The worker who faces the world
Same Ara for every business. The phone is hers.
Ara answers your phone.
Then she keeps working.
OpenSassy runs on two AI workers. Sassy runs the business from the inside — the diary, the money, the admin. Ara is the one who faces the world: the phone, the client, the follow-up. She picks up while you are with a client, tells the caller she's an AI before anything else, checks the real diary and puts in a request the team confirms — into OpenSassy, or a Google Calendar you already own. She does not answer every call. Ara on her own only if your existing software lets her into the diary and CRM. Otherwise she is sold with OpenSassy as the diary and CRM. Out-of-hours replies stay off until you switch them on.
We take on a limited number of businesses at a time and set each one up personally.
On the call
First sentence, every call, and it cannot be talked over — the greeting is built by code that will not return a line without it. Nothing you type in her settings can switch it off.
She reads live availability from the same engine your own booking page uses, so a slot she offers is a slot that is genuinely free.
If the day they asked for is full she sweeps the next fortnight across every one of your team before she answers — never an invented time, never "we’re fully booked" after one look.
When the number matches one client she can use that first name. A shared phone is not proof of who is calling — she asks their name and does not read the matched person’s private record.
If what they ask for is not on your services she says so and offers the nearest thing at your real price, rather than quietly booking something else.
Transfer on request stays off until you switch it on. When it is on she asks first, then transfers only if a separate number exists and the business is open. If it is closed, or there is no number, she takes a message. She cannot force someone onto the line. An owner or admin can take the live call from the desk. She does not promise a refund, and she does not give medical advice — those become a note for the team.
Rescheduling or cancelling the caller’s own appointment stays off until you switch it on. When it is on she reads it back and waits for a yes. Inside your cancellation notice window she does not cancel — she takes a message. She does not touch anyone else’s booking, and she does not say a new appointment is confirmed unless the booking tool says so.
When you switch it on she texts the deposit link. She never takes card details on the call — not even if the caller offers them.
Out-of-hours replies stay off until you want them. When the switch is on she can reply to texts at any time. She still will not book a closed day or a time outside opening hours. A new appointment is a request the team confirms.
Colour by phone needs a recorded passed patch test at least 48 hours before the appointment. The pass is valid 6 months (183 days) unless you set a different window, from 1 to 730 days. Hearing “it passed” on the call is not enough. Otherwise she offers a patch-test visit or takes a message.
A summary and the full transcript afterwards, so a message is something you read rather than something you trust her to have relayed.
She never takes a card number over the phone — not even if the caller offers. When you switch it on, she texts the deposit link; she does not take the card herself. And she puts the appointment in as a request pending your confirmation: she will not tell a caller they are confirmed until they are.
Between calls
A receptionist who only answers is a phone line. Ara has work of her own between the calls — and you decide how much of it she does.
She chases the no-show
Someone doesn’t turn up, and after the delay you choose she rings them back — once you have switched this on, once per booking, ever. By default that runs inside your opening hours, unless you also switch on out-of-hours replies. She confirms with them, reports it to you, and you can undo it.
She offers tomorrow’s gaps
Once a day she looks at tomorrow’s genuinely bookable holes and texts them out: waitlist first, then the regulars overdue by their own rebooking rhythm. One opening, one person — nobody is offered a slot twice in a week.
She tells you what she did
A digest on Monday morning: calls answered, bookings made, no-shows chased, gaps filled. What she heard and what she did, in one email.
All three start switched off. You turn on the ones you want. By default they run inside your opening hours, unless you also switch on out-of-hours replies. A no-show is chased once per booking, ever. She confirms what she does with the caller, reports it to you, and you can undo it. If a client has told you not to contact them, she doesn't.
She's yours to direct
Tell her how to answer, in your own words
A plain box, not a menu of settings. She reads it at the start of every call. It cannot override her safety rails — she still says she is an AI, still refuses a card number, still never invents a price.
Give her standing instructions
"Always ask a new client whether they’ve had a patch test." Yours take effect as soon as you save them. Anything she drafts herself from what she hears waits in a list, and she says none of it on a call until you approve it — a rule about your business is yours to make, not hers.
Let her transfer when they ask
Transfer on request is a switch, off until you turn it on. While it is on she asks first, then puts them through only if a separate number exists and you are open. Otherwise she takes a message. You can also take the live call yourself from the desk.
Read what she remembers — and correct it
Every fact she has picked up about a client is listed on their record: edit one that is wrong, delete one she should not keep, or make her forget the person completely. The same mechanism runs your right-to-erasure requests, so "forgotten" means forgotten in her memory too, not just in the diary.
Ask her about her own work
"What did you do last night?" "Why didn’t you fill Thursday?" She answers from her own call records and run log, or she says she can’t — she has no tools to guess with.
Her memory of your clients belongs to you, not to her — so you can read every fact she holds on someone, edit a wrong one, delete it, or make her forget the person entirely. It is the same button your right-to-erasure request presses, and what she remembers travels in the client's data export.
Two ways to run her
Ara + OpenSassy
Both workers, one business. Sassy runs your diary, clients, payments and payroll; Ara answers the phone into the same diary and quotes the same prices — set once, used by both. We move your client book across for you.
Ara on your Google Calendar
Ara on her own only if your existing software lets her into the diary and CRM. Otherwise she is sold with OpenSassy as the diary and CRM. Not ready to move everything? When that software does let her in, Ara answers your phone and books into a Google Calendar you already own. Your diary stays yours — she just stops you missing the calls. We connect it with you by hand during setup; it is not a self-serve switch, and some of what she can do on our own diary (a real waitlist, deposits) needs a booking page she does not have on a bare calendar.
On Fresha, Treatwell or similar? Their terms don't allow another system to work inside your account — so we don't, because it's your account they'd suspend. Those platforms do not let her into the diary and CRM, so she comes with OpenSassy as the diary and CRM. Ara on her own only if your existing software lets her into the diary and CRM. If your provider gives you written permission, she can work in theirs too.
What you will never be charged
Ara refilling your Thursday does not earn us a percentage of it. We take no commission on your bookings — not on new clients, not on regulars, not ever.
600 minutes included each calendar month. Then £0.30/min, recorded on your billing page as they happen, and billed at that rate when billing starts. No fee per call. Past the monthly safety ceiling she takes a message instead of a live call.
Cancel any time. If she isn't right for you within 30 days of your first charge, tell us and we refund it in full.
Ara, AI receptionist is from £299/month. There is no install fee — set up with you, the same day. 600 minutes included, then £0.30/min. Layer 02 AI Intelligence (£169/month) does not include her. Enterprise is a separate plan: from £169 per site. Ara on her own only if your existing software lets her into the diary and CRM. Otherwise she is sold with OpenSassy as the diary and CRM.
And the honest caveat: if your phone rings a handful of times a month, Ara is not the right buy yet. Start on the platform, watch what the phone actually costs you, and add her when it's losing you bookings.
How getting started works
Tell us about your business, your services and your hours. About 10 minutes.
We read every application ourselves and come back to you — usually same day.
You get your own number. We load your services, hours and client book.
We call her together, you hear her, then she goes live.
You are not charged anything to apply. We only ask for payment once we've reviewed your application and you're happy to go ahead.
She protects you, not just your diary
Ara knows the rules that matter. On colour she checks what is on file for that client and only treats them as covered when there is a recorded pass inside the last six months — a booked test, an expired one or a blank record all leave her asking. She asks the questions, and she will not book a colour on someone who has not had one. She never invents a price or an opening either: availability comes from your live rota, and if she cannot read it she says so rather than guessing.