Face For Business alternative
Jodie answers every call 24/7 for a flat £49 a month, including the 93.5 hours a week Face For Business sends to voicemail.
Hannah from Bristol
Jodie answering...
Lead texted to you
12 seconds after the call started
Face For Business is worth it if you want human UK PAs by day, from £49 a month ex VAT plus call charges. Outside 8am-8pm on weekdays and shorter weekend hours, every plan goes to voicemail. Jodie is the best alternative for round-the-clock cover, answering 24/7 for a flat £49 a month ex VAT.
Face For Business figures come from ffb.co.uk: its pricing page, homepage, telephone answering and virtual receptionist FAQs, and terms and conditions (clauses 3.5, 4.1, 4.4 and 8.3), checked 5 October 2026. Both sides exclude VAT. Jodie's rating is its average across 60+ verified customer reviews. Jodie AI is not connected with Face For Business.
FFB publishes 'from' plan prices but not its call rates, so the band below shows floors, not full bills.
Pricing band
Face For Business 'from' prices: Taster £49, Message Only £99, Inclusive Minutes £115, and its most popular packages from £200, ex VAT. Call charges come on top.
Face For Business figures are the 'from' prices on its pricing page and telephone answering FAQ, checked 5 October 2026, and exclude VAT under its terms. Usage is charged on top at rates FFB does not publish. Jodie Basic is £49 a month ex VAT with unlimited minutes (fair use up to 1,000 calls a month).
Hours, billing and contract terms, where the two call handling services differ most.
Face For Business PAs finish at 8pm on weekdays and earlier at weekends, and later callers reach a recorded message. Jodie answers live at 2am, on Sunday evenings and on Saturday nights.
FFB's published hours add up to 74.5 a week, so 56% of the week goes to a recorded message.
FFB charges usage on top of each plan, so a busy month means a bigger bill. Jodie Basic is £49 a month with unlimited minutes, however long your calls run.
FFB's homepage says its packages 'start at £49 a month, rising depending on the minutes used'.
Leaving Face For Business means sitting out its minimum term, then giving 30 days' written notice. Jodie is month to month, so you can cancel any time.
FFB's terms set the minimum term at 4 calendar months, and its FAQs say 90 days.
Face For Business sells trained human PAs, but on Sundays they answer from 10am to 4pm. Here is the same estate agency call at 6:15pm on each service.
Scenario: Illustrative call on a Sunday at 6:15pm. A buyer rings an estate agency about a three-bed listed online and wants a viewing this week.
Competitor
Recorded message
Thank you for calling [your agency name]. The office is now closed. Please leave your name, number and a short message after the tone.Caller
Hi, it's Daniel Reid on 07700 900321, about the three-bed on Mill Lane. Could someone ring me about a viewing?Voicemail
Message saved. Call ended.Jodie
Jodie
Hello, you're through to [your agency name], this is Jodie. How can I help?Caller
Hi, it's about the three-bed on Mill Lane. I'd like to view it this week.Jodie
Happy to help. Which days and times suit you? And are you a cash buyer, buying with a mortgage, or selling a home first?Caller
Weekday evenings or Saturday morning. I've got a mortgage in principle and nothing to sell.Jodie
Thanks. Can I take your name and the best number to reach you?Caller
Daniel Reid, 07700 900321.Jodie
Thanks Daniel. I've noted Mill Lane, weekday evenings or Saturday morning, mortgage in principle, nothing to sell. The team will call you to confirm a time.Inside its opening hours, a Face For Business PA would take this call. After 4pm on a Sunday or 8pm on a weekday, it goes to voicemail on every plan. Jodie answers at any hour.
FFB publishes its plan floors, but not its call rates, and its pages disagree on the minimum term.
| Jodie | Face For Business | |
|---|---|---|
Monthly plan prices published FFB lists 'from' prices: Taster £49, Message Only £99, Inclusive Minutes £115. Its terms, not its pricing page, say they exclude VAT. | ||
Call or minute rates published Jodie charges none. FFB bills usage by the second or per call and does not publish the rates. | ||
Setup fee published Neither charges one. FFB says setup can take as little as 24 to 48 hours. | ||
Free trial published Both offer 7 days. After FFB's trial, its terms let it choose your plan based on your trial usage. | ||
Minimum term stated consistently FFB's terms say 4 calendar months, its FAQs say 90 days and its pricing page says 'No long-term contracts'. Jodie has none. | ||
Yearly cost you can work out upfront Jodie Basic: £588 ex VAT a year, or £490 paid annually. FFB: usage rates are unpublished, so a yearly figure needs a quote. |
Face For Business markets to these sectors too. Here is where answering out of hours, or at one flat price, changes the outcome.
A vendor who rings on Saturday evening asking for a valuation gets FFB's voicemail, as its PAs finish at 5:30pm. Jodie answers and takes the address and moving timescale for your valuer.
See Jodie for estate agentsLeaks and lockouts don't wait for office hours. At 11pm Jodie answers the tenant, takes the address and the problem, and sends you the details straight away.
See Jodie for letting agentsA homeowner who rings at 9pm about an extension quote gets FFB's voicemail, and may just try the next builder. Jodie takes the job details and postcode so you can call back first.
See Jodie for buildersJanuary's Self Assessment rush adds call minutes, and FFB charges usage on top of each plan. Jodie stays a flat £49 a month with unlimited minutes.
See Jodie for accountantsFace For Business plans start at £49 a month for Taster, £99 for Message Only and £115 for Inclusive Minutes, excluding VAT, and FFB says its most popular packages start at £200. Usage is charged on top at rates FFB does not publish. Jodie Basic is a flat £49 a month ex VAT.
No: Face For Business PAs answer from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm on Saturdays and 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Outside those hours, every plan sends calls to a recorded message or voicemail, which is 93.5 of the week's 168 hours. Jodie answers 24/7 on every plan.
Yes: the Face For Business terms set a minimum term of four calendar months from the start date, and its FAQs describe a 90-day minimum commitment. After that, either side can end the contract with 30 days' written notice ending on a billing date. Jodie has no minimum term and you can cancel any time.
Face For Business reviews are strongly positive: it advertises a 5.0-star rating from 105 reviews, and customers praise its professional UK PAs, call recordings and app. The gaps buyers weigh are hours and price, as calls after 8pm on weekdays go to voicemail and usage is charged on top of each plan.
No: Face For Business says it does not use AI in its answering service. Calls inside its opening hours are answered by human PAs in Burscough, Lancashire, typically a team of three plus your account lead. Jodie is the AI alternative: it takes the caller's details and emails you after every call.
Face For Business is the better choice if your callers expect a human every time, your calls fall inside 8am to 8pm on weekdays, or you want managed live chat, which it sells from £99 a month. Jodie suits businesses that need every call answered 24/7 at one flat price.
Face For Business suits a small business that wants a human PA in office hours, from £49 a month plus usage. If your customers ring after 8pm on weekdays or after 4pm on Sundays, every FFB plan sends those calls to voicemail, while Jodie Basic answers them and never adds usage charges.
FFB's terms set a minimum term, then 30 days' written notice, so check your start date first. Jodie can take your calls from day one while the notice runs.
Total time: About 30 minutes of setup, plus 30 days' notice to FFB
Sign up with no card. Jodie learns your business from your website, and you get a Jodie number to divert your calls to.
Point your number's divert at Jodie instead of Face For Business. Most UK landlines, mobiles and VoIP systems change a divert in a few minutes.
Ring your number from another phone in the hours FFB sends to voicemail, then let Jodie take real calls for 5-7 days. Read each summary, and switch the divert back if anything is missed.
Check when your FFB minimum term ends (4 calendar months under its terms), then give at least 30 days' written notice ending on a billing date. Keep FFB as your fallback until then.
Under FFB's terms, call recordings are deleted from its client portal after 90 days. Download any you need to keep before your notice period ends.
No card needed. Divert your number to Jodie tonight and see who answers after 8pm.
First 7 days free, then pricing from £49/month
