Front desk
Public Voice Agent on your own number. Dedicated knowledge, transfer to staff, call-back on miss. Add-on with fixed minute bundles, not unlimited.
Front desk
Front desk is CallMerlin's public Voice Agent: your own phone number that customers or visitors can call. The agent answers from Front desk knowledge only, and can transfer to a teammate who is Available in Call.
This is separate from your internal Merlin line (PIN flow) and from Calling from chat.
What you get
- Your own Front desk number (DID), separate from the internal Merlin line
- Knowledge only from the Front desk (public) tab (separated from internal knowledge)
- Transfer to an available PIN (softphone rings for max 25 seconds)
- If offline or no answer: callback request; staff sees Call back in Call
- Separate minute meter and concurrent lines per Front desk plan
Plans (add-on)
Front desk is an add-on for Professional or higher. No unlimited minutes.
| Plan | Price | Minutes | Concurrent lines | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | €79/mo | 200 | 2 | €0.25/min |
| Growth | €149/mo | 600 | 5 | €0.22/min |
| Scale | €279/mo | 2,000 | 15 | €0.20/min |
Extra concurrent line: €15/mo. Activate Front desk in the dashboard under billing / Front desk.
Knowledge sources
In Settings → Knowledge sources you see two tabs:
- Internal (PIN) — as before, for PIN sessions
- Front desk (public) — only for the public line (max 15 documents)
Internal documents never appear on the public line. Front desk documents are not searchable in internal Merlin sessions.
Transfer and call-back
- Caller asks for a person
- Agent picks an available PIN (extension + Available)
- Softphone rings (max 25 seconds) with a handoff card (number, CRM name if known, reason)
- If nobody answers or the teammate is offline: agent takes a callback request
- In Call you see Missed call or Missed request (offline) with Call back
- Call back prefills the number; you start the call yourself (no auto-dial)
See Available for incoming calls for OS ringing limits.
Call logs
Front desk calls use source Front desk. When the caller matches CRM/contacts, the log shows the match name instead of only "Unknown user".
What Front desk is not
- Not unlimited minutes or unlimited lines
- No access to internal tools or CRM writes from the public session
- No classic IVR menu ("press 1 for reception") in this version
- No promise of ringing if the softphone app is fully quit