The questions we hear most.

• Is it just ChatGPT with a phone number?

  No. Workhand is a stack of carefully-tuned AI prompts (built on Anthropic's Claude, with OpenAI as a fallback) wired into telephony, calendar, email, and SMS systems through orchestration software we run ourselves. The prompts are version-controlled, automatically tested against hundreds of edge cases nightly, and updated from real customer interactions. The “AI” part is maybe 5% of the work — the other 95% is the integration, supervision, and tuning.

• Does it sound robotic?

  It doesn't, and we have rehearsal call recordings we can share to prove it. But this is also why the 30-day onboarding exists — Felix listens to every reply for the first three weeks and tunes the voice until your existing customers (who know what you sound like) tell us “I couldn't tell it wasn't Sarah”. If after the rehearsal phase it still doesn't sound right, we delay going live until it does.

• What if a customer asks “am I talking to a person?”

  Workhand always answers honestly. It says something like: "I'm Workhand — Sarah's AI assistant. I can help with bookings and most questions, or I can pass you to Sarah directly." Most callers say something like "oh okay, that's fine" and carry on. Hiding it would damage trust.

• What about my data — is it being used to train AI?

  No. Anthropic (our primary AI provider) doesn't train on API customer data by default. We don't sell, share, or repurpose your data. You can export everything any time, and request deletion at any time — full GDPR-compliant. Our DPA is on the legal page if your IT person needs to read it.

• What if Workhand gets something wrong?

  During Stages 0-3 (your first 9-13 days) Workhand never sends anything Felix hasn't checked first. After that, anything risky (complaints, refunds, quotes above your set threshold, anyone new) still goes to you for approval before sending. So the worst-case mistake is usually a routine reply that's slightly off-tone, which you can correct, and Workhand learns from. We've never had a customer go through Stage 5 and feel surprised by something Workhand sent.

• Does it work with my existing phone number?

  Yes. You keep your existing number and forward calls to your new Workhand number when you can't pick up. Or forward all calls — your choice. The Workhand number is a real UK landline (Twilio with full regulatory compliance approved per customer).

• Can I pause Workhand?

  Yes — one toggle in your dashboard. Calls go to your normal voicemail, emails wait. Useful for holidays, illness, or if you just want to handle a busy weekend yourself. Re-enable any time.

• What about cancelling?

  Monthly rolling, no exit fee. Cancel anytime in dashboard or email Felix. We give you 7 days grace to download all your data, then disconnect cleanly. No spammy “are you sure?” flows. Easy to leave is part of why people stay.

• Is it only English?

  Right now: English (UK) and French (Swiss). German, Spanish, Welsh on the roadmap for 2026/27. If you have customers calling in another language and Workhand doesn't speak it, it politely takes a message and routes to you.

• What's the founding cohort?

  First 25 customers pay £219/month for 12 months instead of £299. After your founding year you transition to standard pricing — we send a notice 30 days before. Founding cohort is capped at 25 customers and we'll tell you on the call where the count currently sits.

• Will Workhand still be here in 5 years?

  Honest answer: probably yes, but here's the worst-case plan. Workhand is bootstrapped (no VC, no “growth at any cost”). If something happened to make Workhand close, we'd give 90 days notice, help every customer migrate to alternatives, and provide full data export. Everything (your knowledge base, contacts, conversation history) is in formats (markdown, CSV, JSON) you can take anywhere. You're never locked in.

• Why “Workhand”?

  From the old British workshop sense of “a useful pair of hands”. The thing in the corner of the shop that does the unglamorous bits competently and quietly so the skilled person can focus on the actual craft. — that was the brief.

• What if a caller's clearly distressed or in crisis?

  The AI's trained to recognise distress signals. It steps out of business script, expresses care simply, and offers Samaritans (116 123) or to put them through to you directly. It will never pretend to give advice it isn't qualified to give. The interaction is flagged immediately for human review.

• What about my voice — can it sound like me?

  In V1 you pick from a shortlist of voices we've tested for UK accents and warmth. Voice cloning (your own voice) is rolling out a few weeks after we launch — if that's important to you, we'll prioritise yours.

• What about call recordings?

  Recordings are stored in a UK data region for 90 days, then automatically deleted unless you've configured otherwise. Callers are notified at the start of the call that the conversation may be recorded (UK PECR-compliant). Customers (your customers) can request deletion of their specific recordings under UK GDPR.

• Why isn't there a free trial?

  The 30-day onboarding has its own value pacing. The first weeks are heavy on our time — proper setup calls, KB structuring, rehearsal, supervision. If you're not paying, the maths doesn't work for us to do that properly. Cancel anytime in the first 30 days and we refund pro-rata.

• What can't Workhand do?

  Quite a lot, honestly. We don't handle outbound sales, complex multi-stakeholder negotiations, or anything regulated (legal/medical/financial advice). We don't do whatever-you-want — we do specific things well. If your needs are outside that, we'll say so on a discovery call rather than try to make it work.

• Is this a one-person operation?

  Right now, yes — Felix builds and runs Workhand with technical contractor support. By design, deliberately small. We have a documented disaster recovery plan that includes founder unavailability scenarios, and our terms of service include a 30-day customer-notice + data-export guarantee. As we scale, we'll hire deliberately, against specific triggers — operators first, then customer success, then engineering.

More on the help centre for the questions that need a longer answer.