Mabel for heating and gas engineers

Hands in a boiler when the phone goes? Mabel texts them back and books the job.

When a call rings out, the customer gets a text straight away with a link to book, or they can reply. Mabel asks what's wrong, takes the postcode and the house number, and offers times that fit around the jobs already in your calendar. You confirm with a tap. A text that mentions a gas smell or carbon monoxide gets the gas emergency number in Mabel's reply.

Start for free

Free while we launch · no card · no contract

The first cold week

The first cold snap, every boiler that sat quiet all summer gets switched on, and the ones that won't fire get a phone call. That's the week you're booked solid and least able to answer. Someone with no heating wants a time, not the promise of a call back tonight.

Mabel keeps the routine work moving while you're on the breakdowns. A service enquiry gets booked into a free slot next week. A text that says no heating or no hot water reaches you straight away, and the customer is told you'll call back as soon as possible.

Gas smells and carbon monoxide alarms

Mabel is a booking line, not an emergency service. When a customer's text mentions a gas smell, the reply includes this line, every time:

If you can smell gas, call the National Gas Emergency number on 0800 111 999 now.

And when it mentions carbon monoxide or a CO alarm:

If a carbon monoxide alarm is sounding, get everyone into fresh air and call the National Gas Emergency number on 0800 111 999 now. If anyone feels unwell, call 999.

When the job, the text or your business is in Northern Ireland, Mabel gives the Northern Ireland Gas Emergency number, 0800 002 001, instead. You're alerted as well, whatever your urgent words are, as long as urgent alerts are switched on.

Gas work only for registered engineers

If you do gas work, we check your Gas Safe ID card by hand, with your photo ID and your insurance, before your Mabel number goes live. An account with no certifying body can't put gas work on its menu, and a customer who asks for it is told:

That needs a registered engineer, so we can't book it for this business.

What your customer gets

Word for word, the message a caller hears and the texts that follow, for an example business, Jones Heating. Only the names and the link change.

They hear

Thanks for calling Jones Heating. Adam is on a job. We're texting you now so you can book a time. If it's personal, just reply PERSONAL to the text and Adam will get back to you.

Then this text arrives

Sorry we missed your call to Jones Heating. Adam is on a job. Book in a minute here: mabelhq.co.uk/b/Ab3dE5gH7j Or just reply to this text and we'll take your details here. Not a customer? No need to reply. If this is a personal call for Jones Heating, reply PERSONAL and we will let Adam know. Mabel handles texts for this business. How your details are used: mabelhq.co.uk/privacy#texted

If they reply to the text instead

Thanks. How can we help? 1. Boiler service 2. Boiler repair 3. No heating 4. No hot water 5. Boiler losing pressure 6. Other Just reply with a number.

On the form they enter their postcode and pick their address from the list; by text, Mabel asks for a few words about the job, the postcode and the house number. Either way they choose a time that is free in your calendar, and the booking is read back for them to check. You get a text with the job, and you confirm it.

The jobs on your menu

At set-up you pick the five jobs you get most and roughly how long each takes. Here are ten of the twenty on the list for heating engineers. You can change them later in Settings.

  • Boiler service1h
  • Boiler repair2h
  • No heating2h
  • No hot water2h
  • Boiler losing pressure1h
  • New boiler quote1h
  • Boiler replacedAll day
  • Gas safety certificate1h
  • Power flush6h
  • Radiator fitted2h

Urgent words

If a customer's text uses one of your urgent words, Mabel texts you straight away with what they wrote, and tells them you know. The booking carries on as normal. A new account for heating engineers starts with these words, and you can change them:

  • gas smell
  • smell gas
  • carbon monoxide
  • no heating
  • no hot water
  • boiler leaking
  • leak
  • co alarm
  • pressure dropping

The customer reads:

This sounds urgent, so we've let Adam know straight away, and you'll get a call back as soon as possible.

Add an emergency number in Settings and Mabel gives them that as well. Your own mobile number is never given out.

Questions from heating engineers

Will it book a service on top of a breakdown I've already got?

No. Mabel only offers times that are free in your calendar, inside your working hours and with time to drive between jobs. Connect your Google calendar, or your iPhone calendar in the app, and switch on blocking, and anything you've put there stays clear too. Your time off and UK bank holidays are kept clear as well.

What does the customer hear when they ring?

One short message: thanks for calling, you're on a job, and a text is on its way so they can book a time. Then the call ends and the text arrives. Nobody is kept on the line talking to a machine about their boiler.

Does Mabel diagnose the fault or quote for a new boiler?

No. It takes the job they pick, a few words about the problem, the address and a time. It doesn't quote prices or promise anything you haven't set up. A new boiler quote is a job on the list like any other, so the visit gets booked and the quote stays yours.

I work on oil boilers, not gas.

There's a page for oil heating engineers, with oil jobs and urgent words such as oil smell and oil leak. Mabel for oil heating engineers

What does it cost?

Free while we launch. No card, no contract. If that ever changes you hear from us by email first, and you can leave at any time.

Mabel for other trades

Try it on your own missed calls.

Start for free

Free while we launch · no card · no contract