January 2025
Greetings!
Do you use an answering service for your HVAC operation? If so, how is the quality? Does it seem expensive? These two problems are intimately related. They, for good reason, go together. Read on, and I’ll tell you why!
My company, Centratel, is 100% U.S.-based, and December 1st marked the 40-year anniversary of my ownership. Here, you will find the 5-year history of my industry quite interesting. I’ll present it in Q&A format:
What exactly is the industry history since COVID? It’s been a wipe-out. In early 2020, due to government-mandated COVID 6-foot-distancing rules, most small to medium services were forced out of business at fire-sale prices, selling their customers to a handful of gigantic “mega-services,” with at least three of the largest ones foreign-owned. In 2019 there were 2,000 independent answering services in the U.S.. Now? Perhaps 200.
My current answering service’s quality is poor…and expensive…Most mega-services charge clients by “elapsed call time.” This sets the stage for employing low-paid/high-turnover agents because the longer it takes to process a call, the more the client is billed for that call. And, new inexperienced agents are not just slow, they make errors. On top of that, the expensive charge-by-the-minute billing method is ripe for overcharging customers. Here’s an instance of a class action lawsuit by customers against their own answering service: See www.centratel.com/timebilling. Note that here at Centratel, over 90% of new customers had bad experiences with their previous bill-by-time/high-staff-turnover mega-answering services.
So, how is Centratel different? We bill clients by the tasks we accomplish, not for the time spent handling calls. We reward our agents for handling incoming calls efficiently and accurately, with up to 40% of their wages performance-based. They are mature, career, highly paid, drug-free,* super-efficient professionals, many with tenures with Centratel of over ten years, some twenty, others approaching thirty. Our monthly billings are black and white, with no room for price-gouging. We don’t use AI or offshore calls. And we frequently drug-test. Our quality of service? We are statistically the highest quality answering service in the United States**
How much do you cost? Because of our efficiencies, we are in the low to mid-range in the answering service cost spectrum. Go to www.centratel.com/price-quote/ (See “Why Choose Centratel?”) for more information.
To test our quality and get a cost estimate, you’ll get a unique-within-the-industry, no-obligation, no-deposit, 30-day free trial. Keep your current service while you give us a try. Go to www.centratel.com or email us at inquiry@centratel.com to get started with your free trial!
-Sam Carpenter, president and owner
*Today, across a whole range of industries, chronic drug use is a major reason for poor employee performance.
**Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (October through December 2024) was 1 customer-reported error for every 5,470 messages processed. That’s an unmatchable statistic within our industry.
February 2025
24/7 HVAC ANSWERING SERVICE
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
NO CONTRACT
NO DEPOSIT
• 40 years experience
• US-owned and operated
• No offshoring or AI silliness
• No expensive time billing
• Drug-free, mature, long-term career agents
“Best in the U.S.”
START TODAY
800-664-7159
GET THE HIGHEST QUALITY ANSWERING SERVICE IN AMERICA*
*One customer reported error for every 5,470 message transactions processed (September through December, 2024)
YOUR ANSWERING SERVICE: HIGH COST? LOW QUALITY?
(go to www.centratel.com to find out why…)
Need assurance that every call is answered by a real person?
Our agents become an extension of your office. Let us handle your after-hours/weekend and overflow calls.
For HVAC professionals, it’s hard to predict incoming call traffic. Have complete peace of mind: we can handle your overflow calls during business hours as well as after-hours, so no opportunity is lost!
No risk, 30-day free trial.
Keep your current answering service during the trial. Simply forward your phones to us to experience the best! We’ll have your office up and running within 48 hours. No credit card required.
Start your 30-day
FREE trial today
800-664-7159
centratel.com/hvac
inquiry@centratel.com
March 2025
Greetings! I’m Sam Carpenter.
Last December 1st marked exactly 40 years that I have owned Centratel answering service.
Our specialty? After-hours HVAC dispatching and message processing.
My bet is that you and I share the same goal: consistently providing customers with great service quality at a reasonable cost. And, along with a solid bottom line, we also want our businesses—and our personal lives, for that matter—to be trouble-free.
Is that what you have today? In too many HVAC operations…
- it’s day-to-day fire-killing
- there’s much churn in staffing
- bottom-line profitability is not at all what it could be
- internal communications are choppy and frustrating
And what about incoming phone calls after hours? Too often, those calls are handled by a not-so-great outside answering service or (heaven forbid) an automated service. Are there long hold times? Are messages garbled and haphazardly delivered?
We’re your quick and easy solution.
We are so confident in the quality of our service that we’ll provide you with a 30-day free trial (and we don’t require a deposit to make it happen). No other answering service in the U.S. offers such an extended-length, no-obligation free trial.
Give us the go-ahead, and we’ll have your operation up and running quickly!
Call us at 800-664-7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com. Either way, we’ll send you a hardcover copy of my best-selling business book, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, now in its updated-for-2025 fifth edition. (See www.workthesystem.com)
Regards,
Sam Carpenter, owner and president
March 2025
Greetings!
Do you use an answering service for your HVAC operation? If so, how is the quality? Does it seem expensive? These two problems are intimately related. They go together for a good reason…a reason that has everything to do with the emergence of COVID five years ago. Read on, and I’ll tell you what happened in a quick Q&A format.
What has happened to answering services since COVID started? It’s been a wipe-out. In early 2020, due to government-mandated COVID 6-foot-distancing rules that outlawed cubicles, most answering services were forced out of business, selling their customers to a handful of gigantic “mega-services,” with at least two of the largest ones foreign-owned. In 2019 there were 2,000 independent services in the U.S. Now? Perhaps 200.
Chances are, you are a mega-service customer.
OK. So why is my current answering service’s quality poor…and expensive? Most mega-services charge clients by “elapsed call time.” That’s a perfect formula for employing low-paid/high-turnover agents because the longer it takes for them to process a call, the more the client is billed for that call. And new inexperienced agents are not just slow; they make errors. On top of that, the expensive per-minute billing method is ripe for overcharging customers. Here’s an instance of a class action lawsuit by customers against their own answering service: Go to www.centratel.com/timebilling. Note that here at Centratel, 90% of our newest customers had bad experiences with their previous bill-by-time/high-staff-turnover mega-answering service (that still carried the service’s original name while calls were processed elsewhere).
So, how is Centratel different? We bill clients for the calls we process, not for the time spent processing those calls. We reward our agents for handling incoming calls efficiently and accurately, with up to 40% of their individual wages performance based. They are mature, career, highly paid, drug-free,* super-efficient professionals, many with tenures with Centratel of over ten years, some twenty, others approaching thirty. Our monthly billings are simple and black and white, with no room for price-gouging. We don’t use AI, and we don’t off-shore calls. And we frequently drug-test. Our quality of service? We are statistically the highest quality answering service in the United States.**
Cost? Because of our efficiencies, we remain in the mid-range of the industry cost spectrum. Go to www.centratel.com/gettingstarted. On that page, see “Why Choose Centratel?” for more detailed information.
To test our quality and get a cost estimate, you’ll get a unique-within-the-industry, no-obligation, no-deposit, 30-day free trial. Keep your current service while you give us a try.
To get started, call 1-800-664-7159, email inquiry@centratel.com, or visit www.centratel.com!
-Sam Carpenter, president and owner
*Today, across a whole range of industries, chronic drug use is a major reason for poor employee performance.
**Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (October through December 2024) was 1 customer-reported error for every 5,470 messages processed. That’s an unmatchable statistic within our industry.
April 2025
YOUR ANSWERING SERVICE: HIGH COST? LOW QUALITY?
(go to www.centratel.com to find out why…)
Need assurance that every call is answered by a real person?
Our agents become an extension of your office. Let us handle your after-hours/weekend and overflow calls.
For HVAC professionals, it’s hard to predict incoming call traffic. Have complete peace of mind: we can handle your overflow calls during business hours as well as after-hours, so no opportunity is lost!
No risk, 30-day free trial.
Keep your current answering service during the trial. Simply forward your phones to us to experience the best! We’ll have your office up and running within 48 hours.
No credit card required.
Start your 30-day
FREE trial today
800-664-7159
centratel.com/hvac
inquiry@centratel.com
24/7 HVAC ANSWERING SERVICE
How is Centratel different?
We bill our clients by the tasks we accomplish, not the time spent processing calls. Our monthly billing statements are simple and understandable. We pay our agents for handling incoming calls efficiently and accurately, and up to 40% of their individual wages are performance-based. They are mature, drug-free, long-term, highly paid, super-efficient professionals, many with tenures of over ten years, some twenty, and others approaching thirty.
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
NO CONTRACT
NO DEPOSIT
• 40 years experience
• US-owned and operated
• No offshoring or AI silliness
• No expensive time billing
• Drug-free, mature, long-term career agents
“Best in the U.S.”
START TODAY
800-664-7159
GET THE HIGHEST QUALITY ANSWERING SERVICE IN AMERICA*
*One customer reported error for every 6,161 message transactions processed (January through December, 2024)
May 2025
Greetings! I’m Sam Carpenter.
Last December 1st marked exactly 40 years that I have owned Centratel answering service.
Our specialty? After-hours HVAC dispatch and message processing.
My bet is that you and I share the same goal: consistently providing customers with great service quality at a reasonable cost. And, along with a solid bottom line, you and I also want our businesses—and our personal lives, for that matter—to be trouble-free.
Is that what you have today? In too many HVAC offices…
- it’s day-to-day fire-killing
- there’s much churn in staffing
- bottom-line profitability is not at all what it could be
- internal communications are choppy and frustrating
And what about incoming phone calls after hours? Too often, those calls are handled by a not-so-great outside answering service or (heaven forbid) an automated service. Are there long hold times? Are messages garbled and haphazardly delivered?
Think of it this way: In making your own phone calls, are you quietly frustrated to have to play Q&A with voicemail or artificial intelligence? Would you much prefer to reach a clear-thinking, cheerful, intelligent human being? In these automated days, offering a real person is the easy way to please your callers right from the get-go, while dramatically upstaging your competitors.
We are so confident in the quality of our service that we’ll provide you with a 30-day free trial (and we don’t require a deposit). No other answering service in the U.S. offers such an extended length, no-obligation free trial.
Give us the go-ahead, and we’ll have your operation up and running quickly!
Call us at 800-664-7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com. Either way, we’ll send you a hardcover copy of my best-selling business book, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, now in its updated-for-2025 fifth edition. (See www.workthesystem.com)
Regards,
Sam Carpenter, owner and president
July 2025
CLASSIC HUMAN-TO-HUMAN 24/7 HVAC ANSWERING SERVICE
How is Centratel different from other telephone answering services?
We bill our clients by the tasks we accomplish, not the time spent processing calls. Our monthly billing statements are simple and understandable. We pay our agents for handling incoming calls efficiently and accurately, and up to 40% of their individual wages are performance-based. They are mature, drug-free, long-term, highly paid, super-efficient professionals, many with tenures of over ten years, some twenty, and others approaching thirty.
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
NO CONTRACT
NO DEPOSIT
• For over four decades, serving HVAC/plumbing professionals
• 100% U.S.-owned and operated
• Best in the U.S.*
• No offshoring
• Zero artificial intelligence
• Career/long-term, drug-free staff
• No expensive “time” billing
• 40 years in business
START TODAY
800-664-7159
centratel
telephone answering service
FOR YOUR HVAC BUSINESS: GET THE HIGHEST QUALITY ANSWERING SERVICE IN AMERICA*
*One error for every 6,161 message transactions processed (January through December, 2024)
WHO (OR WHAT) ANSWERS YOUR PHONES WHEN YOU CAN’T?
No one likes talking to a machine… or to someone who doesn’t seem to care.
Need assurance that every call is answered by a real person? Our agents become an extension of your office. We will handle your after-hours/weekend and overflow calls.
Stop losing business.
It’s true, no one likes talking to voicemail or artificial intelligence… or to have to endure endless on-holds. Let us capture your calls!
No risk, 30-day free trial.
Simply forward your phones to us to experience the best! We’ll have your office up and running within 48 hours. No credit card required.
Start your 30-day
FREE trial today
800-664-7159
centratel.com/hvac
inquiry@centratel.com
August 2025
Capture Your Callers
The Renaissance of Real-time Human-to-Human Conversation
By Sam Carpenter, CEO and owner of Centratel
In your HVAC operation, is it possible you are losing potential new customers due to an inexpensive yet ineffective telephone call-capture protocol? My guess is…yes!*
It’s inarguable! People prefer to talk to a real person, right now! They really, really don’t want to be forced into a one-way chat with one-way, mechanized voicemail or AI. You know it’s true!
After hours, you probably route your business phone to one of four destinations:
- Voicemail (evolved from the 1960s telephone answering machine)
- Artificial Intelligence. (Not even three years old, in this context, it’s simply enhanced voicemail)
- A mobile phone combined with a backup voicemail box
- A human being (“operator” or “agent “) via a traditional telephone answering service**
For after-hours (and/or daytime overflow call traffic), do you rely on #1 or #2 above? If so, you are forcing every caller to deal with a non-human mechanism: voicemail or artificial intelligence. For any caller, there is a degree of annoyance. Worse still, some potential new clients will hang up and instantly call one of your competitors. And you won’t even know it…
Or perhaps you use a mobile phone, #3 above? Too often, the person designated to handle those incoming calls is busy, and so the caller hangs up or is routed to an automated system after all…
What about #4 above? Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, the answering service industry has been turned upside-down. See the home page of our website (www.centratel.com) for the brutal details. In any case, high-quality “live” answering service is in robust revival: people talking to people, real-time. And via Centratel, this means a well-paid, clear-thinking, drug-free, cheerful human being, usually female, will “capture” your new callers who may have otherwise gone elsewhere. And your current customers? They will be delighted. ***
It’s a renaissance, back to human-to-human dialog! Instantly jump ahead of your local HVAC competition while you pamper your current clients! Call us at 1-800-664-7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com, and let’s get you started on our unique 30-day free trial!
*But know that most of your competitors are also experiencing similar losses for the same reason.
**The first answering service appeared in Boston in 1877, a year after the telephone was introduced.
***Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (for the 12 months of 2024) was one error for every 6,161 messages processed. By far, that’s an unmatchable statistic within our industry.
September 2025
HVAC ANSWERING SERVICE
HOW DO YOU TREAT YOUR CALLERS?
The simple key to your HVAC operation’s growth?
That’s easy. Move ahead of your competitors by providing superb customer service to your clients and potential clients: day and night, have a real, live person answer your incoming calls.
Ask yourself: when you call a business, do you look forward to tedious one-sided conversations with voicemail or AI? Or would you prefer a quick, super-efficient chat with a sharp, cheerful human professional assistant? Trust that 100% of your callers feel the same way…
Remember that one can’t measure the new business lost as first-time callers get instantly frustrated with voicemail, disinterested low-paid agents, and/or infuriatingly long on-hold delays.
ARE YOU USING AN ANSWERING SERVICE NOW?
HIGH COST? LOW QUALITY?
(go to www.centratel.com to find out why.)
• For four decades, serving HVAC professionals
• U.S.-owned and operated. NO offshoring
• Zero artificial intelligence gyrations
• Career/long-term, drug-free staff
• No expensive “time” billing
• No contract. No deposit
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
START TODAY
800-664-7159
OR EMAIL US AT
inquiry@centratel.com
GET THE HIGHEST QUALITY ANSWERING SERVICE IN AMERICA*
For four decades, we’ve been processing after-hours and daytime overflow calls for HVAC professionals. We’re America’s “boutique” live answering service, offering the highest quality service to be found anywhere.*
Compared to 2020, in 2025 the majority of live telephone answering services are—directly or indirectly—provided by foreign multi-nationals, and their quality of service reflects that fact. See our website homepage for the details of this recent answering service industry earthquake: www.centratel.com.
Our telephony and internet foundation is as high-tech and sophisticated as you will find anywhere, yet our aim is to stick to the basics: to provide the highest-quality human-to-human telephone answering service available in the United States.
*One error for every 6,161 message transactions processed
(January through December, 2024)
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
START TODAY
800-664-7159
OR EMAIL US AT
inquiry@centratel.com
“Statistically,
the highest quality
answering service
in the U.S.”
September 2025
Finding Great People and Growing Your HVAC Business
By Sam Carpenter, CEO/owner of Centratel Answering Service
These days, more and more small business owners are desperate for smart, clear-thinking, loyal employees. For many, it’s the largest challenge of all. Here’s why:
- A large portion of the new workforce is averse to focused, hard work. There are a variety of reasons for this
- Drug abuse. Cannabis leads the way, making users—and I am being polite here—less than ambitious and mistake-prone. And it’s a prime contributor to #1 above
- Excessive screen time results in reduced attention span and fewer human-to-human conversations. Practiced, patient, refined communicators? Not so much
Can the above be fixed? Don’t hold your breath. But in this moment, is there anything the owner of a HVAC operation can do to find and keep “great people?” Yes!
- Pay your people generously, and pay them by performance. High-output staff equals an increase in the quality of the operation…and the bottom line
- Administer drug tests randomly and regularly. Most small business owners have given up on ongoing drug testing, settling for warm bodies. Not an optimal strategy.
- Encourage real conversations with potential and current clients. For example, voicemail and AI are inexpensive for after-hours telephone coverage, but they are costing you sales as desperate callers get frustrated, hang up, and immediately call your competition. People want to talk to people, not machines!
Boost growth and inspire your team! Go to centratel.com (and consider our inexpensive “live” HVAC answering service at centratel.com/CLEANSCREEN ®.*)
Call us at 1-800-664-7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com to find out about our unique-within-the-industry 30-day free trial and to receive a copy of my book, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, recently published in its 5th edition.
*CLEANSCREEN® is a federally trademarked service of Centratel.
October 2025
HVAC ANSWERING SERVICE
PEOPLE WANT TO TALK TO PEOPLE. NOT MACHINES.
In your HVAC operation, are you forcing your after-hours callers into one-way “conversations” with voicemail or artificial intelligence?
Here in 2025, a societal resurgence toward authentic human-to-human dialogue is underway, and there is a simple step you can take to instantly join this renaissance:
have a real person answer your incoming calls.
If your callers are reaching an automated system there is no question that some of them are hanging up in frustration and are immediately calling your competition. Instead, treat your callers to a classic two-way human-to-human interaction.
Our agents will “capture” every single incoming call!
Proof? Ask yourself this question: When you call a business, do you prefer a one-way Q&A session with a machine over a concise two-way chat with a sharp, cheerful, intelligent human being? Of course you don’t! And the people who call your office after hours are no different. People want to talk to people!
HOW CAN CENTRATEL BE THE BEST ANYWHERE WHILE REMAINING INEXPENSIVE?
(see our home page message at
centratel.com to find out how!)
• For over four decades, serving HVAC professionals
• All calls answered in the U.S.
• Minimal to no on-hold times
• Zero artificial intelligence gyrations
• Career/long-term, drug-free staff
• No expensive “time” billing
• No contract. No deposit
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
START TODAY
800-664-7159
OR EMAIL US AT
inquiry@centratel.com
ARE YOU CURRENTLY USING A “LIVE” ANSWERING SERVICE?
IF SO, HOW IS THE QUALITY? HOW IS THE COST?
Due to the COVID-19 “six-foot distancing rule” mandated in early 2020, few independent “live” answering services remain in business in the U.S. and Canada. At fire-sale prices, over 95% of independent services were immediately snatched up by gigantic foreign-owned multinational corporations.*
If you are using an answering service for after-hours call handling now, there’s a good chance you are a direct customer or subsidiary-customer of one of these behemoths. (Or perhaps you’ve never used a “live” answering service. If so, see the reverse side of this postcard…).
Centratel Answering Service has not just survived the industry debacle, but more than ever, we offer the highest quality of service available anywhere. How long have we been in business? Over forty years under the same ownership.
Is your current answering service expensive? Error prone?
Investigate our trademarked “CLEAN SCREEN®” service at
www.centratel.com/cleanscreen.
*For further details regarding this industry upheaval,
see the home page essay at www.centratel.com
centratel
telephone answering service
“Statistically, the highest quality
answering service in the U.S.”
800-664-7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com
November 2025
Bottlenecking
Are you, right from the start, bottlenecking your organization?
Truth is, you probably are. Most HVAC businesses are doing exactly that.
This pertains to potential customers who call your office after hours, as well as those who call during regular business hours. I’m Sam Carpenter, CEO/owner of Centratel Answering Service. In this letter, I’m challenging you to carefully consider something that could be seriously affecting your bottom line.
“Could be” is an understatement…
For your after-hours phone traffic (and during high-traffic business hours), my bet is you fall into one of two categories:
- Callers are greeted with voicemail, artificial intelligence, or…
- They are routed to an answering service
In the first scenario, you are forcing your callers to interact with a machine. For the caller, it’s a one-way “dialog,” and there is no question that some of them are hanging up in frustration and immediately calling one of your competitors. How many? Impossible to measure, but it’s certainly happening. Yes, the automated systems are inexpensive, but you are not “capturing” all the callers who are considering doing business with you. Your current clients? Just like you, they prefer to talk to a real person. In the short term and the long term, automated answering is affecting your bottom line as well as your image.
Instead, via my company, Centratel, allow your callers to have an actual conversation with a sharp, cheerful, intelligent human being. We’ll “capture” your callers before they hang up and go elsewhere.
People want to talk to people!
Or you fall into the second category because you understand the value of human-to-human interaction: you are already using an answering service. But how is the quality? And how is the cost? If quality is not good and the price seems excessive, there is a single very tangible reason. These two less-than-optimal conditions, low quality and high cost, are inextricably entwined. It’s due to a fascinating recent development in the answering service industry. For the full story, see our home page at centratel.com.
We’re the “highest quality answering service in the United States,” and have been in this call-capture business for HVAC companies for over 40 years. With no obligation and at no cost, I invite you to try us out for a full 30 days. I promise you’ll be pleased!
Quickly remove your bottleneck by calling us at 1-800-664-7159 or emailing us at inquiry@centratel.com.
