Founded by two lifelong animal lovers, Buddies Pet Daycare Boarding and Grooming set out to offer more personalized care than the typical pet boarding experience. But as word spread and the business grew, staying on top of every customer call became harder
Challenge
At Buddies Pet Daycare Boarding and Grooming in Las Vegas, the team is hands-on. They’re checking in customers, supervising playgroups, and grooming pets—all while trying to keep the phone from ringing off the hook.
“Sometimes our staff are in the back with the dogs and can’t hear it,” co-founder Natalie explains. “Other times, they’re at the front desk juggling walk-ins and phone calls. It was just hard to do everything at once.”
The result? Missed calls. And when you run a small business, every call can matter.
“We’d try to call people back, but sometimes they’d already found someone else,” she says.
Solution
Natalie and Amanda weren’t looking for complex software or a system with tons of features they didn’t need. They just wanted something simple that would help them stay on top of calls—and Upfirst delivered.
“You guys were very simple to use,” Natalie says. “We’re not super techy people, so it was important to find something we could actually set up and use ourselves.”
With Upfirst, unanswered calls are automatically handled by an AI receptionist that collects information from the caller and sends Natalie and Amanda a transcript by text and email.
“It’s really helpful because we’re not always at the shop,” she says. “If a call comes in, we can check the message and let our staff know if it’s spam or something urgent.”
Even frustrated callers are handled gracefully.
“We had a really upset customer call in, yelling and using profanity. I’m just glad the AI took that call—it stayed polite, and our team didn’t have to deal with it directly.”
With call trasnferring, Buddies also has the option to connect callers directly with a human when needed.
Results
With Upfirst managing the first layer of phone calls, the Buddies team has more breathing room—and fewer missed opportunities.
“When someone leaves a message, our staff already know what it’s about,” Natalie says. “They can jump right in, instead of calling back just to ask, ‘How can I help you?’”
The team can focus on pets, not playing catch-up with voicemails. And customers get faster responses without anyone feeling overwhelmed.
“It’s just made everything smoother.”
