Frequently asked questions
Will my customers know they're talking to AI?
Yes. The agent says it's an AI when asked. We never lie about being human — that's a hard line for us. Most customers don't care; the few who do appreciate the honesty.
What languages does Foan speak?
English (UK, US, Irish, Australian, Indian), Spanish, Portuguese (PT and BR), French, Italian, German, Dutch, Maltese.
Each agent is set to one locale. If you serve customers in multiple languages, create one agent per language and point a different number at each.
Does Foan record calls?
By default, no audio is retained beyond what's needed to generate the transcript and summary. You can opt in to call recordings per agent if you want them — typically used for quality monitoring or compliance evidence.
Can the agent take payments?
Yes — connect Stripe under Integrations and the agent can offer payment links during the call. Customers explicitly confirm before any link is generated. See Connecting Stripe.
How does the agent know about my business?
Two things: the agent's system prompt (its personality + role) and the knowledge base (your services, hours, FAQ, policies). We pre-fill both from your website on signup, but you should edit them to match how you actually want the agent to sound.
What about GDPR / data privacy?
We process customer phone calls under a Data Processing Agreement that you sign on signup. Data lives in EU regions by default (UK + Ireland for European customers). Transcripts are retained for 90 days for support; longer retention is opt-in.
We don't train models on your customers' calls. Audio is processed by Google's Gemini Live API and ElevenLabs (TTS only — no training); we have DPAs with both.
Can I export my call data?
Yes — REST API + bulk CSV export from the dashboard. See the API docs.
What if Foan goes down?
Forwarded numbers fall back to your existing voicemail. Foan numbers we provision will register a missed call you can review when service resumes. Outage updates appear on our public changelog (footer link).
We've had three brief outages in the last six months, all under 15 minutes. We'll always be transparent — every outage gets written up in the public log within 24 hours.
Can I have multiple agents on different lines?
Yes. Each agent gets its own number. You configure each one separately — different system prompts, different voices, different knowledge bases. Useful when you have e.g. one number for service and one for sales.
How does it compare to Vapi / Synthflow / Air?
Honestly: voice quality matches (we use ElevenLabs Flash by default, same as them). What we do differently:
- Knowledge base is structured and editable, not "upload a PDF and pray".
- Frequency capping + opt-out is workspace-wide and automatic — not a feature you have to enable.
- Pricing includes ElevenLabs voices on every plan; we don't paywall voice quality.
- Customer Care templates (delivery checks, renewals, reactivation) are first-class — competitors are mostly cold-call/inbound focused.
We're not always cheaper. We try to be the right choice when the call quality + customer-trust posture matters more than the price.
I have a feature request
Use the helpline or email founder@foan.me. We read everything and prioritise based on what we hear most. Non-trivial requests get a written response; you'll know what we're doing or not doing and why.
I have a complaint
Use the helpline (we'll route it). If it's been more than 24 hours and you haven't heard back, email founder@foan.me directly. We don't ignore complaints.