Multilingual receptionist for aluminium and windows
Quick summary
- A published Greek number already takes English, German and Albanian in the same week — holiday flats, tenants, a manager in Greek.
- The assistant hears the language on the first sentence and continues in it. It covers 70+ languages, and it can switch if they mix.
- Measure-up or screen is still the first question. A name in English does not tell you which opening it is.
- A price question in German is still a price question. Fluency does not let it invent a figure from a photo.
- The spoken rule does not change: the quote comes after the tape. A photo is not a measurement.
- The confirmation SMS goes out in the language of the call, with the floor and what to leave clear.
TL;DR
You have the tape on a reveal when an owner rings in English from a holiday flat, or a buyer rings in German from a courtyard. They want a sliding door measured, or screens before the evening mosquitoes. They will not wait for the colleague who is comfortable in English to come off a cut. An assistant answers in the language it hears — 70+ languages, and it can switch if they mix Greek and English on the same call. It asks measure-up or screen first, takes the opening, books a morning that is free, and refuses anything that sounds like a price from a photo or Thursday's install. It will not read a Greek quote aloud and tell them what it means.
Key takeaways
- Leave language detection on. Pinning the line to Greek is how the 09:40 English call never reaches you.
- Put the measure-up-or-screen question in every language you actually hear, not only the two you staff.
- Write the callback sentence once and never vary it: the quote comes after the tape. A photo is not a measurement.
- Do not let it explain a Greek quote, name a figure, or promise Thursday because they asked in English.
- Send the SMS in the language of the conversation, with the floor, the opening, and what to leave clear.
- Read the first multilingual transcripts with someone from the shop. That is where a soft price sentence creeps in.
They started in English
The tape is on a Greek reveal. The next voice is not. A holiday-flat owner in Glyfada. A German buyer standing in a courtyard. A tenant who speaks Albanian at home. They rang the number on the listing because the wood is rotting or the screens are torn. They did not ring to wait for someone who “has a bit of English” to come off a cut.
The assistant hears the first sentence and stays in that language. 70+ languages. It can switch if they mix. You do not set a language per job. Pinning the line to Greek is how the 09:40 English call becomes a short ring in the provider’s log.
The job does not change because the language did. Measure-up or screen. Which opening. A morning the book can honour. No figure from a photo. No Thursday before the tape.
Two ways this call goes wrong
The first way: nobody answers, because the only person who would have tried English is on a balcony. The owner hangs up and finds a shop that picked up in English. You never see the opening.
The second way: someone answers and is helpful. They name a round figure in English. They promise Thursday because the guests land on Saturday. They read last week’s Greek quote aloud and guess what it means. That sentence is now yours, in a language you may not even have on the recording in a form you can defend.
Fluency is not permission. A German price from a photo is the same forbidden sentence as a Greek one.
Measure-up or screen, in the language they opened
The first question is still the type. A name in English does not tell you whether this is a tape or a mesh. “Balcony door” in English may mean the slider, the casement, and the roller. Ask which opening.
Then the address. Holiday flats are often described by the beach, or the building colour, or a WhatsApp pin. Take a street and a floor. If they only have a pin, write that down. Do not invent a number on Poseidonos.
Then the book. Offer a window you actually run. Text it in the same language. A Greek SMS after an English booking is a third floor they cannot find, and a “leave the curtains” line they cannot read.
If they want screens before this evening because they arrived last night, that is still a screen type, still a free morning, still not a price.
A price question travels. Fluency does not answer it.
“How much if I send photos?” comes in English more often than in Greek. Holiday owners are used to being quoted from pictures. Other shops may have already named a number. They want you to match it on this call.
The assistant does not. The sentence is the same in every language you type it into: the quote comes after the tape. A photo is not a measurement.
“Is thermal break worth it?”, “will this pass the energy papers?”, “can you beat the other quote?” are still spec and price. Write them down. Refuse the answer. The shop speaks at the opening.
Do not put a bilingual price list in the notes. It will read both columns out.
The manager in Greek, the owner in English
The same block can produce two languages in one afternoon. The manager wants stairwell windows, in Greek. The owner of flat 3 wants the slider, in English. If the notes do not share a building name and a floor, you will tape the stairwell and miss the slider, or tape flat 3 twice.
This is not automatically one communal visit. Ask which openings. Ask who has the key. Ask whether the owner will be in. A manager who says “we will let you in” is not the same as an owner standing at the slider.
Spell the building the same way in both notes. The assistant should not invent a translation of the street.
They photograph the Greek letter
They will photograph the SMS, the quote, the shop card, and ask what it means. The assistant does not translate a quote. It does not tell them which line is the glass and which line is the frame. That is the shop, on a callback, or at the opening.
It can repeat a line you wrote for this: someone from the shop will call you back in English about the quote. That is a callback, not an explanation.
A colour chip with a Greek name is still a colour chip. The assistant does not pick a colour.
After hours, from another time zone
Holiday owners ring at 19:40, or at breakfast in Hamburg. The published number still rings. The rule does not relax because they are abroad. Measure-up or screen. No price. No Thursday. If you do not run evenings, the honest answer is the next window you run, in their language, with an SMS they can read when they land.
Do not let a recording of “we are closed” in Greek be the only thing an English owner hears. That is a short ring and a next shop.
August needs its own dates in every language you use on the SMS.
The rule the assistant must obey
Answer in the language they opened. Keep the split. Keep the refusal. Text in the same language. Name the building and the floor so a Greek manager and an English owner can be the same block on paper.
It does not explain quotes. It does not explain thermal break. It does not promise an install because their Greek is limited and Thursday would be kind. Kind is a tape on a morning that exists.
Door-off and flat-open still go to a phone. Language does not make them a booking.
What you configure first
Leave detection on. Write the split and the refusal in the languages you actually hear — Greek, English, German, Albanian at a minimum if those are your weeks. Connect the book. Turn on SMS in the language of the call. Give it the building-and-floor fields so two languages can share a block. Read the first multilingual transcripts with someone from the shop. That is where “a slider is usually…” creeps in, in English, because it sounded helpful.
Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.
What these calls sound like
English opening, English split, English refusal, English SMS. Or German. Or Albanian. The tape is still Greek aluminium on a Greek reveal. The forbidden sentence does not get a passport.
If the assistant is fluent and still names a figure, you own that figure in a language the owner will quote back to you at the door. Put the Glyfada slider on a measure-up, not on a number said to win the call.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caller opens in English on a balcony morning | Continues in English | If you have it, and if you can let go of the tape | If that shift has it |
| First question in their language | Measure-up or screen, then the opening | Varies by who picked up | Often jumps to what morning |
| Invents a price in German from a photo | Never | Tempting, to be helpful | Risk, if the script wants a number |
| Promises Thursday's install in English | Never — tape first | Can refuse until they have seen the wall | Tempted, if they have guests on Saturday |
| English, German, Albanian, Greek | 70+ languages, same rules | Greek, and English if they have it | Whoever is on that shift |
| SMS they can read at the opening | Language of the call | If someone types it | Often Greek |
| Manager in Greek, owner in English | Same building in both notes | If they remember it is the same block | Two messages, two spellings |
What four unanswered English and German calls hide in a week
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people. A mixed week — Greek owners, holiday-flat owners who ring in English or German, a tenant in Albanian, a manager in Greek.
- About 6 inbound calls that week start in a language you do not staff on the van.
- This example assumes 4 of those 6 ring out while the tape is on a reveal. 2 leave nothing.
- A holiday-flat slider that becomes an order is worth about €1,800 here — put your own figure in first.
- Treat 1 of those 2 silent calls as a slider that then went to a shop that answered in English.
- 4 English or German calls reach nobody in one week.
- 2 leave nothing. 1 of those 2 was a new measure-up.
- 1 × €1,800 = €1,800 of work that week that never reached the book.
- A week like that through the holiday months, 5 months — 5 × 4 weeks × €1,800 is the wrong sum. Use 5 × €1,800 if it is one lost slider a month.
About €9,000 over those five months on one lost slider a month. Change the ticket and how often an English call rings out.
What it costs
CITT is pay as you go: no packages, no minimum, no contract. The current rates — the monthly fee per number and the per-minute rate — are on the pricing section of the home page, which is the only place they are published.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to staff English on the van?
No. The assistant takes the language it hears — 70+ languages — and stays in it. You still do the tape. The note has to name the building and the floor in a way you can read, even if the call was in German. The visit itself can be quiet pointing at an opening. The booking cannot wait for a colleague who has English.
Can it translate last week's Greek quote for them?
It must not. A quote is your document. Reading it aloud in English and telling them what it means is still a price conversation, and a wrong figure in a second language is a figure you own. It books a callback. The shop explains the quote.
They mix Greek and English on the same call. What then?
The assistant can switch. The rule does not switch. Measure-up or screen, then the opening, then a morning that is free, then no figure from a photo. The SMS follows the language they used most, or the one you marked as the booking language. Do not send Greek to an owner who booked in English.
The manager rings in Greek about the same block. Is that two jobs?
It may be the same building. The note must name the block and the floor in both conversations, or you will tape flat 3 twice and miss flat 5. It is not automatically one communal visit. Ask which openings. Ask who has the key.
Can it explain thermal break in German because they asked?
No. Spec advice in any language is still spec advice. It takes the request and books the tape. Whether thermal break is “worth it” is a conversation at the opening, not a sentence on a recorded line.
What does the SMS look like after an English call?
English. Window, type, address as they said it, floor, which opening, what to leave clear. No price. No Thursday. See [pricing](/en/#pricing) for how answered overflow is treated.
