Troubleshooting: assistant behaviour
Is your assistant saying something you didn't expect? Below are the most common behaviour problems with cause and fix; a fuller explanation of each item follows the table. Test every change via Try it out on the assistant.
Symptoms, causes and fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Recording announcement is not spoken, or not in full | The announcement is off, or the caller talks over it | Turn the announcement on, turn off Allow interruptions or shorten the greeting |
| Assistant does not say on its own that it is an AI | It only says so when the caller asks | Put it in the Greeting |
| Caller hears a gap in the sentence, for example "Good afternoon , welcome" | The variable has no value | Only use variables where a value is guaranteed |
| Wrong language when the caller switches | Language switching is set to Stay in the assistant's language | Choose Ask before switching or Switch straight away on the Voice & greeting tab |
| Assistant invents information | Gaps in your knowledge | Complete your knowledge and add a rule if needed |
| Outdated information | Old text in the prompt, your knowledge or your business details | Search all of those for the old value and update it |
| Repeats itself or loops | Prompt too long or contradictory | Shorten to under about 300 words |
| Shares data unprompted | Data in your knowledge or in a contact's notes | Remove sensitive data and add a privacy rule |
| Greeting in the wrong language | The greeting is fixed text and is never translated | Rewrite the greeting in the right language |
| Talks too fast or too slowly | Speed does not fit | On the Voice & greeting tab, pick another option under Speed in Speaking style |
| Sounds stiff or read aloud | Speaking style or voice does not fit | On the Voice & greeting tab, adjust the Tone, Sound, Pitch and Intonation rows in Speaking style, and also try another Voice |
| Hangs up too early | The assistant considered the conversation finished, the caller stayed quiet for about half a minute, or the maximum call duration was reached | Add a rule, or increase Max call duration (s) if it is below 840 seconds. You cannot change the times for silence, see Technical settings |
The recording announcement is not spoken, or not in full
The recording announcement is a fixed sentence spoken right after the greeting, in the assistant's language. The caller only hears it when Record calls and Announce that the call is recorded are both on. If Allow interruptions is on and the caller starts talking immediately, the announcement can be cut off.
- Open the assistant and go to the Conversation rules tab.
- Under Recording & transparency, check that both switches are on.
- Turn off Allow interruptions. The assistant then keeps speaking through brief sounds. On a call with a ChatGPT voice, it stops only when the caller clearly takes over.
- Also shorten the Greeting on the Voice & greeting tab, so the announcement comes sooner. You cannot change the text of the announcement itself.
See Technical settings.
The assistant does not say on its own that it is an AI
This is expected: the assistant only mentions it when the caller asks, and then says it is the automated assistant of your business. It never pretends to be a person. If you want every caller to hear it, put it in the Greeting on the Voice & greeting tab. The default greeting already does: "Hello, this is [Assistant name], the digital assistant of [Business name]."
There is a gap in the sentence
If the caller hears a gap in the sentence, for example "Good afternoon , welcome", a variable was in the greeting with no value available. [Customer name] is empty when the number doesn't match a known contact or the contact has no name; in webchat this variable is always empty. A value in double curly braces, such as {{customerName}}, is empty when the inbound webhook did not return it or an outbound call was started without that variable. Only use variables where a value is guaranteed (such as [Business name]) and otherwise choose a neutral greeting without a name. See How to write a great prompt and Inbound webhook (pre-call).
Wrong language when the caller switches
Each voice can speak multiple languages; the main difference is the accent. If the assistant does not follow when the caller switches language, open the Voice & greeting tab and set Language switching to Ask before switching or Switch straight away. The assistant assumes its own language and only switches when it is sure the caller speaks another one: a single word or a name does not count. A sentence about this in the instructions has no effect, because this setting always takes priority. See Languages & voices.
The assistant invents information
By default the assistant is instructed to take facts only from your knowledge and to say honestly what it doesn't know. If it still quotes a price or lead time you never provided, there is usually a gap in your knowledge.
- Open Knowledge → Questions & answers, select the collection this assistant uses at the top, then choose To review and Unanswered. These are the questions the assistant could not answer. Fill in the answer and choose Accept. See Knowledge.
- To decide what the assistant offers in that case, go to the Instructions tab and under Important rules add: "If you don't know the answer, say so honestly and offer a callback." In Advanced mode, put this in Full prompt.
Outdated information
If the assistant quotes an old rate or old opening hours, that value is still somewhere in what it uses. An assistant uses one collection: you can see which one on the Tasks tab, under Use knowledge, in the Collection field. Select that collection at the top of Knowledge, because what you see and search there belongs to the selected collection only. Then check these places and update every occurrence:
- Questions and documents: use Test search at the top of Knowledge and choose Exact words. This searches the selected collection only: its questions and answers, and the documents an assistant using that collection may search. Proposals are left out. On the Sources tab, delete documents you no longer use.
- Business profile: check the Business profile tab in Knowledge, because Test search does not search this text.
- Prompt: check the assistant's Instructions tab.
- Business details and Opening hours: check Settings → Business. Only an admin can change these.
The assistant repeats itself or loops
Loops are almost always caused by a prompt that is too long or contradicts itself, for example "always ask for the address" followed later by "don't ask unnecessary questions". Shorten the prompt to under about 300 words, remove duplicate rules and put one instruction per line. If it is about how the assistant talks on the phone, write the instruction under Conversation in Speaking style, using the pencil. See Improve your assistant.
The assistant shares data unprompted
By default the assistant is instructed not to share other people's personal data on its own initiative. If it still reads out other customers' details or internal remarks, that information is usually in your knowledge.
- Remove customer data and internal remarks from Knowledge, in the collection this assistant uses: from questions and answers, the business profile and documents.
- Keep Notes on a contact in Customers → Contacts factual. The assistant sees those notes when that contact calls, and can mention them then. See Contacts.
- On the Instructions tab, under Important rules, add: "Never share details of other customers." In Advanced mode, put this in Full prompt.
The greeting is in the wrong language
The Greeting on the Voice & greeting tab is fixed text: it is spoken exactly as you typed it and never translated. Rewrite the greeting in the language most callers expect, or keep it short and bilingual: "Good afternoon, goedemiddag, you've reached Smith Plumbing".
The assistant talks too fast or too slowly
On the Voice & greeting tab, adjust Speaking style. Under Speed, pick Slower if callers often ask the assistant to repeat itself, or Quicker if the conversation feels sluggish. The pencil lets you write your own text for that part.
The assistant sounds stiff or read aloud
On the Voice & greeting tab, adjust the Tone, Sound, Pitch and Intonation rows in Speaking style. The sound of the voice itself mostly comes from the chosen Voice, so also try another voice.
The assistant hangs up too early
On the phone, this usually has one of two causes:
- The assistant considered the conversation finished. It first asks whether it can help with anything else, also when the customer only says thanks, and then says a clear goodbye. It ends the conversation after a goodbye, when the customer has nothing else, or when the caller does not seem to be a customer (sales call, wrong number, abuse). Read the transcript in the Inbox and, on the Instructions tab under Important rules, set out when it should carry on. In Advanced mode, put this in Full prompt.
- The maximum call duration was reached. A phone call stops after the time in Max call duration (s) on the Conversation rules tab, and after 840 seconds (14 minutes) at most, even if you enter more. Increasing it therefore only helps if the value is below 840. At the default of 900 seconds or higher, the call already runs to the 14-minute maximum and cannot run longer. On a call with a ChatGPT voice, the assistant then hangs up without a goodbye. A transferred call does not stop at this limit.
Still stuck?
Can't find your problem here, or did the fix not help? Let us know via Report a problem and include the link to the conversation from the Inbox, so we can find the conversation straight away.