Other-brand callers
Service calls for a brand you do not service: how Cleo declines the booking and gets the caller to a person
Your service line takes calls from owners of cars you did not sell, and some of those cars are brands your technicians do not work on. A booking for one of them wastes a slot and a customer’s trip. Cleo checks the make against the list your store sets, declines before it looks at open times, and moves the caller to a person or a callback.
The short answer
Can an AI phone agent turn away a car your store does not service?
Yes, when your store has listed the makes it services. Any other make is refused before availability or booking, and the setting is written so that Cleo transfers the caller or takes a callback instead.
The refusal names the make, so the caller hears a plain statement about their own car and not a generic error.
What happens to six calls
Six calls and the outcome of each.
The make is on your list.
The call goes on as an ordinary booking.
The make is not on your list.
Cleo declines at the step where it matches the request to your service menu, so no open times are offered and nothing is written to the scheduler.
The caller says the make in a different way from your list.
The check asks which listed make the caller's make is, or whether it is a different make. It is a judgment on the make the caller said, not a text match.
The scheduler cannot find the vehicle.
On one scheduler workflow, a vehicle that the scheduler's list does not contain is first checked for a corrected match. If there is none, Cleo asks the caller to double-check the year, make and model, unless the make is another brand, which is refused.
The check cannot answer.
If the check returns no answer, Cleo does not refuse and the request goes on. A listed make is never blocked by a failed check, and an unlisted make can get through one.
No list is set.
An empty list allows every make, so nothing is refused on the make.
After the refusal
Where the caller goes next.
The setting hands the caller to your team: a transfer or a callback. Cleo transfers only to a person or department that is open at that moment in your store's time zone.
When the department is closed, Cleo does not try the transfer. It says so and offers a callback or to take a message.
A callback request takes the caller's name, a callback number and a note, skips anything the caller already said, and creates a task for your staff.
The task is where your team decides what to say: a referral to a store that works on that brand, or a short note back to the caller. Write that answer down once so every advisor gives it.
After the call
What your team gets, and what to decide first.
01 · One list, agreed at setup.
The list holds the makes your store services, spelled the way your scheduler’s catalog spells them.
Where Cleo can read the scheduler’s make list, a saved list is checked against it, and a make that is not in the catalog is rejected. Where it cannot read one, the list is saved with a warning and only the check on the call protects the store.
In the dashboard, tool settings are managed by the Cleo team, so a change to the list goes through them.
Spell each make the way the catalog does. Where Cleo can read the catalog, a spelling that does not match is rejected when the list is saved, so the first save shows the mistake.
A store that services only its own brand has a short list. A store that works on several brands lists each one.
02 · A wrong-brand booking is a problem for two people.
The advisor finds out at the counter, with a car in the lane that the shop cannot take. The customer has already moved a morning around for it.
Pull a week of other-brand calls from your own call log before you write the list.
Tell the advisors what the standard answer is, and keep the answer in the dealership’s knowledge base, where Cleo reads policy questions from.
03 · Five questions for your service manager.
1. Which makes does the store service, spelled as the scheduler spells them?
2. Which other brands call most, and where do you send those callers?
3. Who calls them back, and when, if the department is closed?
4. Does the store take a brand on some days or for some work only?
5. What should the caller hear when the car is a brand you do not work on?
FAQ
Still have questions?
Does Cleo guess which brands my store services?
No. It works from the list your store sets. With no list, every make is allowed.
Will Cleo turn away a caller who says a make in a different way?
What does the caller hear?
What if the scheduler cannot find the vehicle?
Can I change the list myself?
Tool settings in the dashboard are managed by the Cleo team, so ask them. A saved list is checked against your scheduler's make list where Cleo can read it.
Contact
Bring your wrong-brand calls to the demo.
Book a demo, give us the makes your store services and the brands that call anyway, and hear how Cleo handles each one.
