1. Setup and onboarding
Commonly $500–$2,500. Ask whether it is waived on an annual commitment, and what it actually buys — voice tuning and scripting, or just an account.
2. PMS integration
Some vendors bill separately per practice management system, and again per location. Confirm whether Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve or Dolphin write-back is included in the plan you were quoted.
3. Overage
The most common surprise. Find out what happens at call 501 or minute 1,001 — a published overage rate, a hard stop, or an automatic tier bump you did not approve.
4. Per-location charges
Multi-site practices frequently discover the headline price was per site. If you plan to open a second location, get the second-location price now.
5. Telephony pass-through
Carrier minutes, number porting and SMS are sometimes billed on top of the platform fee at cost-plus.
6. Contract length and auto-renewal
A low monthly number attached to a 24-month auto-renewing term is not a low number. Look for month-to-month with a defined notice period.
7. Support tiers
Ask whether phone support, a named contact, or same-day script changes sit behind a premium tier.
- Get every answer in the written quote, not the call.
- Normalise vendors to one number: all-in dollars per month at your real volume.
- Confirm the BAA is included rather than a paid compliance add-on.