Have an AI wait on hold and patch you in when a person answers

Pass your phone number as transfer_to when your agent places the call. The voice assistant gets through the phone menu, waits on hold, and when a live person answers, it patches you into the call. You skip the menu and the wait, and the rep talks to you directly.

The short answer

You give your agent the business and your phone number. It places the call with transfer_to set to your number. The voice assistant handles the menu and waits through the hold. When a real person picks up, your phone rings and you're connected. You never hear the hold music.

Why this is the most reliable kind of AI call

Some calls need you. Banks, phone carriers, airlines and insurers often need the account holder to verify identity, and privacy rules can stop a rep from talking about your account with anyone else. Some reps also hang up once they hear an AI.

Hold-and-patch-in sidesteps both. The assistant does the part nobody likes, the menu and the wait. The rep talks to you, the actual customer, so there's no verification problem and no reason to hang up.

The prompt

Call Southwest customer service, get through the menu to a live agent about changing a flight, wait on hold, and patch me in at 469-555-0142 when someone picks up. I'm Dana Ruiz.

What your agent does

1. Looks up the number if you didn't give it, with find_business.
2. Places the call:

{
  "phone": "+18004359792",
  "business_name": "Southwest Airlines",
  "goal": "Reach a live agent about changing a flight, then transfer the caller in.",
  "details": "Customer name Dana Ruiz. Confirmation ABC123.",
  "on_behalf_of": "Dana Ruiz",
  "transfer_to": "+14695550142"
}

3. Watches the call with get_call, which shows in_progress while the assistant is in the menu and on hold.
4. The assistant navigates the menu, pressing digits or saying "agent," and enters the confirmation number if the menu asks.
5. When a person answers, the assistant says something like: "Hi, I'm an automated assistant calling on behalf of Dana Ruiz. I'm connecting her now." Then it patches you in.
6. You talk to the rep.

Tips

• Be reachable. When your phone rings, pick up. The rep is waiting.
• Give the menu what it needs. Put confirmation, account or claim numbers in details so the assistant can get through menus that ask for them.
• Say which department. "Billing," "claims," "changes to an existing reservation." The more specific the goal, the better the menu choices.
• Mind the 30 minute limit. If a line is known for long holds, call early in the day.
• Use a number you control. transfer_to must be a US or Canadian number.

What it costs

You pay for the whole call, including hold. $1 covers the first 5 minutes once the call is answered, then $0.25 per minute.

If the call never connects, there's no charge. See pricing.

Good calls for hold-and-patch-in

• Airlines, for changes and rebooking
• Cable and internet billing (negotiate an internet bill)
• Insurance claims (insurance claim status)
• Anything with "your call is important to us" (hold for me)

Hold without the patch-in

If you don't need to talk to them yourself, leave transfer_to out. The assistant waits on hold, asks your questions when a person answers, and reports back. See how AI handles phone menus and hold.

What your agent sees while you wait

get_call shows the status as the call moves along: ringing, then in_progress once the menu picks up. Your agent can keep checking with wait_seconds up to 50, so it hears about changes quickly. If the menu asks for something that isn't in details, like a date of birth for a pharmacy line, the assistant asks your agent with a pending_question and waits about a minute for an answer.

After the transfer, the call result still comes back to your agent: the transcript up to the hand-off, the duration and the cost.

If you miss the transfer

If your phone rings and you don't pick up, the rep is left waiting. Keep your phone nearby and the ringer on. If a hold looks like it'll run long, you can ask your agent to end the call with hang_up and try again at a quieter time. Calls end on their own at 30 minutes.

Questions