Escalations & takeover — AdaptLocal Help

What are escalations?

An escalation happens when the AI isn't confident it can answer a customer's question correctly. Rather than guess, it pauses the conversation and notifies you. You reply, and the AI delivers your answer to the customer in its own voice — the customer never knows it came from you.

Common escalation triggers:

Pricing for a complex or unusual job
Specific scheduling requests the AI can't confirm
Questions not covered in your FAQ
Complaints or sensitive situations
Customer asks to speak to a real person

How to reply to an escalation

When an escalation happens, you'll get a text from your AdaptLocal number like:

"Hey Zach — Sarah (623-555-0142) asked if you can do a roof inspection this Saturday. What should I tell her?"

Just reply to that text. Your answer is passed to the customer, reworded to sound natural in the AI's voice. You'll get a confirmation: "Got it — your response has been sent to Sarah."

Multiple escalations open at once? If you have several customers waiting, the AI will include a reference code (e.g. REF-abc123) in the notification. Prefix your reply with that code to target the right conversation: REF-abc123: Yes, Saturday works, we can do 9am.

Manual takeover

You can take over any conversation at any time and reply directly to the customer yourself. The AI steps aside until you hand it back.

To take over, text your AdaptLocal number:

TAKE — takes over the most recent active conversation
TAKE [customer phone number] — takes over a specific customer's conversation

Once you've taken over, any message you send to your AdaptLocal number goes directly to that customer verbatim — the AI doesn't reword it.

Handing back to AI

When you're done, text your AdaptLocal number:

RESUME — hands the conversation back to your AI

The AI picks up where it left off, with full context of what you said during the takeover.

Escalation notifications

Escalation alerts are sent by SMS by default. You can also enable email notifications in Settings → Notifications → Escalation alerts. Team members with the Receive escalations permission will also be notified — see Team & roles.

Escalations that go unanswered for 24 hours are automatically marked as expired. The customer won't receive any further follow-up from the AI on that topic unless they send a new message.