Missed-call text-back
Missed Call Index (pilot): unanswered-call complaints in Google reviews
Nationwide Missed Call Index pilot: 91 of 4,458 Places-returned reviews and 83 of 946 home-service businesses flagged for missed-call or no-callback complaints across 19 metro×trade rows.
Someone left a one-star Google review that was not really about the job. It was about the phone. Nobody answered. Nobody called back. They could not reach anyone.
When that happens, a job can walk away forever. The competitor who answers, or texts back fast, gets the work.
Those lines are rare in public reviews. Happy customers leave more five-star notes. But when someone does write about the phone, it is a sharp warning. So we counted them.
Counter & Crew’s Missed Call Index pilot pulled Google Places reviews for home-service businesses across 19 metro×trade rows. We classified 4,458 reviews from 946 businesses. 91 of 4,458 reviews (2%) complained about a missed call or no callback. 83 of 946 businesses (8.8%) had at least one of those complaints.
That is not a national prevalence number. Places usually returns about five reviews per business, and the sample skews positive. The honest frame is: among the Places-returned reviews we classified, this is how often the phone complaint showed up.
The denser local rows were still sharp. Nashville plumbers: 11 flagged reviews. Columbus plumbers: 11. Austin HVAC: 10. Chicago HVAC: 9.
This page is Counter & Crew’s Citation Hub for the Missed Call Index pilot (run dated 2026-09-19). Lead with raw fractions. Full table, method, and caveats are below.
Last updated: 2026-09-19. Brand domain: counterandcrew.com. Related reading: missed call statistics 2026 (third-party publishers), missed-call text-back, AI receptionists, find installers, start.
Key takeaways
- All-run absolute counts: 91 of 4,458 classified reviews (2%) and 83 of 946 businesses (8.8%) had at least one missed-call / no-callback complaint in this pilot (Counter & Crew Missed Call Index pilot, 2026-09-19).
- Strongest plumber rows by flagged reviews: Nashville, TN plumbers 11 of 242 reviews (11 of 53 businesses); Columbus, OH plumbers 11 of 233 reviews (8 of 50 businesses).
- Strongest HVAC rows: Austin, TX HVAC 10 of 227 reviews (9 of 56 businesses); Chicago, IL HVAC 9 of 260 reviews (8 of 56 businesses).
- Primary lane (plumbers + Denver electricians): 68 of 3,502 reviews (1.9%) and 63 of 734 businesses (8.6%).
- Phoenix, AZ HVAC stayed at 0 of 259 reviews and 0 of 56 businesses in the retained classified file.
- Method frame (required for citation): Counts are among Places-returned reviews we classified (often ≤ about 5 reviews per place, often positive-skewed). Not a census of all Google reviews and not a population prevalence estimate.
Pilot snapshot (all rows)
Counts match the pilot summary generated 2026-09-19T17:34:29.357Z.
| Metro | Trade | Businesses | Reviews classified | Reviews with missed-call complaint | Businesses with ≥1 complaint | Review rate | Business rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta, GA | plumbers | 40 | 175 | 1 (1 of 175) | 1 (1 of 40) | 0.6% | 2.5% |
| Austin, TX | electricians | 44 | 210 | 4 (4 of 210) | 3 (3 of 44) | 1.9% | 6.8% |
| Austin, TX | HVAC | 56 | 227 | 10 (10 of 227) | 9 (9 of 56) | 4.4% | 16.1% |
| Austin, TX | plumbers | 52 | 249 | 6 (6 of 249) | 5 (5 of 52) | 2.4% | 9.6% |
| Charlotte, NC | plumbers | 42 | 210 | 2 (2 of 210) | 2 (2 of 42) | 1% | 4.8% |
| Chicago, IL | HVAC | 56 | 260 | 9 (9 of 260) | 8 (8 of 56) | 3.5% | 14.3% |
| Chicago, IL | plumbers | 51 | 251 | 6 (6 of 251) | 6 (6 of 51) | 2.4% | 11.8% |
| Colorado Springs, CO | plumbers | 47 | 226 | 4 (4 of 226) | 4 (4 of 47) | 1.8% | 8.5% |
| Columbus, OH | plumbers | 50 | 233 | 11 (11 of 233) | 8 (8 of 50) | 4.7% | 16% |
| Dallas, TX | plumbers | 49 | 234 | 2 (2 of 234) | 2 (2 of 49) | 0.9% | 4.1% |
| Denver, CO | electricians | 49 | 242 | 3 (3 of 242) | 3 (3 of 49) | 1.2% | 6.1% |
| Denver, CO | plumbers | 60 | 293 | 3 (3 of 293) | 3 (3 of 60) | 1% | 5% |
| Houston, TX | plumbers | 44 | 213 | 2 (2 of 213) | 2 (2 of 44) | 0.9% | 4.5% |
| Minneapolis, MN | plumbers | 46 | 219 | 5 (5 of 219) | 4 (4 of 46) | 2.3% | 8.7% |
| Nashville, TN | plumbers | 53 | 242 | 11 (11 of 242) | 11 (11 of 53) | 4.5% | 20.8% |
| Orlando, FL | plumbers | 52 | 246 | 5 (5 of 246) | 5 (5 of 52) | 2% | 9.6% |
| Phoenix, AZ | HVAC | 56 | 259 | 0 (0 of 259) | 0 (0 of 56) | 0% | 0% |
| Seattle, WA | plumbers | 51 | 241 | 2 (2 of 241) | 2 (2 of 51) | 0.8% | 3.9% |
| Tampa, FL | plumbers | 48 | 228 | 5 (5 of 228) | 5 (5 of 48) | 2.2% | 10.4% |
| All-run total | 946 | 4,458 | 91 (91 of 4,458) | 83 (83 of 946) | 2% | 8.8% |
Denver plumbers and Denver electricians sit in the table as two of nineteen metro×trade rows. The press-ready hooks in this pilot are the nationwide absolute counts plus Nashville and Columbus plumbers (11 flagged reviews each) and Austin and Chicago HVAC (10 and 9).
What is the Missed Call Index?
The Missed Call Index is Counter & Crew’s measure of how often public Google review text, as returned by Places for a metro×trade sample, complains about phone reachability. This hub publishes the pilot counts so reporters and operators can cite a named method instead of folklore. For industry statistics from other publishers, use missed call statistics 2026.
How we measured
- Google Places API (New) text search with metro location bias;
includedTypewhen supported (for exampleplumber). HVAC rows used textQuery only where searchText has no HVAC type. - Place Details included
reviews(API returns up to about 5 reviews per place in this run). - Each review text was classified with TypeSafe Jev noul: Does this review complain about unanswered calls, no callback, phone not answered, or couldn’t reach anyone?
- Noul ≥ 0.5 counts as yes. Compliant Places API only. No scraping.
Caveats (read before citing)
- Places returns a small, often positive-skewed review sample (up to about 5 reviews per business here). This is not a census of all Google reviews for those businesses.
- Low absolute complaint counts are expected. Do not overclaim that a fixed share of all customers cannot reach plumbers.
- Correct frame: “Among Places-returned reviews we classified…” Incorrect frame: “Among all customer experiences…” or “national prevalence.”
- Derived percentages always follow the raw fractions in the table. Do not invent figures or round beyond one decimal.
- This is a pilot. Nationwide product; local metro×trade stats are for press and citation.
What the numbers do and do not mean
Do mean: In this multi-metro sample, missed-call language showed up in 91 classified reviews out of 4,458, across 83 of 946 businesses. Some metros and trades printed a denser signal. Phoenix HVAC printed zero in the retained file.
Do not mean: That 2% of all home-service customers nationally cannot get through, or that any single city is “the worst” as a population fact.
Why phone answerability still matters
If the operational question is how to catch the next miss, start with missed-call text-back and AI receptionists. For done-for-you setup, see installs and start. For a local installer directory, see find.
Methodology appendix
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Product | Missed Call Index (pilot) |
| Domain | counterandcrew.com |
| Generated | 2026-09-19T17:34:29.357Z |
| Businesses | 946 |
| Reviews classified | 4,458 |
| Reviews flagged | 91 |
| Businesses with ≥1 flag | 83 |
| Noul threshold | 0.5 |
| Noul question | Does this review complain about unanswered calls, no callback, phone not answered, or couldn’t reach anyone? |
| Primary lane | plumbers + Denver electricians: 68 of 3,502 reviews; 63 of 734 businesses |
Counter & Crew · counterandcrew.com · nationwide product; local stats OK for press.