Marking Calls as Spam

Mark vs. block — what's the difference?

Two related but distinct actions on a call's detail drawer in Calls:

• Mark as spam — adds a "Spam" badge to the call, hides it from your default list when "Hide spam" is on. Pure classification. Does NOT prevent the caller from calling again.
• Block caller — operational action. The caller hears a busy signal on future calls; your agent never answers. Used for repeat spammers, abusive callers, or numbers you simply don't want hearing from again.

You can do both in one step. The "Mark as spam" modal includes an "Also block this caller" checkbox (defaults to checked) so the common case — "this was spam, stop them" — is one action.

How to mark a call as spam

1. Go to Calls in the dashboard sidebar.
2. Click the call you want to mark.
3. In the call drawer, click Mark as spam.
4. Optionally add a reason (e.g., "Repeat scammer", "Wrong number — keeps calling").
5. Decide whether to also block the caller. The checkbox defaults to checked. Uncheck if you only want the classification (e.g., the caller is legit but reached the wrong business; you want to filter the call out of your view but don't want to block them in case they call you for the right reason later).
6. Click Mark as spam. Toast confirms what happened.

How to unmark

If you marked a call as spam by mistake or changed your mind:

1. Open the call drawer.
2. Click Unmark next to the Spam pill.

Unmarking does NOT automatically unblock the caller. If you also blocked them in step 5 above and want to undo that, go to Blocked callers in the sidebar and remove the entry.

"Hide spam" filter

In the Calls filter bar, the Hide spam button hides any call where you marked spam OR where Allison auto-classified the call as spam. The preference is sticky per browser — if you toggle it on, it stays on across sessions until you toggle it off.

When Allison auto-marks spam

Allison automatically classifies a call as spam in one situation:

• The caller is a recognized robocall AND the recording offered an opt-out keypress. Allison presses the offered key (typically 9), ends the call, and marks the call as spam with the reason "Allison fired send_dtmf — robocall opt-out". You'll see this in the drawer alongside the Spam badge.

Effectiveness varies by caller. Legitimate telemarketers required by law to honor opt-outs usually do. Scam operations often ignore the keypress entirely. Allison pressing it doesn't guarantee they stop, but for compliant callers it removes you from their list.

For other kinds of unwanted calls (wrong number, robocall without opt-out offer, telemarketer who hangs up), Allison handles the call but doesn't auto-mark spam. You can mark those manually.

Spam minutes are still billed

We bill the time a caller is connected to your AI agent — every connected minute counts toward your plan, including spam minutes. Marking a call as spam is a classification action, not a billing exclusion. The honest version: spam happens, Allison answers, the call connects, the meter runs. We don't claim otherwise.

Webhooks and spam calls

If you have webhook integrations feeding an external CRM, calls auto-classified as spam by Allison do NOT fire call.ended events. This matches our existing behavior for non-engagement calls (robocalls detected by the scorability classifier) and keeps your CRM clean of noise.

If you need full coverage including spam calls in your downstream system, poll /api/calls directly — every call appears in the list view regardless of classification.

Related

• Blocking abusive or unwanted callers — operational blocking, no classification
• Plans, pricing, and call minutes — every connected minute counts