Set up your services, prices and VAT in gobotAi

Give your receptionist information it can use

A useful service entry tells a caller what you offer, what it covers, how long it takes and how its price should be explained. Open Services from your business area and add a service, or edit an existing one. You need permission to manage services to save changes.

Keep descriptions factual and customer-friendly. Avoid promising a fixed price for work that needs inspection, or including services your team does not provide.

1. Choose clear names and categories

Enter the required Service name and choose an appropriate Category. Use a name a caller would recognise, such as “Routine boiler service” rather than an internal abbreviation.

A Customer-facing name can provide the wording you want customers to hear. Keep internal identifiers in Service ID (SKU / reference). Active services are offered by name; inactive services remain saved but are not offered.

2. Write what is included — and excluded

Use What this service includes to explain the work. Include relevant exclusions and circumstances that need a separate quote. Put useful follow-up questions or explanations in What the receptionist should ask or explain.

3. Set the price guide in pounds

Price guide (£) accepts a price or a range. Enter a clear amount such as £100 for genuinely fixed-price work, or an appropriate range when the final amount varies. Leave it blank when your team needs to quote.

Keep VAT wording consistent with the VAT controls below. Do not write “including VAT” in the price text and then select a setting that excludes VAT. Contradictory information can cause the receptionist to ask for confirmation rather than quote a price.

4. Choose the all-services VAT setting

In VAT on service prices, choose the status that matches your business:

• Not set — ask the team: the VAT treatment has not been confirmed.
• VAT applies: choose whether the entered prices include or exclude it, and enter the confirmed rate.
• VAT not applicable: no VAT is added.

With VAT applies selected, Price excludes VAT is the key switch. On means VAT is added to the entered price. Off means that price already includes VAT. Enter your confirmed VAT rate (%); leave it blank if it is not confirmed.

These controls record your pricing instructions. They do not determine your tax obligations. Use the treatment and rate appropriate to your business, confirmed with your accountant where needed.

5. Check the difference with a worked example

The rate above is an example, not a recommendation. An exact numeric price and confirmed rate allow an inclusive total to be calculated for an excluding-VAT price. A range, “from” price or quote-dependent service should not be turned into a guaranteed final total.

6. Decide whether a service needs an override

For an individual service, Use all-services setting follows the default. Choose an explicit VAT status and rate on that service when it needs different treatment.

Save default saves the business default while keeping individual overrides. Apply to all services is broader: after confirmation, it replaces individual VAT settings on every existing service, including inactive ones. The entered prices stay unchanged, so review any VAT wording already written in them.

These settings guide your receptionist’s service-price explanations. They do not change your gobotAi subscription billing.

7. Add duration and booking details

Set Duration (minutes) where appropriate, then review the available booking controls, such as notice period, booking window, available days, buffers and eligible staff. Match them to how your team actually works.

Some controls apply to gobotAi’s built-in diary only. When you use a connected calendar, follow the on-screen explanation of which rules that system enforces. Do not assume that a saved capacity or staff setting automatically changes an external calendar.

8. Save, preview and check a real scenario

Choose Save service, then reopen the service to check the saved name, description, price and VAT treatment. Ask a representative question during your next planned test call: “What does this include, how much is it, and is VAT included?” Compare the answer with the saved entry.

• Check one fixed-price service and one quote-dependent service.
• Check a service using the default and any service with its own VAT override.
• Confirm exclusions and duration are explained correctly.
• After a price change, review the VAT treatment again before relying on the quote.

Keep one person responsible for maintaining the service list. For wider setup preparation, read Preparing your business for AI call handling. New to gobotAi? Start with the signup and sign-in guide.