AI and call-processing notice

This notice explains how calls are handled when you call a plumbing business that uses Office by Sam, or when you call the Office by Sam front desk. It also covers calls that Liam makes.

An AI assistant answers

Calls are answered by an AI assistant named Liam, not by a person. Liam answers for the plumbing business you called. On the Office by Sam front desk line, he answers for Office by Sam. Liam talks with you naturally, like a normal conversation, not from a script, except for the safety steps described below.

At the start of every call, Liam tells you that you're speaking with an AI assistant. He also tells you how the call is processed (see below) and asks whether you're OK to continue. If you don't agree, Liam doesn't continue the conversation. He tells you how else you can reach the business and ends the call, and no transcript is made of the rest of that call. Calls between Liam and a plumbing business's own team work differently: see Calls with a plumbing business and its team below.

No person joins or takes over the call. Liam handles the call from start to finish.

Calls from Liam

Liam also makes some calls:

• setup and other service calls to plumbing businesses that use Office by Sam;
• emergency alert calls to the people a business named to get them; and
• calls to a caller about the job they called about, and only if they agreed to it on that call: for example, if nobody from a business can take a water emergency job, so the caller doesn't wait.

At the start of these calls, Liam says who the call is from and that he is an AI assistant. On a call to a caller about their job, he also tells you that the call is processed in real time by automated systems, including our technical service providers, and turned into text, and that no audio is recorded. Then he asks whether you're OK to continue. If you don't agree, Liam ends the call, and no transcript is made of the rest of that call. Calls with a plumbing business and its team are described below. During the call, Liam also gives a phone number where you can reach the business that is calling.

We follow these steps on all of these calls, in every state, including states where the law requires everyone on a call to agree. The rules below on transcripts, how long we keep them, and how they are used apply to these calls too.

Calls with a plumbing business and its team

This covers calls between Liam and a plumbing business that uses Office by Sam, and the people the business gave us as its contacts (for example its owner, office staff, technicians and emergency contacts), on the Office by Sam front desk line or the number Liam calls from. The business and these people agreed in advance that these calls are handled by an AI assistant, processed live by automated systems, including our technical service providers, and transcribed into text, with no audio recording. So Liam doesn't ask again. He starts the call like this:

"Hi [first name], it's Liam, Office by Sam LLC's AI assistant. As agreed, this call is AI-processed live and transcribed, not recorded."

If we don't have one first name for that number, Liam just says "Hi,". If you're not the person we expected, or not part of the business's team, Liam gives the full notice and asks whether you're OK to continue. If you don't want the call handled this way, just say so: Liam offers to end the call, and no transcript is made of the rest of that call. Calls to or from a plumbing business's own phone line always get the full notice and the question.

How your call is processed

• Real-time processing: what you say is sent to and processed in real time by automated systems. These include systems run by our technical service providers for phone calls, voice and AI.
• Transcript, not audio: the call is turned into text. We don't record audio, and we don't keep audio recordings.
• How long we keep it: transcripts are deleted automatically 30 days after the call. Call summaries are deleted automatically 30 days after your last call. Deletion makes the information unreadable.
• Your consent: a short record of your consent (date and time, phone number, who gave it and what it covers, but no transcript text) is kept for 4 years after the last call or message that relies on it.
• Legal holds: if there's a complaint, dispute or legal inquiry about a call, we may keep the related records until it's resolved.
• Where it's stored: transcripts and consent records are stored with Supabase in the United States.
• What it's used for: only to provide the service to the plumbing business you called, to keep it secure, and to fix errors. We don't sell it, and we don't share it with anyone for their own marketing, advertising, lead generation or analytics. We don't use transcripts or other caller data to train or fine-tune any AI model.

Who helps us run the service

• Telnyx: phone calls and text messages.
• xAI (Grok Voice): the AI model and voice that process the conversation in real time.
• ElevenLabs: backup voice provider, used only if the primary provider is unavailable.
• Cloudflare: hosting of the software that connects the telephone line with the AI assistant during calls.
• Supabase: stores transcripts and consent records in the United States.
• Google Workspace: our email, and the read-only job calendar we share with each plumbing business.
• Stripe: payment processing.
• Our website hosting and security providers.

We require these providers to protect the information. More detail is in our Privacy Policy.

Emergencies: call 911

Liam is an AI assistant, not an emergency service, and he doesn't replace 911. He can't call 911 for you. If anyone is in danger, hang up and call 911.

• Gas smell or carbon monoxide alarm: Liam's safety steps for these calls are always given word for word.
  • For a gas smell, Liam says: "Please leave the house now and take everyone with you. Don't switch any lights or appliances on or off on your way out. Once you are outside and away from the house, call 911 or your gas company's emergency line. Stay outside until the gas company or emergency responders tell you to go back in." He then also says the carbon monoxide steps below.
  • For a carbon monoxide alarm, Liam says: "Carbon monoxide has no smell, so don't wait. Get everyone out to fresh air outside right now. Call 911 from outside. Stay outside until emergency responders tell you to go back in."
• Water emergencies, for example a burst pipe, flooding or water near electrics: Liam gives short safety steps and passes the emergency on to the plumbing business when they handle emergencies.
• If nobody takes an emergency job (other than gas or carbon monoxide): Liam calls you once and we also send you one text, so you don't wait. If anyone is in danger, call 911.
• No promise of a callback: someone from the business may try to call you back, but we can't promise it or say when, so don't wait for us. If it gets worse or anyone is in danger, call 911.
• Busy signal: if the business has reached its daily call limit or its service is paused, you may get a busy signal. If it's an emergency, call 911.

Questions

Contact the plumbing business you called. For questions about Office by Sam, call our front desk at +1 (401) 289-8785, or see our Privacy Policy.