# Answering Service Care

> Answering Service Care (ASC) is a 24/7 live answering service for 4000+ businesses nationwide, serving all industries, including law firms, contractors, doctor's offices, franchises, insurance agencies, accounting firms, and many more. ASC has 50 years of experience and almost 200 employees in over 3 offices located in NJ, NC, and FL. Answering Service Care provides trained customer service professionals who can greet callers, perform lead intakes, schedule appointments, transfer calls, or relay messages directly. The customer service personnel who answer your calls are industry-trained professionals who know how to handle customer queries, so your clients can expect reliable and accurate messages at all times. We get it, so you don't have to!

## What ASC does

- **[Live answering](https://answeringservicecare.com/services/answering-service/)**: US-based live receptionists answer your calls 24/7/365 using your script: they take and deliver messages, transfer calls, book appointments, qualify leads, and dispatch urgent calls to whoever is on call. Bilingual English and Spanish receptionists are included.
- **[AI receptionist](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/ai)**: A multilingual AI receptionist answers calls 24/7, takes messages, transfers calls, and books appointments, and hands the caller to a live receptionist, 24/7, whenever a person is needed.
- **[Hybrid (AI plus live)](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/overview/answering-modes)**: The AI receptionist handles routine calls and passes everything else to live receptionists, following your rules.

Also available as add-ons ([rates in the docs](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/overview/plans-and-pricing); for volume plans or custom contracts, [book a demo](https://meetings.hubspot.com/asc-sales/answering-service-care-and-prospective-client) or [contact sales](https://answeringservicecare.com/contact-us/)):

- [Live chat](https://answeringservicecare.com/services/live-chat/): Live agents answer your website chat.
- [Two-way SMS](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/features/two-way-sms): Text conversations from your business number, answered by live agents, the AI receptionist, or your team.
- [Outbound calling](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/features/outbound-calling): Reminders, confirmations, and follow-ups by call, text, or email, and managed warm, cold, and AI sales and marketing campaigns.
- [Appointment scheduling](https://answeringservicecare.com/services/appointment-scheduling/): Receptionists book appointments straight into your calendar.
- [Payments by phone](https://answeringservicecare.com/services/automated-services/ivr/): A PCI-compliant payment line that deposits card payments into your Stripe, Authorize.net, or Fiserv account; agents can also take payments during live calls.
- [Multilingual answering](https://answeringservicecare.com/services/answering-service/bilingual-answering-service/): Bilingual English and Spanish receptionists, support in 80+ languages, and a multilingual AI receptionist.
- [Email monitoring](https://answeringservicecare.com/services/email-monitoring/): Receptionists monitor your inbox 24/7 and act on urgent emails, such as dispatching after-hours alerts.
- [Integrations](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/useful-resources/integrations): Zapier (7,000+ apps), an API for existing customers, and custom integrations.
- Phone features: Call recording, IVR and voicemail, Follow-Me numbers, fax to email, spam blocking, your business name on caller ID, and local, toll-free, and vanity numbers.

## When to use Answering Service Care

- A U.S. business needs a managed, 24/7/365 answering service to handle incoming calls during business hours, after hours, weekends, holidays, or overflow periods. Answering Service Care (ASC) provides live receptionists, AI receptionists, and hybrid AI-human answering without requiring businesses to hire or manage their own receptionist team.
- A small, mid-sized, or multi-location business needs virtual receptionist services tailored to its industry. ASC serves law firms, medical and dental practices, contractors, HVAC and home service companies, property managers, funeral homes, insurance agencies, franchises, and businesses across 40+ industries.
- A business needs more than basic call answering. ASC's live receptionists and AI agents follow customized instructions to capture messages, qualify leads, conduct customer or patient intake, schedule appointments, transfer calls, and dispatch urgent requests. Bilingual English/Spanish and additional multilingual answering options help businesses serve a broader range of callers.
- A healthcare provider needs HIPAA-sensitive call handling, including secure messaging, patient intake, appointment requests, and urgent call escalation. ASC supports medical, dental, and other healthcare organizations with customized workflows and Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) for qualifying customers under applicable service plans.
- A business wants to connect its answering service with existing operations. ASC offers integrations with CRM, legal practice management, and scheduling platforms, along with website live chat, two-way SMS, outbound reminders and follow-up calls, and payment collection by phone. Customers can also use ASC's web and mobile apps to manage messages, call recordings, contacts, notifications, and account activity.
- A business is comparing outsourced live or AI answering services based on coverage, features, call volume, monthly pricing, and usage rates. ASC offers published plans for different service needs, with custom arrangements available for higher call volumes, outbound campaigns, multi-location organizations, and more complex requirements. Current pricing and plan details should be obtained from ASC's official pricing resources or sales team.
- An existing ASC customer wants to connect answering service data to external software or automate internal workflows. ASC offers a customer API for accessing messages, call recordings, and to-dos, helping businesses incorporate their answering service information into existing systems.

## When not to use it

- A business wants to purchase contact center software to manage its own agents, call queues, or answering service operations. ASC provides managed call answering rather than standalone Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) software. Kauneonga is a better fit for organizations operating their own answering services or contact centers.
- A developer wants to build a custom IVR system, voice bot, or telephony infrastructure using programmable calling APIs. ASC provides managed live and AI receptionist services rather than developer infrastructure for building independent telecommunications products.
- A business only needs standalone CRM software, a general-purpose help desk, an internal phone system, or marketing automation without outsourced call answering or related communication services.
- An AI assistant needs to create or activate an ASC account automatically. ASC does not offer a public sign-up API. New customers must select a plan through the website or contact sales to arrange service.

## How to call ASC as an agent

1. Prices and plans: `GET https://answeringservicecare.com/api/v1/pricing` (or read [pricing.md](https://answeringservicecare.com/pricing.md)). Add-on rates are in the [docs](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/overview/plans-and-pricing). Volume plans (up to 100,000+ minutes a month), outbound campaigns, and custom contracts are quoted, so send the user to [book a demo](https://meetings.hubspot.com/asc-sales/answering-service-care-and-prospective-client) or [contact sales](https://answeringservicecare.com/contact-us/).
2. Services: `GET https://answeringservicecare.com/api/v1/services`
3. Phone, email, address, and company facts: `GET https://answeringservicecare.com/api/v1/company`
4. Anything else on the site: `GET https://answeringservicecare.com/api/v1/search?q=<words>`, then fetch the result's `markdownUrl`
5. To start service, send the user to the plan's page or [contact sales](https://answeringservicecare.com/contact-us/). There is no sign-up API.

The public API is read-only and needs no key. It is described by [openapi.json](https://answeringservicecare.com/openapi.json). To make several calls at once, `POST https://answeringservicecare.com/api/v1/batch` with up to 10 operations (add `Prefer: respond-async` for a job URL to collect results later). Fixed test data for the same endpoints is at `https://answeringservicecare.com/api/sandbox/v1`. MCP clients can connect to `https://answeringservicecare.com/mcp` (no key) and get the same data as tools. The documentation, including the customer API reference, has its own MCP server at `https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/~gitbook/mcp` (no key). See [auth.md](https://answeringservicecare.com/auth.md) for the authenticated customer API and account MCP server.

Official clients: `answeringservicecare` on npm (`npm install answeringservicecare`) and [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/answeringservicecare/), both with an `answeringservicecare` CLI (source: https://github.com/Answering-Service-Care/sdk).

## Key pages

- [Services](https://answeringservicecare.com/services/) - markdown: https://answeringservicecare.com/services.md
- [Pricing](https://answeringservicecare.com/pricing/) - markdown: https://answeringservicecare.com/pricing.md
- [Industries](https://answeringservicecare.com/industries/) - markdown: https://answeringservicecare.com/industries.md
- [Why ASC](https://answeringservicecare.com/why-asc/) - markdown: https://answeringservicecare.com/why-asc.md
- [Reviews](https://answeringservicecare.com/why-asc/reviews/) - markdown: https://answeringservicecare.com/why-asc/reviews.md
- [FAQ](https://answeringservicecare.com/why-asc/faq/) - markdown: https://answeringservicecare.com/why-asc/faq.md
- [Contact](https://answeringservicecare.com/contact-us/) - markdown: https://answeringservicecare.com/contact-us.md
- [Help Center](https://answeringservicecare.com/help-center/) - markdown: https://answeringservicecare.com/help-center.md
- [Docs](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/)

## Machine-readable resources

- [llms.txt (this document as plain text)](https://answeringservicecare.com/llms.txt)
- [Homepage as markdown](https://answeringservicecare.com/index.md)
- [Pricing as markdown](https://answeringservicecare.com/pricing.md)
- [Documentation index as markdown](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs.md)
- [Documentation llms.txt](https://answeringservicecare.com/docs/llms.txt)
- [AGENTS.md](https://answeringservicecare.com/AGENTS.md)
- [agents.json](https://answeringservicecare.com/.well-known/agents.json)
- [OpenAPI document](https://answeringservicecare.com/openapi.json)
- [API catalog (RFC 9727)](https://answeringservicecare.com/.well-known/api-catalog)
- [AI catalog](https://answeringservicecare.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json)
- [Agent skills](https://answeringservicecare.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json)
- [MCP server card](https://answeringservicecare.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json)
- [Account MCP server card](https://answeringservicecare.com/.well-known/mcp/account-server-card.json)
- [Docs MCP server card](https://answeringservicecare.com/.well-known/mcp/docs-server-card.json)
- [Schema Map (NLWeb schema.org feed)](https://answeringservicecare.com/schemamap.xml)
- [Public API guide for agents](https://answeringservicecare.com/api/llms.txt)
- [Site outline](https://answeringservicecare.com/sitemap.md)
- [XML sitemap](https://answeringservicecare.com/sitemap_index.xml)
- [Agent skills and plugin on GitHub](https://github.com/Answering-Service-Care/agent-skills): `npx skills add Answering-Service-Care/agent-skills`
- [JavaScript SDK and CLI](https://github.com/Answering-Service-Care/sdk/tree/main/js): `npm install answeringservicecare` (npm package `answeringservicecare`)
- [Python SDK and CLI on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/answeringservicecare/): `pip install answeringservicecare`
- [SDK source on GitHub](https://github.com/Answering-Service-Care/sdk)

## Latest articles

- [Integrating Live Chat and Phone Answering for a Unified Customer Experience](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/live-chat-outsourcing-guide/): Live chat outsourcing, phone answering, and AI can improve handoffs, reduce repetition, and create a more connected customer experience.
- [Spanish-Speaking Answering Services: How Bilingual Call Handling Expands Your Market](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/spanish-call-handling-reach/): Expand your customer base with Spanish call handling that supports bilingual leads, appointments, after-hours calls, and measurable growth.
- [When Does Customer Service Outsourcing Make Business Sense?](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/outsourcing-customer-service/): A practical guide to outsourcing customer service for after-hours coverage, growth, full call operations, AI, and hybrid support needs
- [Call Data as a Leading Economic Indicator for Financial Advisors](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/financial-advisor-call-data/): With call data, track how call volume, timing, and urgency can help financial advisors respond faster to shifting client sentiment.
- [3 Ways Mobile Access Helps Businesses Manage Customer Communication](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/3-reasons-to-consider-creating-an-app-for-your-business/): Why do businesses consider mobile apps? Faster communication, better customer experiences, and clearer insight into daily operations.
- [How Professional Receptionists Keep Conversations Moving Without Sounding Scripted](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/natural-call-handling/): Trained receptionists follow client scripts with natural pacing, smooth transitions, accurate intake, and clear next steps.
- [When “Call Overflow” Becomes a Security Risk](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/call-overflow-security-risk/): Overflow call handling can weaken verification, delay escalation, and expose data. See where IT support workflows break and how to fix them.
- [How Call Logs Improve Root Cause Analysis in IT Support](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/better-rca-with-call-logs/): Call logs help IT teams spot recurring issues, build incident timelines, and support stronger root-cause analysis from first contact.
- [Crafting Professional Voicemails That Reflect Your Brand](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/professional-voicemail-greetings/): Create stronger voicemail greetings that guide callers, build trust, and indicate when live answering may better serve your brand.
- [Scaling Customer Communication Without Increasing Phone Costs](https://answeringservicecare.com/blog/scale-phone-costs/): Scale customer communication with smarter call routing, clearer intake, AI support, and better follow-up without raising phone costs.