A light on when you're closed.
Hey Lantern answers the calls your team can't: nights, weekends, or when everyone's on a job. It takes the caller's details, spots emergencies, and texts you a clear summary in under a minute.
One flat yearly price. Nothing renews on its own.
Furnace out, house at 55°. Elderly father home.
Your phone works the same. The calls you miss stop going to voicemail.
Your phone rings
Your office answers like always. Nothing changes during a normal day.
Nobody picks up
After four or five rings, your phone company forwards the call to Hey Lantern.
It answers in your name
Callers hear your business name. Safety comes first, then name, number, address, and what's wrong.
You get a text
Emergencies are marked URGENT at the top. Routine requests wait for business hours.
You get a monthly report
Every call, what it was about, and which ones were urgent.
What your callers hear at 11:42 on a Saturday night.
Thanks for calling. This call may be recorded for quality. I'm the automated assistant. The team can't get to the phone right now, but I'll take down what's going on and make sure they get it. How can I help?
Hi, my furnace just stopped. It's freezing in here and my dad's staying with me.
I'm sorry, that sounds stressful. First, do you smell gas anywhere in the house?
No, nothing like that.
Good. Can I get your name and the best number to reach you?
Maria Lopez, 732-555-0148.
Thanks, Maria. That's 7-3-2, 5-5-5, 0-1-4-8. And the address where the furnace is?
14 Elm Street, South River.
Got it. I'm marking this as urgent and alerting the team right now. Someone will reach out as soon as possible.
Maria Lopez · (732) 555-0148
14 Elm St, South River
Furnace out since ~9 PM, house at 55°, elderly father home. No gas smell.
It takes care of callers. It never makes promises for you.
Every call, it will
- Tell a caller who smells gas or sees smoke to get out and call 911 before anything else
- Say plainly that it's an automated assistant if anyone asks
- Read the callback number back, digit by digit
- Answer basic questions about your hours, service area and services
- Mention the call may be recorded
It will never
- Quote a price or an estimate
- Promise a technician is on the way, or give an arrival time
- Diagnose a problem over the phone
- Take a credit card number
- Make something up when it doesn't know
Businesses where a missed call is a lost job.
One price, paid once a year.
No per-minute bills and no monthly charges that creep up.
- Your own assistant, written around your business, services and hours
- Call forwarding set up with your phone company
- Text alerts to you or whoever is on call, with urgent calls flagged
- Monthly call report
- Changes to the script any time you ask
- Covers normal after-hours call volume. The fair-use limit is written in your agreement.
After the first year: renew for $1,200, or cancel. Nothing renews automatically. We'll ask you a month before.
If forwarding can't be set up, you get your money back
Some older phone systems can't forward unanswered calls. If yours is one of them, we refund you in full.
You hear it before you pay
We build a working demo in your business's name and you call it yourself during the demo meeting.
You can leave whenever you want
Turn off forwarding with a single code on your phone and your calls go back to how they were.
Common questions
Will callers know they're talking to an AI?
Yes. It introduces itself as an automated assistant, and it will never claim to be a person. Most callers just want someone to take their information so they're not left at a voicemail beep.
Will it answer calls my receptionist would have picked up?
No. Calls forward only when nobody answers after four or five rings, or when the line is busy. Your team answers first, every time.
Do I need new phones or a new number?
No. You keep your number. We turn on "forward when unanswered" with your phone company, which takes a few minutes during setup.
What happens with a real emergency?
For gas, smoke, sparks or a carbon monoxide alarm, the assistant tells the caller to get to safety and call 911 first. Then it takes their details and sends you an urgent text right away.
What does it run on?
We build each assistant on established voice-AI and phone services, then write, test and maintain it for your business. If you'd like to know exactly which providers we use, ask and we'll tell you.
Who can see the call recordings?
Only you and us. Recordings and summaries are used to send your alerts and reports. We never sell caller information. See the privacy policy.
A real person sets up every Lantern.
Hey Lantern was founded by Joel Batista in Spotswood, New Jersey. Every assistant is set up by hand, tested with at least 30 calls before it goes live, and changed whenever you ask.
Now booking demos with businesses in Central New Jersey, with more areas coming soon.