Using Sam safely

Last updated: 15 October 2026

Sam takes calls you forward, collects the job details and helps you follow up. This guide explains what needs to be ready and what still needs your judgement. Read it with the Business Terms.

1. Tell us how your business works

Confirm your business name, trade, jobs you accept or refuse, areas covered, working hours, contact email and the mobile you carry on jobs. Choose whether you take urgent callouts, whether Sam should collect booking requests or use a connected diary, and whether you have approved price guidance.

Your representative saves these answers. You confirm them, then an authorised TradieDial owner approves the saved setup for your business's Sam. Standard danger guidance is included automatically; you do not have to write a safety script. A later change must be approved and applied before you rely on it.

2. Choose and test call forwarding

We assign an available Sam number and guide you through the forwarding option you choose. You keep your existing advertised number. The Sam number is provided for the service; do not assume ownership, permanent availability or transfer rights unless separately agreed.

Ask your network about charges, voicemail changes and the correct forwarding method. Codes vary between networks and phones. Do not change forwarding while speaking to us on that same line, and do not switch to all calls just because a missed-call code fails. An out-of-hours manual switch is not an automatic schedule.

After setup, call your usual business number from another phone and test the condition you chose. A direct call to Sam proves only that Sam answers; it does not prove your forwarding works. Keep the cancellation instructions and a working alternative for outages or paused cover.

3. Get a short text after the call

When owner texts are enabled and available, the post-call message gives the caller, job, location and next step. A maps link helps you open an available address. Check names, numbers and locations before acting; speech recognition and maps can be wrong.

Texts are sent after the call report is processed. They can be delayed, blocked, fail delivery or use multiple SMS segments. Owner texts share your outgoing allowance. Email may be available as a fallback, and the dashboard remains useful for checking the full details. A message accepted by a provider is not proof someone received or read it.

Replying STOP can prevent further texts to that number, including useful service alerts. Contact us to agree another notification method. Stopping texts does not cancel billing.

4. Bookings and prices

With booking requests, Sam collects the preferred time and you confirm it. Automatic booking needs your connected calendar, approved availability and booking rules, and a successful booking confirmation. A caller's preferred time or an available-looking slot is not a booking.

Sam can explain price guidance you have approved. A provisional figure, saved quote or estimated job value does not mean the work is booked, paid or won. Your business remains responsible for quotes, suitability, licences and the work itself.

5. Optional follow-up tools

Choose whether to enable secure detail/photo links, enquiry follow-ups, booking confirmations and completed-work review requests. These depend on the relevant settings, recipient permissions, connected services and available allowance. A review request is for completed work, not simply a finished call. You can leave these tools off and still use basic call answering and message-taking.

Customer links can expose the linked enquiry to the person holding them. Keep them private and do not send unnecessary sensitive information or payment details in job notes, texts or photos.

6. Urgent calls and human review

Sam can flag urgency and give standard danger guidance, including directing someone in immediate danger to emergency services. Sam does not diagnose a hazard, dispatch responders, guarantee a callback or promise an arrival time. For an emergency, call 999 or the appropriate emergency service directly.

Review urgent messages and important details yourself. Keep a human fallback: automated answering depends on active service, available allowance and functioning providers. TradieDial is not a life-safety or emergency monitoring system.

7. Privacy and respectful use

Sam identifies itself as AI and announces possible recording. Your business must tell callers how you use their information and establish the required lawful basis; the greeting alone is not consent. Do not ask Sam to collect passwords, card details or unnecessary sensitive information, impersonate a human, or make unlawful calls or messages.

For changes or help, email hello@tradiedial.com. See Privacy, Billing and Support and complaints.