Ask the exit questions before the feature questions, and ask them in writing.

You have exactly one moment of leverage with a software vendor, and it is before you pay them. Everything gets harder afterwards — that is not cynicism, it is the structure of the relationship. So the questions that matter most are the ones about leaving, and the answer that matters most is whether they will put it in writing at all.

The five that do the most work:

1. If I bring my phone number and later leave, will you release it? Say so in writing.

2. What can I export, in what format, and can I do it myself without asking you?

3. How long do you keep my data after I close the account, and will you confirm deletion?

4. When the line stops working on a Tuesday morning, who do I reach and how?

5. Where is my data stored, and which other companies touch it?

A vendor that answers all five plainly is not necessarily good. A vendor that deflects any of them has told you what you needed to know.

Why the exit questions come first

Because practitioners keep getting caught by exactly this.

One was assured at signup that transferring her number away later would be simple, tried, and could not do it. Another cancelled a service and was left with a number already printed on business cards in circulation. A third had a free number reclaimed because the provider did not count incoming calls as use.

None of those people picked a bad product on the feature list. They picked a product whose exit they had never asked about, because at signup the exit is the last thing on your mind — which is precisely why it is the first thing to ask.

There is also an asymmetry worth naming. A vendor cannot guarantee it will successfully bring a number in, because that depends on a company it does not control. It absolutely can guarantee it will let you take one out. So the port-out promise is the only one in this area that means anything, and any vendor can make it if they want to.

The full list

Exit

• Will you release a phone number I have brought or been issued, on request?

• Is there a fee, a notice period, or a minimum term attached to that?

• What is the cancellation process, and is it self-serve?

• If I cancel today, when does my access end — immediately, or at the end of the period I paid for?

Data

• What exactly can I export? Notes, messages, voicemail, documents, contacts, financials?

• Can I export without contacting support?

• What format does it come out in, and can I open a sample now?

• Do exports include attachments and file uploads?

When it breaks

• What is the actual support channel, and what are the hours?

• Who answers — a person, a queue, or an article?

• What happened the last time the service went down, and how were customers told?

This is worth pressing on. The most common complaint attached to phone products in this category is not a missing feature. It is that support was unreachable when the line stopped working: hours to respond to something flagged urgent, copy-pasted guides for an interface that no longer exists, days spent on the phone being told there was nothing to be done.

Reliability

• Does the app ring reliably on both iOS and Android, and what happens when it doesn't?

• Do texts arrive reliably, and do I get told when one fails?

• Is there a status page?

Reliability complaints dominate the reviews of every product in this space — calls dropped, apps that do not ring, texts a practitioner has to confirm and reconfirm were received. Ask, then test it yourself during a trial, deliberately, including with the phone locked and the app closed.

Canada

• Where is my data physically stored?

• Do you have a privacy policy that addresses Canadian law, not only American?

• Can Canadian numbers do everything American ones can on your service — including sending texts and displaying my own caller ID on outbound calls?

That last question is not theoretical. Canadian practitioners have signed up for US-based services, completed setup, and only then found out that outbound calling did not work for them the way it was sold. One Canadian therapist looking at a second line put the underlying problem plainly: the legalese was American.

Be careful how you read any answer here. "Compliant" on its own is not a meaningful claim, and a vendor confident enough to describe how their system is designed to be consistent with PHIPA or PIPEDA — and where the limits are — is giving you more than one that just uses the word.

Sub-processors and third parties

• Which other companies process my clients' information?

• Does any of it go to a third-party AI service? Which one? Can I turn that off?

• Will you notify me before you add a new one?

Money

• What is the total monthly cost including anything not in the headline price?

• What happens to my price at renewal?

• Have you raised prices before, and with how much notice?

What to do with the answers

Keep them. Put the email thread somewhere you will find it in two years, because that is when it becomes useful.

Then apply one test: which of these answers came with a specific, checkable detail, and which came back as reassurance? "Yes, absolutely, that's no problem" is not an answer to any of them. A named process, a document, a policy link, or a plain "no, we don't do that" all are.

And weigh a plain no correctly. A vendor telling you a thing you want is not possible is more trustworthy than one telling you everything is possible, and it is much cheaper to hear now than in month eight.

The short version

Ask about leaving before you ask about features. Get the port-out answer in writing. Check you can export your own records without asking permission. Find out who picks up when the line is dead. Ask where the data lives and who else touches it. Then keep the thread — the value of these answers is that they are checkable later.

About Rivet

Rivet is a Canadian practice line built for therapists — a separate number for calls, texts and voicemail, with video sessions and clinical tools in the same place. Your data stays in Canada, and transcription runs on Rivet's own hardware rather than a third-party AI service.

One plan, $65 CAD a month, everything included. Fourteen-day trial, no card.

See what's included · Start the trial