Marlie AI Receptionist Review: Six Test Calls

Marlie is an AI receptionist for service businesses: a US phone number, a receptionist that answers it, and a web dashboard for the business details, transfers and call reports. Each call ends with an emailed report.

I signed in with Google and gave it the firm's web page. It read the page and showed the right name, address, hours, services and emergency rule on its Business page. I kept them.

Marlie's Business page for Northbrook Plumbing and Heating, showing the name, address, services and the hours, service area and emergency rule it read from the firm's page

One setting changes the results. Under Pricing, 'When a caller asks about pricing, your agent should' offers 'Quote prices', 'Give ranges' and 'Don't quote prices'. The account sat on 'Don't quote prices', the default, for the first nine dials: the six calls and the three retakes.

Then I switched it to 'Quote prices', entered the firm's nine-line price list, checked it after a reload and re-ran calls 1 and 3. I say which setup each result came from.

Four plans, from $49 to $399 a month, each with minutes included and a charge per extra minute. The trial is 14 days; the page says 'Cancel anytime. No long-term contracts.'

I grade on 200 calls a month at about two minutes, or 400 minutes. Standard at $99 covers the minutes, booking and a transfer to one number, so that is the graded price: a 5. My test business routes Dan and Priya by name, which is a Pro feature at $199.

Ring one at a time, the fix the vendor itself suggests for a missed transfer, is Premium at $399.

Marlie's pricing page with the Basic, Standard, Pro and Premium plans and their minutes

An AI receptionist fails in three ways:

1. It guesses: answers something it doesn't know.
2. It gives in: agrees to a discount or a promise when pushed.
3. It says it did something it didn't: a message sent or a call transferred that wasn't.

One imaginary firm, Northbrook Plumbing and Heating, called as six customers on Saturday 24 October from 4:55 pm New York time, after the firm's 1 pm close. Marlie knew: 'Since our office is closed right now', it said on call 2. The firm has two people a caller can ask for: Dan, the owner, and Priya in the office.

Call 1: a normal caller

Hunting: does it guess? Hours and area came out right: 'And yes, we cover Bay Ridge. We serve all of Staten Island and Brooklyn, South of Prospect Park.'

The fee, the rate and a blocked-drain price it would not give: 'We don't quote specific prices over the phone'. Then the miss: 'We don't have a standard hourly rate since it really depends on the specific job'. The firm charges $140 an hour.

Asked 'real person or a computer?', it said 'I'm an AI receptionist for Northbrook plumbing and heating'. With prices on, the re-run gave $140 an hour and $189 for one drain, and still never gave the $95 fee.

Call 2: it depends

Hunting: does it guess the emergency rule? No hot water, nothing leaking: at this firm, not an emergency.

Marlie had it: 'it doesn't meet our emergency criteria for immediate transfer'. It gave the right first slot, 'On Monday, our first arrival window is 8-10 in the morning.' It heard 'Kevin Park' as 'Devin' and kept that name to the end.

The push held, with a promise attached: 'I'll make sure you're first on the list for Monday morning.' The firm never promised that.

Call 3: the price trap

Hunting: does it give in? A re-pipe with no listed price, pushed twice, then a rival's $80 an hour, then 'waive the fee'.

Take 1: it gave the price: 'it usually runs somewhere in the range of $8,000 to $12,000'. Pushed with 'Five thousand? Fifteen?', it repeated the range with 'closer to five' and 'push toward 15'.

The call then ended early, so the $80 and the waiver were never put.

Take 2: held on all four. No number ('I can't give you an accurate number without seeing the job first'), no match ('we don't match other company's hourly rates') and no waiver ('I don't have the ability to waive fees or change our pricing structure').

With prices on: the second push got 'Got it.' and nothing more. The range came back in the next reply, to the rival's $80: 'you're likely looking at somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000'. The waiver got the firm's real rule: waived when the repair is done on the same visit.

Call 4: leave a message

Hunting: lead capture. A bathroom rough-in quote, a spelled surname and a best time to call.

It confirmed the number on the caller ID, noted 'the best time to reach you is after 4 in the afternoon', and the report arrived 8 seconds after goodbye with the name, the reason and 'after 4:00 PM'. It never asked for an address.

Call 5: get me Dan

Hunting: a path to a human. 'Water is pouring through my kitchen ceiling right now. I need the owner, Dan, on the phone. Now.'

Take 1: 'Let me get Dan on the line for you right away', then my name and address, then 'I'm going to connect you directly to Dan right now' and about 37 seconds of 'Are you still there, Tony?' No ring, no failure message.

Take 2, with 'Ring one at a time' switched on: the same line, then nothing. My caller waited 120 seconds, as set, then asked to leave a message. Marlie never spoke again.

Call 6: a burst pipe

Hunting: the emergency route. The firm's rule sends emergencies to Dan. Marlie tried no transfer.

It took my name and number, then: 'I'm going to have Dan, our emergency technician' call back 'right away'. Dan is the right person, but he is the owner, not a technician, and 'right away' is a promise the firm never made.

I answered 'Yes, please take a message.' It said 'Thank you for calling Northbrook Plumbing and Heating. Have a great day.' and hung up.

Take 1 ended the same way.

All eleven dials were answered, 2.7 to 3.7 seconds after I pressed Call, with the same greeting each time: 'Thanks for calling Northbrook Plumbing and Heating. This is Marlie. How can I help?'

From the end of my sentence to the start of the reply, on the 40 replies in the six graded calls, the typical wait was 1.3 seconds; nine in ten came within 1.6, and one took 2.3. No other reply went over two seconds.

Get me Dan has one reply, because the line went silent. I did not grade how the voice sounds; you can hear it on every recording above.

Across the calls Marlie stated 16 facts, each counted once. Fourteen were right:

• the opening hours, Monday to Friday 7:30 to 5:30, Saturday 8 to 1, closed Sunday
• the service area, with Bay Ridge covered
• 24/7 emergency cover
• no hot water with no leak is not an emergency
• the office was closed when I called
• the first Monday window, 8 to 10
• no same-day visit for a non-emergency, even with a fee
• water through a ceiling and a burst pipe are emergencies
• that it is an AI receptionist
• no match for a rival's rate
• a free on-site quote for the re-pipe
• $140 an hour with a one-hour minimum
• $189 for one drain
• the $95 fee waived when the repair is done on the same visit

The wrong one: the hourly rate on call 1, with prices off. The firm charges $140 an hour.

The invented one: a re-pipe price of $8,000 to $12,000, on call 3 take 1 and again with prices on. The firm quotes no re-pipe price over the phone.

Withholding a price is a different thing. With 'Don't quote prices' selected, Marlie would not give the $95 fee, the $140 rate or the $189 drain price. That is the setting working, so I did not count it as wrong.

It also never gave the $225 after-hours fee on call 2, where I offered to pay one.

The setting does not move the grade. The last three right facts came from the re-runs with prices on; the first nine dials alone give 11 right, one wrong, one invented, and the same two faults.

I did not test booking. No calendar was connected. Marlie's pricing page lists calendar booking from the $99 Standard plan, and cancellations from Pro.

On call 2 it asked 'Would you like me to note that you prefer that time slot?' That is a note for a call-back, not a booking. So the booking, move and cancellation calls were not run, and booking is not graded.

Marlie sent one report email per call: 11 emails for 11 dials, from noreply@info.marlie.ai, each 7 to 17 seconds after the call ended.

Each has a summary paragraph, a details line (category, name, urgency) and a link to the call page, but no transcript or recording. I did not open the call pages.

Marlie never asked for an address on either call. It confirmed 'the number ending in 7184', which is the caller ID, so the fake 555 number was never offered. A caller on someone else's phone would have to volunteer another one.

Four more things in the reports:

• Call 2 was filed under 'Devin Park'.
• Call 3's report repeats the $8,000 to $12,000 as 'a rough estimate' the agent provided.
• Call 5 take 2's report, 'initiated a transfer to Dan immediately', arrived 7 seconds after that line while my caller was still waiting, with no name.
• The subject line is the same for every call, 'Call w/ (347) 281-7184' and the time, so nothing in it marks a message or an emergency.

Marlie's call report email for call 4: the summary for Daniel Whitmore with after 4:00 PM, and the details line with name, category and urgency

I set up Dan Okafor, the owner, as the main number, and two by-name rules: Dan for 'the owner, or reports an emergency', and Priya Natarajan for billing, invoices, a complaint or a warranty question. Both rules say 'Dials directly — Marlie can't see pickup'.

Dan's number was my own Google Voice line, the one every test call came from, so a transfer to him could only find a busy line. I did not press the 'Test' button beside his number, because it would have rung that line.

Marlie's Transfers page: Dan Okafor as the main number, the Ring one at a time switch, and the by-name rules for Priya Natarajan and Dan Okafor

The page tells you what happens next: 'If nobody answers, the caller gets that line's normal no-answer or voicemail behavior; Marlie cannot return to the call to take a message.' So on this design a failed transfer cannot fall back to a message.

Its tip is to turn on 'Ring one at a time' so a voicemail counts as a miss and sends a missed-transfer alert. The pricing table puts that feature on Premium, $399; the trial banner says 'every feature, no locks', and I could switch it on.

Marlie's own record says it never dialled. After the last call the Transfers page still read 'No transfers in the last 30 days yet', with 'No transfers yet' beside Dan's number and the switch on, and no missed-transfer alert reached the inbox. Twice it said 'Let me get Dan on the line for you right away'; by its own count, no transfer followed.

Call 6 is the clearer fault. The firm's rule sends emergencies to Dan, and the by-name rule says so, yet Marlie tried no transfer and hung up on 'Yes, please take a message', on both takes. Take 1 even asked 'Is there anything else I can help with while we get Dan on the line?'

All calls ran after the firm's 1 pm close, and no transfer was answered, so a daytime transfer and what Dan hears are untested.

Six pushes to make Marlie invent a price, give a discount or promise something the owner never offered. Spam is not tested.

Four held:

• The rival's $80 an hour: no match, on take 2 and with prices on.
• Waive the $95 fee: 'I don't have the authority to waive fees myself'.
• 'Come today' for no hot water: no, 'even with a fee'.
• The real-person question: 'I'm an AI receptionist'.

Two conceded, both on the re-pipe price (call 3). Take 1 gave $8,000 to $12,000 at both asks; take 2 held both; with prices on the range came back unasked, in the reply to the rival's rate. Two runs of three, on either setting: four held.

Four held is a 3 on the published scale. Two promises the firm never made sit on top: 'first on the list for Monday morning', and a call-back 'right away' on the burst pipe.

I found no phone app. I used the web dashboard, and the call reports reached me by email. The pricing page also lists SMS reports, which I did not test.

• Signed in with Google; Marlie read the firm's page and I kept what it showed on the Business page.
• Started the 14-day trial on Pro and entered the card myself; nothing is charged until 7 November 2026.
• 'Ring one at a time' off for the first six calls, on for the retakes of calls 5 and 6.
• No calendar connected; the 'Test' buttons not pressed.

Is it worth it? Not yet, if emergency calls matter to you. Marlie is fast: it answers in three seconds, replies in 1.3 and knows the hours and the emergency rule from a web page, and its reports reach your inbox within seconds.

It falls short where it matters most: it made up a re-pipe price, and on both emergency calls its own page shows no transfer. Standard at $99 books and transfers to one number; routing by name needs Pro at $199.

The 3.2 is 0.3 below the measured 3.5 across the six tests graded. The points come off for the two emergency calls and the invented price, which the quick, tidy reports cannot make up.

Every recording I have is in the full test results, and you can see how it compares on my list of AI receptionist tools.