Frequently asked

The questions you ask before you switch.

Straight answers for facility owners moving to TailRoster — migration, the AI front desk, pricing, security, and the Gingr-comparison questions. If yours isn’t here, send it over.

01 — Switching from Gingr

Switching from Gingr

How is TailRoster actually different from Gingr?: Gingr is a database with a booking form on top. TailRoster is the room itself — phones answered, vaccines verified, deposits taken, holiday surcharges priced correctly, all before you open the laptop. Same data model your staff already knows. A front desk that doesn't sleep.
What about migrating my customer DB, pets, reservation history?: You paste your Gingr export into the import wizard; the importer maps customers, pets, vaccine records, reservations, and services to the right place. A reconciliation report flags anything ambiguous so you fix it before go-live.
Can I run TailRoster alongside Gingr while we transition?: Yes — most operators dual-run while the team gets comfortable: bookings flow into TailRoster, Gingr stays read-only for historical lookups. Cut the cord when your front desk stops opening the Gingr tab.
Will my older staff actually use it?: Yes. The check-in screen is one tap, and the drag-drop calendar looks like the paper roster your staff already knows — because that's what they're used to.
Does the AI front-desk creep customers out?: No, because we tell them. The opening line is "Hi, I'm TailRoster, the front desk AI for [your facility] — happy to help." The AI never pretends. It never invents policy. And anything sensitive escalates to a person.
What's the SLA? What if TailRoster is down?: We're early in our operating record, so we're not publishing an uptime number we can't yet stand behind. What we will commit to today: incidents are posted to our changelog within the hour, and a support contact reaches an engineer on the team — not a tier-one queue. Once we have a meaningful operating history, we'll publish a measured uptime target and the credit terms that go with it.
Why no per-transaction fee? What's the catch?: No catch. We priced from a clean sheet: flat monthly, unlimited staff, unlimited AI. Payment processing fees go directly to Stripe at their published rates — same rates you'd pay them anyway, no skim from us.

02 — Getting started

Getting started

How fast can I be up and running?: That depends on your data. A fresh single-location setup is a sitting, not a project: sign up, set hours and prices, connect Stripe. If you're importing a Gingr export, add the reconciliation review — you go live when the report reads clean.
Do I need any technical skills?: If you can run a Gmail inbox and a wall calendar, you can run TailRoster. The interface was built for kennel staff at 6am, not for an IT department at noon. And every tier gets email and chat support that reaches an engineer on the team.
Can I try it before I buy it?: Yes — the full platform, no card required. The migration tools are open during the trial: pull in your real Gingr data and run a true side-by-side. The trial isn't a sandbox demo; it's the production product. If it doesn't feel right, walk away with everything you imported.
What hardware do I need?: Anything made since 2021. TailRoster runs in any modern browser and installs as an app on the front-desk computer, tablets, and phones you already own. Optional accessories: a Star or Epson receipt printer, a USB barcode scanner for retail, a Stripe card reader. No proprietary tablets. No leased terminals.
Will my staff actually use it?: Yes — the interface is built for the way kennels actually move: drag-drop calendar, one-tap booking, tablet-first, big legible type. And if someone gets stuck, every tier gets email and chat support that reaches an engineer on the team.

03 — Pricing

Pricing

Are there per-staff charges?: Never. Every tier — Sit, Stay, Heel, Pack — includes unlimited staff accounts. Bring on summer help without watching the meter. Cut the seasonal crew in October without negotiating a downgrade.
Do you charge AI usage fees?: No. Every tier includes a daily AI token allowance — 5,000 on Sit, 50,000 on Stay, 250,000 on Heel, unlimited on Pack — and AI usage is never billed as overage. Your usage meter is visible in the app, so nothing clips by surprise.
What happens if I outgrow my tier?: Switch up anytime, pro-rated to the day. Switch down anytime too — downgrades take effect at the next billing cycle. No tier is artificially crippled to force an upgrade.
Is there a setup or onboarding fee?: Sit, Stay, and Heel: zero. Pack scoping calls are free; implementation is sized to your locations and quoted upfront. No discovery-call upcharges. No paperwork surprises.
Can I pay annually for a discount?: Yes — annual billing comes with two months free on every tier. Today we set it up with you directly (support@tailroster.com); self-serve annual checkout is on the way.

04 — AI front desk

AI front desk

What does the AI front desk actually do?: Picks up calls and chats. Books boarding, daycare, grooming, training. Verifies vaccines against your rules. Quotes accurate prices including holiday surcharges and breed multipliers. Reschedules, cancels, and adds services for existing customers. Logs every action. Escalates anything sensitive to a human.
What does it deliberately not do?: Refunds, complaints, sick-dog questions, and any first-time medical disclosure always escalate to a human. The AI never makes a financial decision above a threshold you set. It never invents a policy that isn't in your training docs. It never lies about availability to close a booking.
How is the AI trained on my facility?: During onboarding, you upload your policies, hours, prices, FAQs, and any call transcripts you have. The AI builds a facility-specific knowledge base from them. Edit anything in plain English afterward — corrections take effect on the next call.
What if the AI gets something wrong?: Every AI action is logged, reversible, and bracketed by guardrails you set. Bookings can require human confirmation. Refunds always do. Marketing sends pause automatically if engagement drops below the floor you choose. You see every decision in the audit log and roll back any of them with one click.
Can customers tell they're talking to AI?: You choose. Most facilities run a friendly disclosure ("Hi, I'm TailRoster, the front desk AI for [Facility Name]") because transparency builds repeat-customer trust. Some run a brand-named persona instead. Either way, compare it to voicemail tag: the AI answers on the first ring, every time, and books the reservation before the call ends.

05 — Security and compliance

Security and compliance

Where is my data stored?: On Supabase in us-east-2, served through Vercel's global edge. AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit. Backups are continuous point-in-time recovery with a 7-day window. SOC 2 Type I is in progress with a Q3 2026 target — we are not yet certified. The live details are on our Trust page, and questions go to security@tailroster.com.
Are you PCI compliant?: Card numbers never touch TailRoster servers. Payments run through Stripe — cards are tokenized by Stripe before anything reaches us, so your facility's PCI scope stays minimal and your audit, if you have one, stays short.
What about customer data privacy?: GDPR and CCPA compliant. We never sell customer data. We never train shared AI models on your facility's specific data — your knowledge base is yours alone. Customer photos, pet records, and vaccine documents are encrypted at rest and reachable only by staff you authorize.
Can I export my data if I leave?: Yes — your customer list, pet records, and booking history belong to your business. Pet parents can self-serve their own export from Preferences → Export my data; for a full facility export, email support@tailroster.com and we'll generate it. After cancellation you have 30 days to export — the same window our Terms promise — then identifying fields are anonymized on the retention schedule in our Privacy Policy.

06 — Migration

Migration

How long does Gingr migration really take?: Long enough to check the work. The import itself is paste-and-map in the app; what takes time is the reconciliation review — the report flags anything that didn't map cleanly, and you resolve it before go-live, not after. Most operators run both systems in parallel for a while and cut over when the front desk is ready.
Will I lose any data migrating from Gingr?: No. The importer pulls customers, pets, vaccine records, reservations, and services from your Gingr export. The reconciliation report flags anything that didn't map cleanly so you resolve it before go-live, not after.
Can I run both systems during transition?: Yes — and most operators do. Bookings flow into TailRoster, Gingr stays read-only for historical lookups. When the front desk stops opening the Gingr tab on its own, you cut the cord.
Do you migrate from systems other than Gingr?: Yes. Gingr, PetExec, and Kennel Connection have native importers. Anything else usually comes in via CSV — scope it during the trial and we'll tell you straight whether the import covers it before you commit.

07 — Support and training

Support and training

What's included in support?: Every tier gets email and chat support that reaches an engineer on the team, plus the same docs. We're not publishing tiered response-time guarantees until we've earned the operating record to back them. In the meantime, our first-response timestamp is recorded on every ticket and visible inside the app, so you'll always see exactly when we picked it up.
Do you offer training for new staff?: The app is built to be learned by using it — drag-drop calendar, one-tap check-in, plain-English labels. When someone gets stuck, every tier gets email and chat support that reaches an engineer on the team.

Still wondering

Still wondering?

Fifteen minutes on the phone with someone who knows the Gingr export inside out. Bring your hardest question. We’ll tell you straight whether TailRoster is the right move.

Book a 15-min call Read pricing

The questions you ask before you switch.

Frequently asked questions

Switching from Gingr

Getting started

Pricing

AI front desk

Security and compliance

Migration

Support and training

The questions you ask before you switch.

Frequently asked questions

Switching from Gingr

Getting started

Pricing

AI front desk

Security and compliance

Migration

Support and training