Setup

Question 1

How do I forward my phone line?

Accepted Answer

From your business phone, dial **72 followed by your Clayta number to forward every call. To forward only the calls you don't pick up, dial *71 instead. To stop forwarding entirely, dial *73. You keep the number on your window, your van and your listings. Nothing about your existing number changes — calls to it simply arrive at your assistant when you can't take them. *71 is the setting most shops want at first. It rings your own phone first, and only reaches Clayta if nobody answers, so you keep taking the calls you want to take and stop losing the ones you can't. Some carriers drop call forwarding after a network change or an outage. If a caller ever says they couldn't get through, dial *72 and your Clayta number again to reinstate it — that is the most common cause by a wide margin.

Question 2

How do I connect Square Appointments?

Accepted Answer

In your dashboard, go to Settings → Calendar and choose Connect Square. You sign in to Square, approve the connection, and your services, staff and opening hours come across on their own. You do not have to re-enter your price list. What Clayta quotes on a call is what Square already says, which is also why correcting a price in Square corrects it on the phone. The sync runs both ways. Clayta writes bookings it takes into Square, and checks Square's live availability before offering anyone a time — so an appointment booked in Square blocks that slot on the phone.

Question 3

What if I don't use Square Appointments?

Accepted Answer

Clayta works fine on its own. If you don't connect a calendar, bookings live in your Clayta dashboard and you see the day at a glance there. Nothing about answering or booking depends on Square. The only difference is where the appointment ends up. You enter your services, durations and prices during setup instead of importing them, which adds a few minutes to the fifteen.

Question 4

What do I need before I start?

Accepted Answer

You need three things: your opening hours, your list of services with prices and rough durations, and about 15 minutes. You can do the whole thing from your phone. If you use Square Appointments, the services and hours come across automatically and you are mostly checking rather than typing. You do not need a new phone number, a contract, or a card reader. You keep your existing number and forward it.

Question 5

How do I test my line before going live?

Accepted Answer

Open Settings → Test call and ring your assistant from your own mobile. You hear exactly what a caller hears, and the call shows up in your dashboard with its transcript. Do this before you forward your line, and again after. It is the fastest way to catch a wrong price or a missing service, because you hear the mistake rather than reading it. Try asking it something awkward on purpose — a service you don't offer, a time you're closed. What it does when it doesn't know is worth seeing once before a real caller finds it.