Frequently Asked Questions

We would be glad to answer any questions you may have. If you do not find answers to your questions, please call us at (585)905-0726 or (866)561-8901. We would be glad spend any amount of time to answer your questions.

Do I have to sign a contract?
No. You pay in advance on a month-to-month basis. You may cancel at any time with no prior notice. We do not refund any un-used service days. By canceling you agree to remove any Chat buttons from your website. In fact you can go inactive during slower months if you like (at no charge) and start back up when you like.

What type of payments do you accept?
We accept direct check payments, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and direct deposits into our business checking. Please let us know if would like to change your options at any time.

How does billing work?
We prorate your service to the first of the month and then bill on the 1st of every month. We invoice you by e-mail on a monthly basis (you can always pay for months in advance) or provide automatic monthly/quarterly/semi-annual or annual charges against a VISA or MasterCard. If we do not receive payment by your due date we reserve the right to disconnect your service.

May I pay for months in advance?
Yes. All services are based on a month-to-month basis, but you may pay in advance at any time. This would protect against any rate increases. If you stop our services, we will reimburse you for any full months not used. If you prefer, we can set your account up for automatic billing against your credit card.

Can I use my own button?
Yes. Please send us a picture(s) in gif format and we will be glad to connect it as your chat button(s). If you want to create your own buttons, please contact us so we can give you the measurements or review the instructions provided to you after signing up. Within 24 hours of receiving your gif file, we will have your old buttons replaced and your new ones installed.

How quickly can my website be up and running with LIVE chat?
It usually takes us two days to get your account set up. After purchasing the service one of our staff members calls you for a 15 minute interview session. We cover how you would like your services to work, types of buttons, etc. We then send you the HTML code and you are all ready to go as soon as you have it placed on your page.

Am I limited to the number of web pages that I can put my button on?
No. You can place our button on as many web pages on your site as you would like- just the front page or on all of them. You are limited to just the web site you signed up for.

How does the LIVE CHAT work on my e-mails?
Depending on the service level you order (available in the Get the Business service level), we send you a button and a link (you decide which to use) that you can place on any and all of your e-mails. When your prospect or customer clicks on the button, they are in immediate contact with us, just as if they visited your website. In fact, we can even push your website pages to them! Of course if you plan a big mailing, please let us know a few days in advance so we can notify our staff.

Where are you located?
Our corporate offices are located at 400 South Main Street in Canandaigua, NY. Our operators live and work in the Finger Lakes/Upstate NY area. We do have back up operators located at our sister cities to provide backup to you services in case of a local connection problem (like an ice storm?).

May I upgrade/downgrade my service level at any time?
Yes. Just let us know what level of service you require and we will change your account immediately. We will prorate your billing status and keep billing on your original schedule.

Can you help us install the buttons on our website?
We are not website specialists. We suggest you talk to your website designer. If they have any questions (it's a simple matter of installing HTML code onto your site) please feel free to have them call and we will assist them in any way we can.

Do you provide website design and/or hosting services?
No. We would be glad to refer you to people who specialize in that area.

What do your operators tell my visitors when they chat with them?
You tell us what you would like our operators to do with your visitors. When you sign up, we ask that you provide any information about your company, etc. that you would like our operators to share with your visitors. Our operators spend time reviewing each website that we monitor so we can become familiar with it. Do you have a certain SPECIALS page you would like us to share? A special community event you may be sponsoring? You tell us what you would like to share. We encourage you to test our operators and then provide feedback to us so we can always improve the services we provide for you.

Why should I consider FLWebAnswering?
Would you enjoy higher web sales and strong customer satisfaction? Are there certain areas of your website that people have a tendency to leave early (like your shopping cart!)? Our operators can help them along, find items for them, answer their questions (remember you furnish us the information). If the sales get complicated, our operators will even call your customer to assist. Also, we are open 7 days a week for your visitor's convenience.

Can my website handle more than one chat at a time?
Yes. Your website can have as many chats going on at the same time as there are visitors. The only limit is the number of operators we have at one time as they can answer only a certain number of calls at one time. If you are planning an event that would bring in a large number of visitors at one time, please let us know so we can prepare the staff. At times that our staff may be overloaded, chat requests receive an Operator Busy message.

Am I limited to the number of chats my visitors can have during the month?
No. If we find that you have an excessive amount of chat visitors, we may suggest a change in service levels, provide a new pricing structure or work with you on finding other options (i.e. providing a FAQ page on your website or possibly having one of your staff members answer for us).

Are their certain types of businesses that you will not service?
Yes. We will not provide service to any adult sites, sites that visitors usually require strong technical knowledge and service, and sites that are highly regulated (i.e. banking industry) or sites that have high traffic. We evaluate every site individually and would be glad to review yours. If your site falls within an area that our operators do not service, we would be glad to discuss having your staff be operators for just your site, using our software and server services.

Can I use my chat service on more than one site?
No. We would be glad to set up another account for your other site(s). We do provide a discount for any website owner that has us monitor five or more sites owned by the same individual/company.

What type of reports can I expect?
We will e-mail a copy of any chats we have with your visitors immediately after it has occurred. Our Complete customers receive a basic website report each day while our Get the Business customers receive a very detailed report. Get the Business customers also have complete real-time access to any website statistics and chats through their web browser.