People book the mover who answers, not the one they meant to call
A moving inquiry has a date attached and a short shelf life. Vandial answers immediately, captures both addresses, the property size, the access at each end and the date, and books the survey — before the caller works down the rest of the list.
From $99 a month · Robocalls are never billed
Incoming callSanne Visser“Can someone come and look before you quote me?”
Booked — survey Sat 11am, fixed price requested
- Three at once
- is how many movers a caller rings in one sitting. The first to answer prices it
- Both ends
- permits, stairs and lifts captured on the first call
- Provisional
- kept separate from confirmed, so a collapsed chain costs nothing
This is what your callers hear
The same receptionist a moving company gets, answering as the trades we already run. Yours is in the middle — press play.
One moving call, and what it left behind
Answered on the second ring. Every field below was captured during the call — nobody typed it in afterwards.
“Can someone come and look before you quote me?”
Classified0:17
- quote request
- local move
- survey
Captured0:36
- 3 bed
- 40min
- permit zone at origin
- no piano
Booked1:10
- Google Calendar
- Sat 11am
- survey
Booked — survey Sat 11am, fixed price requested
Read the whole moving call, line by line
- 0:02Sanne Visser: Can someone come and look before you quote me?
- 0:04Vandial: Yes — a survey is the only way to give you a fixed price rather than an estimate. Where are you moving from and to?
- 0:15Sanne Visser: From a three-bed here in town, out to Milton about forty minutes away.
- 0:17Classified — quote request · local move · survey
- 0:25Vandial: Any parking restrictions at either end, or stairs without a lift?
- 0:33Sanne Visser: There's a permit zone outside here. The new place is fine.
- 0:36Captured — 3 bed · 40min · permit zone at origin · no piano
- 0:47Vandial: Have you got a completion date, or is it still moving around?
- 0:55Sanne Visser: Nothing fixed yet, probably late next month.
- 1:04Vandial: Saturday at eleven for the survey then, and we'll hold provisional dates once you know.
- 1:10Booked — Google Calendar · Sat 11am · survey
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
Answered while the crew and the office are both on a live move, which is when most moving inquiries currently ring out.
- 0:00Incoming call
- 0:02Answered by Vandial2 rings
- 0:05“Hello, Marlow Plumbing.”
It understands
Both addresses, the property size, the access at each end and the date — captured well enough that the survey is a confirmation rather than a discovery.
- Job
- Water heater — leaking
- Where
- 14 Marlow Street
- Access
- Side gate, dog in yard
- Urgency
- Today if possible
- Still on
It books
The survey booked, provisional dates held where the chain is not confirmed, and the whole thing confirmed by text.
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 moving companies, and the operational reason each one exists. Change them, add your own, or take them out — they are configuration, not code.
Where from, and where to?
Distance and both ZIP codes are the frame for everything else — crew size, vehicle, whether it is a day job or two.
How many bedrooms, and is there a loft or a garage?
Volume. The loft and the garage are what turn a three-bed move into a four-bed one, and nobody mentions them.
Parking and access at both ends — permits, stairs, lifts?
The constraint that decides crew size and the single most common reason a move overruns and the price is disputed.
Is there a completion date, or is it still moving?
A fixed date books; a floating one is a provisional hold. Treating them the same is how a Saturday gets double-booked.
Anything unusual — a piano, a safe, a fish tank?
The items that need specialist handling or a second team, and that cost you the afternoon if they appear on the day.
Do you need packing, storage, or dismantling?
Three separate services attached to the same move, each worth asking about once rather than discovering on the day.
More than a moving company 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
A moving inquiry has a date attached, so it does not wait. The customer rings three companies in one sitting and books from whoever answered and sounded organized — a callback two hours later arrives after the decision.
It knows your prices, your patch and your hours
Access at both ends is what decides crew size, and it is what the day overruns on when nobody asked. Capturing permits, stairs and lifts on the first call makes your survey shorter and your quote right.
What it knows
Survey
Free
Hourly rate
$140, 2 movers and a truck
Coverage
National
Specialist items
Piano and safe quoted separately
What matters reaches you. The rest waits
Provisional and confirmed are kept apart. A floating completion date is held rather than booked, so a Saturday is not lost to a chain that collapsed and nobody told you.
Your rule: if they say gas, flood or no heat — ring Sam, then me.
Every call written up, tagged and searchable
Every inquiry written up with both addresses, the volume, the access and the extras. Your surveyor arrives knowing what they are walking into and how long it will take.
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 last Friday of the month
Completions cluster on Fridays and at month end, so the inquiries cluster in the weeks before them. It means your busiest quoting periods are also the periods when everyone in the office is coordinating live moves — and the inquiry that rings out on that Friday goes to a competitor, because the caller has a date and cannot wait.
When it happens · Month end, and every Friday
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 moving, and the words it uses instead.
It won't give a fixed price without a survey
A move quoted from a phone description is an estimate that becomes an argument on the day. The agent explains why the survey exists, books it, and gives your survey and hourly rates — the numbers that actually are fixed.
What it actually says
“I could give you a rough figure, but it would only be rough — and on moving day that difference turns into a row. The survey's free and the price after it is fixed.”
It doesn't confirm a date that isn't confirmed
Completion dates move, and a mover who has firmly booked a Saturday against an unconfirmed chain has either lost the day or lost the customer. The agent distinguishes a provisional hold from a booking, and says which it has made.
What it actually says
“I'll pencil that in as provisional rather than book it — the moment your date's confirmed, text us and we'll make it firm.”
It won't take on what needs a specialist
Pianos, safes, large aquariums and anything requiring a hoist are captured and routed to you rather than agreed to. Discovering a piano on the morning of the move is a problem with no good solution.
What it actually says
“A piano needs a specialist team rather than the standard crew — let me flag that so we get you the right quote rather than a surprise on the day.”
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 moving companies say before they say yes
Three objections, in the words they are usually put in. Where the objection is right, it says so.
“Every inquiry has a date on it. They won't wait for a callback.”
They don't. The customer rings three companies in one sitting and books whoever answered and sounded organized, so a callback two hours later arrives after the decision has been made.
“We can't fix a price without seeing it.”
And it doesn't try. It gives your survey terms and hourly rate — the numbers that are fixed — and books the survey. A move priced from a phone description becomes an argument on moving day, which is the worst possible day to have one.
“Chains collapse. Half our bookings aren't real bookings.”
Which is why it separates a provisional hold from a confirmed date and tells the caller which it has made. A Saturday firmly booked against an unconfirmed completion either loses you the day or loses you the customer.
Moving questions, answered
What moving companies ask before handing over their phone number — and what a moving company answering service can and cannot do for you.
Will it quote a move over the phone?
It gives your survey terms and hourly rates, and it explains why a fixed price needs a survey. A move priced from a description is an estimate that becomes an argument on moving day, which is the worst possible day to have one.
How does it deal with dates that aren't confirmed?
It distinguishes a provisional hold from a booking and says which it has made. Chains collapse, and a mover who firmly booked a Saturday against an unconfirmed completion either loses the day or loses the customer.
Does it capture access properly?
Permits, stairs, lifts and parking at both ends, asked directly. That is what decides crew size and it is what a move overruns on, so it is asked on the first call rather than discovered by three people with a sofa.
What about pianos and other specialist items?
Captured and flagged rather than agreed to. A piano discovered on the morning of the move is a problem with no good answer, so the agent asks the question that surfaces it while there is still time to quote it properly.
Can it book packing and storage as well?
It asks about both and captures them with the inquiry, so the survey covers the whole job rather than half of it. Those are usually where the margin is and they are the easiest thing to forget to ask about.
Does it handle commercial and office moves?
Yes, with different questions — after-hours access, lift booking, IT equipment, insurance requirements — and they can route to whoever handles commercial rather than joining the domestic queue.
What does it cost?
Three paid rungs — Starter, Professional and Business — differing only in how many unique customers you answer for in a month. Call flows and full call history are unlimited on all of them. There is no per-minute billing, and every plan includes talk time far above what a business its size uses. 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 moving 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.