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Test an AI phone assistant for after-hours calls, and pull it if customers hate it: one cleaning company went back to voicemail
Kyleigh Lipsitz, founder of The Blissful Clean, a residential cleaning company in Grand Rapids, Michigan with six cleaning technicians, on the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast
She set up an AI virtual assistant to answer phone calls and spent a lot of time configuring it with the questions people might ask, the answers it could give and context about how the business works. Her phones run on Quo (formerly OpenPhone).
The AI phone assistant isn't named and Quo isn't priced here (not checked).
Easy · or we set it up for $197
AI phone assistant (product not named), Quo (formerly OpenPhone)
The problem
Her phones are staffed only nine to five, Monday through Friday, so she wanted after-hours calls answered.
What happened
Customers got frustrated because "it just can't currently pick up on pauses." One told her: "If I didn't love you and if I didn't love the technician that I have, I would cancel your service because I hate talking to this robot." She removed it and went back to voicemail with a human callback the next day: "it's just better." Self-reported.
Quoted in the source: Kyleigh Lipsitz, founder, The Blissful Clean. Source: Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast (transcript on zenmaid.com): The mother-daughter duo running two cleaning companies (2026-08-04) · Added 2026-10-30.
How to set it up yourself
- What The Blissful Clean tried: an AI assistant answering after-hours calls on its Quo phone line, configured with likely questions, answers and business context. It was removed after customer complaints.
- Before buying, call the assistant yourself and have two or three regular customers try it; talk the way real callers do, with pauses and interruptions.
- Start with one narrow job (after-hours only, or new-lead calls only) and tell existing clients how to reach a person.
- Read or listen to every call for the first two weeks and ask a few customers how it felt.
- Set a clear rule for pulling it, such as any complaint from a recurring client, and keep a fallback ready: voicemail with a promised callback time, as she went back to.
Copy-paste prompt
I'm testing an AI phone assistant for {BUSINESS}, a cleaning company. Write 10 realistic test calls I can make to it: a new lead asking for a quote, a recurring client rescheduling, an upset client about a missed spot, someone who pauses mid-sentence, someone who interrupts, someone who asks for a person. For each, tell me what a good answer sounds like and what would make a client hang up annoyed.We set up one AI automation in your tools, live within 48 hours of getting access, for $197. No call needed. Founding price for our first 10 customers (regular $297).
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