Call answering
Call answering, by a receptionist that reads your own information
A call answering service takes a message. Belline answers the question, holds the rule you set, and captures the request with everything your team needs to confirm it — from the hours, prices and policies you gave it.
7 days free · No card · Plans with phone answering from AED 249/month Answers in English.
What this actually is
Call answering, and what it is not.
A typical answering service reads your business name off a screen, takes a name and a number, and passes the message on. That is better than a voicemail, and for some calls it is enough. The more useful version answers the question the caller actually rang with — what does it cost, are you open on Friday, can I come Saturday — and that needs the caller to be talking to something that has read your price list.
What a message-taking service cannot do
It cannot tell a caller what a half head of highlights costs, whether you are open after iftar, or that a first colour needs a patch test forty-eight hours before. So it writes the question down, and somebody in your team rings back to answer a question that was already answered in a document you wrote two years ago. A great many of the calls a small business takes are that call.
Answering is not the same as deciding
Belline answers from your own material and stops where your material stops. With your calendar connected, Belline checks it and books the time straight in, on the phone, in chat, on WhatsApp and on video. Without one, it takes the request and your team confirms it.
It holds the rule when the caller pushes
Deposits, cancellation windows, patch tests, assessments before treatment, party sizes that need a person. A rule is only a rule if it survives a caller in a hurry at five on a Thursday. A message-taking service can pass a rule on only if somebody has briefed it on yours; Belline reads the rule you wrote, on every call.
It answers the calls you do not want to lose, not all of them
You can forward only the calls nobody picks up, or the ones that arrive when the line is busy or the shop is closed. Your team still gets first refusal on every call, the handset on your counter rings exactly as it does today, and what changes is what happens at the fourth ring instead of nothing.
Where it stops
The line it does not cross.
Belline is not a switchboard and not a contact centre. It does not make outbound calls to your customers, does not take a card number or a payment, does not promise a time it cannot see in a connected calendar, and does not answer a clinical or a legal question. Belline answers in English. It says it is an AI if a caller asks.
By trade
What it answers depends on what you do.
The rules, the questions and the calls that have to reach a person are different in every trade, so the substance is written up trade by trade.
- AI receptionist for restaurants
- AI receptionist for hair and beauty salons
- AI receptionist for dental clinics
- AI receptionist for aesthetic and medical clinics
- AI receptionist for real estate agencies
- AI receptionist for car garages and workshops
- AI receptionist for tutors and tuition centres
- AI receptionist for gyms, studios and personal trainers
- AI receptionist for law firms, accountants and consultants
- AI receptionist for cleaning, maintenance and moving companies
- AI receptionist for plumbers, electricians and AC technicians
- AI receptionist for veterinary clinics
- AI receptionist for medical and health practices
- AI receptionist for barbershops
- AI receptionist for hotels and guest houses
- AI receptionist for event venues and function rooms
- AI receptionist for shops and showrooms
Questions
What operators ask us.
How is this different from an answering service?
An answering service takes a message. Belline answers from your own hours, prices and rules, and captures a request with enough detail to act on — and where it cannot answer, it takes the message and marks it, which is the answering service's whole job as a fallback rather than the product.
Do we keep our own number?
Yes. You set call forwarding on the line you already have, so what is printed on your door, your listings and your receipts does not change. Your phone provider may charge for forwarded calls; that is between you and them and it is worth checking before you switch it on.
Can we have it answer only after hours?
That is the most common setup. Forward on no-answer or on busy, or forward everything outside your opening hours — it is a setting on your line rather than anything you configure with us, and you can change it back in a minute.
Does it take a message when it cannot answer?
Yes, and it is as much of the product as the answering is. It captures the caller's number and what they said in their own words, marks why it could not answer, and puts it in your inbox. A summary and a full transcript of every conversation arrive with it, and Belline does not record the audio of the calls it answers.
Will callers know it is not a person?
If they ask, it says so. It does not claim to be a member of your team and it does not use a person's name as its own.
What happens on a call it should not be handling at all?
It stops. A caller describing a medical emergency hears the emergency instruction you set for your country and no request is taken; a complaint goes to a person with what the caller said and nothing offered on your behalf. Knowing what not to answer is most of what makes the rest usable.
Where is it available?
In the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany and Austria, each at its own prices in its own currency, and in most other countries at US-dollar prices (Global). Not open yet: Singapore. Not sold at all, because of sanctions: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, Belarus and the occupied regions of Ukraine. For call answering you keep your own number and forward it to a Belline number in your country, set up for your business where Belline's line there is ready, and on request where it is not yet. Website chat, the voice button and WhatsApp work wherever your business is. Belline sets up phone lines country by country, and none is offered on Global, so on Global your voice minutes are for your website, and a phone line is not included.
Pricing
Per location, per month.
The same prices as everywhere else in the United Arab Emirates. No setup fee, no per-call charge.
- No per-user fees
- No per-message fees
- No AI surcharge
Every plan includes
- One location
- Books appointments, or takes the request for your team
- Your team can take over any chat from the inbox
Starter
For a small business that wants every enquiry answered.
- 100 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 40 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 250 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat and WhatsApp
- Up to 2 users on your dashboard
- Keep your number — forward it to Belline
- Answers questions from your own hours, prices and policies
- Summary and full transcript of every call and chat
- Your own words and colours on the website buttons
Growth
For a team that wants urgent calls put through live, and its own rules for what Belline may decide.
- 250 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 100 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 600 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat and WhatsApp
- Everything in Starter, plus:
- Up to 5 users on your dashboard
- Puts urgent calls through to your team, live
- Your own rules about what it may and may not decide
- Restore earlier settings any time
Scale
For higher-volume teams with more complex reception rules.
- 500 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 200 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 1,500 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat and WhatsApp
- Everything in Growth, plus:
- Up to 15 users on your dashboard
- Priority support
Only need website chat and WhatsApp?
WhatsApp Receptionist
AED 129 per location, per month Billed monthly. Cancel anytime.
For a business that wants every WhatsApp message and website chat answered. 250 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat and WhatsApp. No phone line and no voice button — add those any time with Starter.
- Answers WhatsApp and your website chat from your own hours, prices and policies
- Text only: WhatsApp and website chat, with no phone line and no voice button
- Answers on a second WhatsApp number you register yourself
Prices exclude VAT where it applies.
Compare the plans
| Starter | Growth | Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price a month, per location | AED 249 | AED 499 | AED 999 |
| Voice minutes a month | 100 | 250 | 500 |
| Text conversations a month | 250 | 600 | 1,500 |
| Users on your dashboard | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Keep your number — forward it to Belline | Included | Included | Included |
| Answers questions from your own hours, prices and policies | Included | Included | Included |
| Summary and full transcript of every call and chat | Included | Included | Included |
| Your own words and colours on the website buttons | Included | Included | Included |
| Puts urgent calls through to your team, live | Not included | Included | Included |
| Your own rules about what it may and may not decide | Not included | Included | Included |
| Restore earlier settings any time | Not included | Included | Included |
| Priority support | Not included | Not included | Included |
An answering service takes a message. Belline answers the question, takes the details and tells your team what to do next.
What counts as a minute
A minute is time Belline spends on a live call with your caller — on your phone line or through the voice button on your website — from the moment it answers to the moment the call ends, rounded up to the next whole minute. Calls you make from your own test console do not count, and neither do calls cut short by a fault on our side.
What counts as a conversation
A conversation is one customer's thread in your website chat or on WhatsApp in which Belline replies at least once. Everything that customer says in the 24 hours after Belline's first reply is the same conversation. Threads your team answers without Belline do not count.
When an allowance runs out
When an allowance runs out, you choose what happens: move up to the next plan, or stop at the allowance. We tell you at 70%, 90% and 100%. Nothing is ever added to your bill without you choosing it.
7 days free
7 days free: 30 voice or 12 video minutes and 50 text conversations, with your website chat, the voice button on the same page, WhatsApp and your phone line all switched on. No card: nothing is charged unless you choose a plan, and on day 8 without one Belline pauses until you do. Standard onboarding is free.
