Frequently asked questions

What is PamVA?

PamVA is a 24/7 AI receptionist built for appointment-based small businesses in the Okanagan. It answers every call and text in about one second, books real appointments straight into your calendar, sends confirmations and reminders, texts back missed calls, and gives you a dashboard where every conversation is transcribed. You're talking to it right now.

How much does it cost?

One flat price in Canadian dollars, no contracts, no per-minute meters: Text Receptionist is $69/month (Pam answers and books over text and web chat, with your own booking website and the CRM dashboard), Front Desk is $149/month (adds 24/7 live voice answering, the waitlist, deposits, invoices and estimates, packages, review requests and marketing), and Pro is $249/month (adds the price book and job proposals, service plans, My Day for crews, and clinic tools). The first ten founding businesses get half price for their first 6 months and a rate that never goes up; in-person setup is currently free for every new business (launch promo, normally $199).

What's the difference between the plans?

Text Receptionist at sixty-nine dollars a month covers everything over text: Pam answers by SMS and web chat, books real appointments, handles confirmations, reminders and reschedules, fires a missed-call text-back when you cannot pick up, and gives you your own booking website, customer records, analytics, hot-lead alerts and a morning digest. What it does not do is answer the phone in a live voice. Front Desk at one hundred forty-nine adds exactly that, 24/7 live voice answering that books on the call, plus after-hours alerts, a waitlist that auto-fills cancellations, booking deposits and no-show fees, invoices, payment links and estimates, packages, gift cards, promo codes, loyalty, review requests, consent-gated marketing, and accounting sync. Pro at two hundred forty-nine adds the deep toolkit: a price book and job proposals with good, better and best options, sellable service plans, My Day for field crews, the staff text channel, voice notes with intelligent transcription, and clinic tools like charting, intake forms, group classes and telehealth links, plus webhooks. That is the complete feature list — anything beyond this, Tom can cover on a consultation call.

How does getting started work?

Three steps. First, try the demo — calling this number is the demo. Second, book a setup visit: Tom comes to your business anywhere in the Okanagan and loads your services, prices and hours with you, which takes about an hour or two. Third, your 14-day free trial goes live the same day — on your existing number through call forwarding, or on a brand-new local number if you'd rather start fresh — no credit card needed. If it doesn't earn its keep, forwarding switches off and you walk away.

What features does the app include?

Answering every call and text 24/7, real appointment booking with your staff and hours, confirmations and reminders by text and email, missed-call text-back, hot-lead alerts to your phone, a hosted booking website, customer accounts, waitlists that fill cancellations, booking deposits to end no-shows, invoices and payment links through Stripe, a full dashboard with call transcripts, and a morning digest of what happened yesterday.

Can I ask a few questions before committing to anything?

Of course — book a free 15-minute Questions call and Tom will answer whatever's on your mind, no pressure and no cost. It's a lower-commitment option than the full consultation call if you're still deciding.

What areas do you serve?

The Okanagan and Thompson region — Vernon, Coldstream, Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country, Penticton, Salmon Arm and Kamloops. Setup visits are done in person; the service itself works anywhere in Canada.

Am I talking to a real person?

No — and that's the point! You're talking to Pam, the AI receptionist PamVA sells. Everything you're experiencing on this call is exactly what your own customers would get. A real person (Tom) is one transfer away during business hours.

Can it transfer calls to a human?

Yes. During business hours, saying you'd like to speak to a person transfers you to the owner's phone. After hours it takes a detailed message and the owner is notified immediately.

What does the waitlist actually do?

If the slot a customer wants is full, they can join the waitlist by phone, text, online, or you can add them yourself from the dashboard. When a spot frees up, the system offers it automatically to one waitlisted customer at a time by text or email, with a short window to claim it before it moves to the next person. No one has to keep calling back to check.

Will it work with my existing calendar?

Yes. Staff can subscribe their personal phone calendar to their own live schedule feed, and a personal appointment blocks their booking slots automatically — so a dentist visit on a stylist's own Google Calendar means that hour is never offered to a customer. Google Calendar sync is also available for businesses that live in it.

Can I keep my current CRM?

Absolutely. The dashboard can be your whole CRM if you want — customer records, notes, invoices, all in one place — but if you already run HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Jobber, or something else, bookings and messages can be pushed to it automatically through webhooks or Zapier, or exported as CSV any time.

How do payments work?

Money runs through your own Stripe account by default, so funds land directly with you and card numbers never touch our systems. You can take deposits to stop no-shows, send invoices and payment links by text, and sell packages or memberships. Already using a different payment provider? That can be connected too.

What happens after hours?

The Virtual Assistant keeps answering — it still books appointments and answers questions 24/7. If a caller specifically needs a person, it takes a detailed message and notifies the owner immediately instead of trying to transfer to someone who isn't available.

Is my customer data safe?

Each business's data is isolated from every other business at the database level, Canadian data hosting is available, and a business's complete customer list can be exported any time. We don't sell or share customer data between businesses.

What exactly do I get with the 14-day trial?

The full plan you choose, live on your own number, no credit card required. You watch real calls and bookings land in your dashboard for 14 days, then decide — keep it and billing starts, or walk away and forwarding switches off. There's also a 30-day money-back guarantee after that if you become a paying customer and change your mind.

I already pay for an answering service — is there a deal to switch?

Yes, the switcher deal: migration is free and white-glove, your first 6 months are half price, and your old service can stay live until you've seen two weeks of your own PamVA numbers before fully switching over.