RIFF · After-hours phone coverage

Hire the night shift for a dollar an hour.

RIFF answers your phone when you've gone home — takes the message, books the appointment, texts the confirmation. Priced like a worker on shift, not like software.

$1/ hour on shift

8pm–8am = $12 a night. Unlimited calls. No per-minute meter. Turn it on for the nights you need.

See how it works ↓

What it does on every call

A real voice on the line in about two seconds — not a phone tree, not a chatbot.

📞

Answers, live

Picks up every call on your number and holds a natural spoken conversation in real time.

📝

Takes the message

Captures the caller's name, number, and what they need — and reads it back so it's right.

📅

Books the appointment

Offers open times and writes the booking straight into your Google Calendar.

💬

Texts a confirmation

Sends the caller an SMS so they have it in writing before they hang up.

🚩

Flags the urgent ones

Recognizes an emergency, takes the details, and marks it for a first-thing callback.

🛡️

Won't make things up

It never tells a caller "you're booked" unless the booking actually went through. Guardrails, not vibes.

The math of a $1 night

A human night receptionist runs $15–$25 an hour. Answering services bill by the minute and charge extra after dark.

Human night receptionist · 12 hrs @ $18/hr$216 / night
After-hours answering service · one 10-min 2am call @ ~$2.50/min~$25 / call
Most answering-service plans (metered minutes, night surcharge)$250–$720 / mo
RIFF · 8pm–8am, unlimited calls$12 / night

One after-hours call to a live service can cost as much as a whole RIFF night. Human-service figures: MAP $179–339/mo, PATLive $250–460/mo, Ruby $395–720/mo (per-minute, night surcharges typical), June 2026.

How it compares

Cheaper bots cap your minutes. Human services meter every call. RIFF is dedicated coverage for the shift.

OptionHow you payNightly call limit
RIFF$1 / hour on shift ($12/night)Unlimited
Budget AI bots (Rosie, Dialzara)$29–$49 / moCapped (60–250 min/mo)
Human answering service$250–$720 / mo + per-min + night surchargeMetered
Live human receptionist$15–$25 / hour ($180–$300/night)One at a time

No competitor prices per shift-hour — the "hire a worker for the night" model is the gap RIFF fills. Pricing verified on vendor sites, June 2026; budget bots are cheaper monthly but meter minutes and aren't dedicated to a window.

Honest about what it is

We'd rather you trust it than be surprised. Here's the straight version.

✓ Great at

  • Answering after-hours calls so none go to voicemail
  • Taking accurate, complete messages
  • Booking appointments into Google Calendar
  • Service trades, salons, clinics, rentals, simple orders
  • Staying truthful — it retracts a claim rather than guess

⚠ Not (yet) for

  • Transferring a caller to a live person mid-call — it takes a message and promises a callback instead
  • Complex multi-system CRM workflows
  • Calendars other than Google
  • Guaranteed SMS delivery (it's best-effort)

Cover tonight for the price of a coffee.

Turn it on at 8, off at 8. $12. Wake up to the messages, not the missed calls.

Get a number for tonight →