The tank ran dry at nine on a Friday. The phone is still ringing at ten
A run-out in January is not a delivery request, it is a house with no heat and a customer deciding whether you are still their supplier. Vandial answers every call, works out whether the heat is actually off, and puts the stop on the right truck — while the routine top-ups go into the book without anybody being interrupted.
From $99 a month · Robocalls are never billed
Incoming callEllen Brandt“Hi — I think we've run out. The furnace stopped about an hour ago.”
Booked — priority run-out, Sat 7–11, tank at 5%, driveway plowed
- Already yours
- most run-out calls come from your own route — losing one loses the contract
- 6 of 10
- Results for “propane answering service” are message-takers with a propane page
- Never voicemail
- A run-out with the heat off is triaged and booked, not left on a machine
This is what your callers hear
The same receptionist a fuel company gets, answering as the trades we already run. Yours is in the middle — press play.
One fuel delivery call, and what it left behind
Answered on the second ring. Every field below was captured during the call — nobody typed it in afterwards.
“Hi — I think we've run out. The furnace stopped about an hour ago.”
Classified0:12
- existing customer
- run-out
- no gas odour
Captured0:30
- tank 5%, heat off, no odour, account on will-call
Booked1:01
- priority run-out
- Sat 7–11
- route notes attached
Booked — priority run-out, Sat 7–11, tank at 5%, driveway plowed
Read the whole fuel delivery call, line by line
- 0:02Ellen Brandt: Hi — I think we've run out. The furnace stopped about an hour ago.
- 0:05Vandial: Let's get you warm. First — do you smell any gas at all, inside or near the tank?
- 0:10Ellen Brandt: No, nothing like that. It just went quiet.
- 0:12Classified — existing customer · run-out · no gas odour
- 0:16Vandial: Good. Can you read me the gauge on top of the tank — the round dial under the lid?
- 0:27Ellen Brandt: It's sitting on five.
- 0:30Captured — tank 5%, heat off, no odour, account on will-call
- 0:36Vandial: That's a run-out. You're on will-call, so nothing was scheduled — I'm putting you on the priority list for the morning.
- 0:47Vandial: Is the driveway clear enough for the truck, and is the tank behind a gate?
- 0:56Vandial: Saturday between seven and eleven. You'll get a text to confirm.
- 1:01Booked — priority run-out · Sat 7–11 · route notes attached
Answered, understood, booked
One number, picked up on the second ring — at 2am, on a Sunday, while you're already working. By the time the caller hangs up, it is in your calendar.
It answers
It picks up on the second ring, at nine at night in January, when every will-call customer has just looked at their gauge.
- 0:00Incoming call
- 0:02Answered by Vandial2 rings
- 0:05“Hello, Marlow Plumbing.”
It understands
It asks about the odour first, then the gauge, then whether the heat is off — so a run-out is separated from a top-up before you ever hear about it.
- Job
- Water heater — leaking
- Where
- 14 Marlow Street
- Access
- Side gate, dog in yard
- Urgency
- Today if possible
- Still on
It books
It puts the stop into the route with the access notes attached, and texts the customer a window they can hold you to.
Text to Dave · 13:01
You’re booked for today, 1–2pm. Reply R to move it.
It asks what you would ask
These are the questions the agent runs for propane and heating oil dealers, and the operational reason each one exists. Change them, add your own, or take them out — they are configuration, not code.
Do you smell gas, inside or near the tank?
Asked first, every time, before anything else — because if the answer is yes there is no delivery to book, only an evacuation.
What does the gauge read?
The difference between a run-out and a nervous customer at 30%. It decides whether this goes on tomorrow's priority list or into the normal route.
Is the heat off right now?
A cold house with children or an elderly resident moves up the list regardless of what the gauge says.
Are you on auto-fill or will-call?
A run-out on an auto-fill account is our miss and needs a manager to see it; on will-call it is a delivery. They are not the same call.
Is the driveway clear and is the tank gated?
A truck that cannot reach the tank is a wasted stop on a day where every stop is spoken for. Snow, mud and locked gates get asked about in winter.
Which address, and is it the same tank as last time?
Customers with a second property, a shop tank, or a rental ring from whichever phone is nearest.
More than a propane answering service
An answering service takes a message and charges you for it. Vandial knows your prices, your patch and your diary — so it books the job, or puts a real emergency straight through to you.
It picks up out of hours, and while your line is busy
After hours is when the run-outs happen, because that is when people notice the heat has stopped. It answers all of them, and only the ones that need you reach you.
It knows your prices, your patch and your hours
It answers from your delivery area, your minimum, your account types and your after-hours fee — and refuses to quote a rate that moves daily.
What it knows
Delivery area
By town, and the ones you no longer serve
Minimum delivery
100 gallons
After-hours run
Priority fee, stated on the call
Account types
Auto-fill, will-call, budget plan
What matters reaches you. The rest waits
A gas odour skips every queue and goes straight to the emergency instruction. A tank at 40% goes into the book. Nothing in between wakes you up.
Your rule: if they say gas, flood or no heat — ring Sam, then me.
Every call written up, tagged and searchable
Every call recorded and written up against the account, so a run-out on an auto-fill customer is a thing you can find rather than a thing you hear about in April.
Dave Whitfield · Sunday, 4m 12s
Water heater, leaking
Leaking from the base. Booked for Tuesday 1–2pm. Side gate open, dog in the yard. Asked whether the service call fee applies — told $99, waived on repair.
The first cold snap fills a week of calls into two days
Every will-call customer looks at the gauge on the same evening. The people who ran out call at once, the people at 20% call because their neighbor ran out, and the office phone is answered by whoever is not driving. That is also the week new customers are shopping for a supplier who picks up.
When it happens · The first hard freeze, and every cold snap after it
A normal month, then a surge month
- Billed per minute
- Your baselineTriples with the calls
- The bill peaks in the same week your phone does.
- Billed per call, like a human service
- Per call, every callEvery extra call, billed
- Including the robocalls and the wrong numbers.
- Vandial
- From $99 a monthThe same
- Call flows are unlimited on every paid rung, and there is no per-minute billing. The rungs differ only in how many unique customers you answer for — and a surge is mostly more calls from the same people.
Robocalls and sales calls are identified and zero-rated on every plan. They never count toward your included customers and never create a customer record.
What it will never do
You are handing your phone to something that talks to your customers when you are not there. These are the lines it does not cross in fuel delivery, and the words it uses instead.
It never talks anybody through a gas smell
An odour is not a scheduling problem. The agent tells them to leave, not to touch switches or the phone indoors, and to call the emergency line from outside — then flags it to you. It does not book, does not price, and does not diagnose.
What it actually says
“Leave the building now, don't touch any switches, and call 911 and your gas emergency line from outside. I'm flagging this to the on-call number right away.”
It never quotes a price per gallon
Posted rates move daily, and a number said out loud at nine at night is a number you are held to at delivery. It states your minimum delivery and any after-hours fee — both configured — and leaves the rate to you.
What it actually says
“The rate moves with the market, so I won't quote you one and be wrong. The minimum delivery is 100 gallons and there's an after-hours charge on a priority run.”
It never promises a truck it cannot see
Routes are full days and a promise made on the phone at midnight is a promise a driver has to keep at seven. It books into the capacity that is actually left in the window, and where there is none it says so and offers the next one.
What it actually says
“I can't promise tonight — the trucks are out on tomorrow's route. I can put you first thing in the morning, seven to eleven, and text you when the driver is on the way.”
The job lands where you already work
Google, Outlook, Apple, Exchange, CalDAV — whichever calendar you already keep. Then your payments, your CRM, and whatever you automate with.
…and a lot more besides
- Warm transfersWarm transfersAnnounced — who is calling and why, before you take the line.
- Spam never billedSpam never billedRobocalls are spotted, zero-rated, and never become a customer.
- A number per sourceA number per sourceVan, yard sign, Google listing — see which line brings the work.
- Team & on-callTeam & on-callTries you, then a second number, then whoever is on call.
- Run it by textRun it by textReply to a text to move a job, block a morning, clear a day.
- Clear a day, everyone toldClear a day, everyone toldCall off a wet Tuesday; every customer is told and re-offered.
- Never invents an answerNever invents an answerNo price or slot it was not given. It takes a message instead.
- Any trade, no codeAny trade, no codeGoal, questions and guardrails are settings, not a rebuild.
What propane and heating oil dealers say before they say yes
Three objections, in the words they are usually put in. Where the objection is right, it says so.
“My customers have been with me twenty years. They expect me to answer.”
They do — and on a normal Tuesday you do. The call this is for is the one at nine on a Friday in January, when you are already out on a run-out and the phone rings four more times. Those four are the ones who find out whether somebody else answers faster.
“An answering service can't tell a run-out from a top-up.”
Right, and that is exactly why the human ones take a message and leave the sorting to you at six in the morning. This one asks the gauge, asks whether the heat is off, and asks about the odour before either — so what reaches you is already triaged, and the routine top-ups never reach you at all.
“The gas-leak call is the one I cannot get wrong.”
Agreed, and it is the one call the agent is not allowed to handle. It does not book it, price it or ask a second question — it tells them to get out and call the emergency line, then puts it in front of you. A wrong answer there is not a lost job, and the design treats it that way.
Fuel delivery questions, answered
What propane and heating oil dealers ask before handing over their phone number — and what a propane answering service can and cannot do for you.
Can it tell a run-out from a routine delivery?
That is what the gauge reading and the heat-off question are for, and they are asked on every call. A tank at 5% with the furnace stopped is a priority stop; a tank at 40% goes into the next scheduled run. Both are booked without ringing you.
What happens if somebody smells gas?
It stops being a delivery call. The agent tells them to leave the building, not to touch switches or use the phone indoors, and to call 911 and your emergency line from outside — then alerts you immediately. It will not book, price or diagnose anything on that call.
Will it quote today's price per gallon?
No, deliberately. Posted rates move and a quote given at midnight is one you are held to at delivery. It states your minimum delivery and any priority fee, and leaves the rate to a person.
Does it know which customers are on auto-fill?
It asks, and records the answer against the call. A run-out on an auto-fill account is flagged differently from a will-call delivery, because one of them is a delivery and the other is a miss you need to see.
Can it take payment or card details over the phone?
It does not take card numbers on a call. It books the delivery and captures what the driver needs; anything financial goes to you or to a link, so there is no card data in a transcript.
What does it cost?
Three paid rungs — Starter, Professional and Business — differing only in how many unique customers you answer for in a month. A customer who calls four times in a cold snap counts once. Robocalls are identified and never billed.
Already decided you want AI to answer it?
Then the question is which one, and that is a different page: what a generic AI receptionist gets wrong on a fuel delivery call, and what is configurable about this one.
Not your trade?
The agent's questions, urgency rules, escalations and vocabulary are all configuration. Nothing about a trade is hard-coded, which is why there are 31 of these and not one.