• Services

    The 24/7 answering service specialists.

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    Core services

    Telephone Answering Service

    Personalised 24/7 call answering, 365 days a year. Plans for businesses of all sizes from just £0.64 per day.

    Virtual Receptionist

    Fully bespoke service. All the benefits and flexibility of our telephone answering service + call transfers, order taking, Appointment booking & more.

    Virtual Office

    Stylish and flexible office space, mail forwarding and meeting rooms without the traditional overheads.

    Specialist services

    Outsourced Call Centre

    Complete call centre operation on demand. We answer calls for you, 24/7. Fully scalable and worry-free outsourcing.

    Emergency Response & Callouts

    24-hour phone answering, callouts, emergency response & helpdesk support.

    Appointment booking

    Our team can work with almost any online diary to book you confirmed appointments directly on the call. No more missed opportunities.

  • Industries

    The 24/7 answering service specialists.

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    Industries

    Healthcare

    Virtual reception and appointment booking services for Clinics, Dentists and Vets.

    Engineering & Manufacturing

    24-hour phone answering, callouts, emergency response & helpdesk.

    IT Support and Technology

    Whether it’s 3pm or 3am, reassure your clients with a real human presence over the phone.

    Property

    Supporting Estate & Letting Agents, Property Management, Facilities Management, and Property Investors with first class 24/7 call answering services.

    Trades & Home Services

    Supporting Tradesmen, Construction and Home service industries with an affordable 24/7 telephone answering service.

    Marketing & Media

    Capture leads around the clock and boost campaign ROI.

  • Reviews
  • About
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Stop kidding yourself, your hold music sucks.

Overflow Call Handling Service For Inbound Calls

Overflow call handling means your own team answers first, and any call they can’t pick up is answered by a trained Message Direct receptionist. It works when your lines are busy, when you’re short-staffed, or when you’re closed.

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4.9/5 The highest rated UK Call Answering Service
Rated 5 out of 5
“We use Message Direct for overflow call handling during the day and OOH. The staff at Message Direct identify the nature of the call that comes in on our line and will then transfer the call to the relevant staff member in our team. They also send an immediate text and email. We are constantly changing the information regarding our OOH staff rotas and the guys at Message Direct are always extremely quick and efficient when making these changes.”

- Russel Filer, Owner of RoofSure

What is an Overflow Call Handling Service?

Your business may already have an in-house team that meet most of your customers calls needs, however, there may be holiday periods, peak hours of a day or more seasonal busy periods where call numbers increase above the average and your customer’s calls are not being answered. Step in Message Direct's overflow call handling service.

Seamless extension of your team

We work with you to understand your typical call rates and overflow needs and fully train our PA’s so that the service we deliver is aligned to your internal team.

“During the working day we answer all calls in-house. In the evenings and at weekends all of our phone lines divert to Message Direct. We would now be lost without the 24/7 cover offered by Message Direct. It is an integral part of our business.”

- Carole Thomas, Sussex Lifts

Overflow call answering for:

  • High Call Volumes
  • Unplanned absence
  • Severe Weather Cover
  • Extended Opening Hours
  • Out of hours
  • Sickness & Holiday Cover
  • Variable Levels of Cover
Get in touch

Why choose overflow call answering?

Product Revenue

Every call that goes unanswered or hits an engaged tone is an enquiry that may never come back. Overflow call answering catches those calls and passes the details straight to you, so busy periods stop costing you business.

Protect your reputation

A real person answering in your name, in line with how your own team would, is like taking out an insurance policy for your reputation. Customers get a polite, helpful response whether you’re at your desk, on another call or closed for the night.

Pay only when you need it

Hiring extra staff to cover peaks means paying for people on the quiet days too. With overflow call handling the fee is based on usage, so you pay when calls overflow and you stay in complete control.

"An excellent service that has been a real boon to our business."

Hugo DuPlessis, Head of DevOps at Runpath (Experian)

How Our Overflow Call Answering Works

All phone systems will provide you with the ability to forward calls if a particular number is engaged. Also, you can forward calls after a specific number of rings, i.e., you may allow your internal staff up to 3 rings before you forward your caller on to Message Direct. If in doubt, we can guide you through the process.

Setup your account
We will set up the free 14 day trial without a fee. In the majority of cases, we have your account up and running the same day!
Divert your calls
You can divert your calls to us at any time as little or as often as you like, the control is at your fingertips!
Get Instant Messages
We take messages and relay them back immediately via email, call patching, callout, message relay or SMS.

"We have been a client of Message Direct for over 10 years. There are times during the day when we cannot always answer calls. Instead of our callers receiving an engaged tone the call is diverted to the telephone answering service and answered by a real person.

The agents are polite and patient when dealing with our clients. They gather all of the required information and immediately send this back to us. I would definitely recommend Message Direct. The service offered is excellent and very good value for money."

Roshan Kara, Claims Manager at All Property Claims

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Overflow call handling means your own team answers calls first, and any call they can’t take is answered by a trained Message Direct receptionist instead. It covers busy periods, staff shortages and times when you’re closed, so callers reach a real person and not an engaged tone or voicemail.

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