with whatever details it already has.
The AI says: “If you smell gas or see smoke, please leave the house now and call 911, or your gas company, from outside.”
-
Take the address and a callback number
Full address, gate or access codes, and the best number to reach the caller.
The AI says: “What’s the address of the home, and the best number to reach you?”
-
Route the call
Urgent: it puts the caller through to your on-call technician or emails them the details at once. Not urgent: it books the first open slot in your calendar, and only confirms the visit once the booking is saved. If the technician doesn’t pick up, it tries the backup you named and keeps the alert in their inbox.
The AI says: “I’m connecting you with our on-call technician now.”
What counts as urgent
For a heating and cooling company, this is where we start. The final list is yours.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| No heat in freezing weather | Urgent: on-call technician reached now |
| No cooling in extreme heat | Urgent: on-call technician reached now |
| Someone vulnerable at home | Urgent, whatever the weather |
| Smell of gas, smoke or burning | Your safety line first, then the on-call technician is alerted |
| System running but weak | Booked into the next open slot |
| Maintenance, tune-up or quote | Booked, or a message for the office |
What it never says on this call
- Repair advice or “try this yourself” steps beyond the safety line you approved.
- A diagnosis, such as “it’s probably the capacitor.”
- A price or an arrival time you haven’t approved.
- That the problem is minor or can wait, when your rules say it’s urgent.
What you decide
- Your urgent list: the temperatures, situations and customers that count as urgent for you.
- Who’s on call: this week and next, plus a backup if the first person doesn’t answer.
- How the technician is reached: the call put straight through, or an email with the details.
- Your safety lines: the exact words for gas, smoke or a breaker that keeps tripping.
- Cost and booking: your service-call fee quoted or not, which jobs it books and which slots it can use.
- Existing customers: whether it asks if the caller is on a maintenance plan.
We set it up the way you want and you approve the final version.
Why this protocol works
Our call protocols come from nearly two decades of running phone reception for small businesses. On a no-heat call, two rules do most of the work. It asks what matters: the risk question comes before the address, because it changes what happens next. It never promises what you don’t: "the technician has your details" is fine; "someone will be there in an hour" is not, unless you approved it. More on our method, and on how urgent calls reach the right person on the emergency answering service page.
Questions HVAC owners ask
Can I change the questions?
Yes. Every line of this HVAC answering script can be changed before it goes live and whenever your business changes. Add a question about the age of the system, drop the pet question, or reword the greeting. Tell us what you want and we update your protocol.
Who decides what’s urgent?
You do. We start from the defaults in the table above, which come from years of heating and cooling calls, and adjust them to your service area and your customers. A company in Phoenix and one in Minneapolis won’t share the same idea of “extreme weather.”
What does the technician receive?
If the call is passed to them, a one-sentence heads-up before they’re connected. Either way, an email with the caller’s name, address, number, what’s wrong and who is at home, with the recording and transcript in your dashboard. The summary above is what that email looks like.
Does it give safety advice?
Only the safety lines you approve, read word for word, such as leaving the house if there’s a gas smell. It doesn’t troubleshoot, suggest resetting breakers or guess at the cause. That keeps your customers safe and keeps your technicians from walking into a promise they didn’t make.
What happens to calls that aren’t urgent?
They’re booked into your calendar, or taken as a message if you prefer the office to call back. The visit is only confirmed to the caller once it’s saved. If the calendar can’t take it, the request stays pending and your team confirms it. See the after-hours triage protocol for how HVAC after-hours calls are sorted at night.
Put this protocol on your phone line
Send us your service area, your on-call schedule and what counts as urgent for you through “Get started.” We turn that into your HVAC protocol as part of your free setup, and you approve it before you forward a single call. The three setup steps are on how it works. Pricing starts with no monthly fee, at $0.99 per answered call; plans are on pricing. More protocols are in the call protocol library.
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