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Tried an AI Messenger responder and AI after-hours answering, and switched both off when they didn't work for customers
Patrick Cochran, CEO of Red Dog's Roofing, a roofing and siding company in New England and Florida, in his RoofersCoffeeShop influencer column
The company tried an AI response tool on Facebook Messenger; it was "very glitchy", so it didn't keep using it. Its after-hours answering service started using AI, but customers did not give good feedback, so the company asked the service to stop using it for now. At the time AI was used only minimally, in marketing, to make research faster, and not in sales or production.
The Messenger tool and the answering service aren't named; no cost applies to the lesson
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The problem
Facebook messages and after-hours calls need answers, and AI tools promised to handle both.
What happened
After those two tries the company stopped looking into AI tools for a while; Cochran wrote that he still likes human interaction. In a February 2025 RoofersCoffeeShop column he added that the company had since formed an AI committee to vet every AI tool it uses, uses AI to speed up tasks and generate ideas, and keeps its human touch points with customers. Self-reported.
Quoted in the source: Patrick Cochran, CEO, Red Dog's Roofing. Source: RoofersCoffeeShop: Experimenting with AI in the workplace (RCS Influencer Patrick Cochran) (2024-06-27) · Added 2026-10-19.
How to set it up yourself
- What Red Dog's Roofing did: it tried an AI responder on Facebook Messenger and let its answering service use AI after hours, then turned both off when the responder was glitchy and customers complained.
- Before you switch on any AI responder or AI answering, write down what it may answer, what it must hand to a person, and how a customer reaches a human.
- Run it on a small slice first (one channel, nights only) for two weeks and read every conversation or call summary yourself.
- Ask a handful of customers how it felt. If the feedback is bad, turn it off and say so; a fast human callback beats a bot customers dislike.
Copy-paste prompt
We're thinking about turning on an AI responder for {CHANNEL, e.g. Facebook Messenger / after-hours calls} at {COMPANY NAME}, a roofing company. Our customers are mostly {CUSTOMER TYPE, e.g. homeowners over 50}. Write: 1) a one-page rule sheet for what it may answer and what it must hand to a person, 2) a two-week test plan with what to measure, 3) five questions to ask customers afterward, and 4) the signs that mean we should switch it off.The $39 Plumbing & HVAC AI Starter Kit has ready-to-use call scripts, missed-call texts, estimate follow-ups and review templates, built from 18 real, sourced setups. Instant download, 30-day refund.
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