Is ChatGPT giving customers the wrong phone number for your business?

Does an AI answer carry the wrong number?

Sometimes, yes. In Ryan Doser's test of 250 AI recommendations this October, 7 came with a phone number that didn't match the business's own Google listing. In a bigger study of 10,000 local businesses, about 3 in 10 of ChatGPT's answers did the same for the businesses it found. The phone number is the part of a ChatGPT answer a customer can act on right away. They read the name and tap the number, then wait for someone to pick up.

That's worth five minutes of any owner's week if the phone is how jobs come in, from HVAC, plumbing and roofing to dental practices and medspas. The number an assistant gives may be an old line, a plain mistake, or a tracking line (a separate number an ad company or agency set up so it can count your calls). You can check yours today by asking ChatGPT for your number and dialing it.

Seven mismatched numbers in 250 AI picks

In a hands-on test of AI picks for local businesses that he ran on October 7, 2026, Doser found 7 phone numbers out of 250 that didn't match the company's Google listing. Doser is a marketer who runs a one-person agency. He sells an AI-related product of his own, and he tells readers so on the page.

Doser asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity who the best home-service company was in two US cities, for urgent jobs like septic pumping and garage door repair. He used AI software to match the picks against Google Maps and company websites. Then he had a second AI model double-check a sample of 50, and it agreed on 48.

Most of the picks held up. In his test, 97.6% were real companies serving the area, which is better than I'd have guessed. Only 2 picks failed outright when checked against live listings, and the mismatched numbers outnumbered those, 7 to 2.

Seven out of 250 is a small share. A homeowner with a backed-up drain would likely dial the first number they're handed, so even a small share is worth checking.

Doser is careful about what the mismatches mean. "The 7 phone-number mismatches can mean an old number, a tracking line or a plain mistake," he writes. He also lists the limits of his test himself: "Two cities, one day and one question wording." His write-up doesn't say which of the four assistants gave those 7 numbers, so for ChatGPT on its own I lean on the next study.

About 3 in 10 ChatGPT answers had a different number

In a study of 10,000 US local businesses published in July, Insites found that about 3 in 10 of ChatGPT's answers (30.09%) gave a phone number that didn't match the Google listing. That share covers only the businesses ChatGPT recognized, which was most of them. Insites sells the software it used to run the checks, so like Doser it has a stake in the topic.

Insites asked ChatGPT and Perplexity directly about each business. Then it compared every answer with that business's Google Business Profile. That's your Google listing, the box with your hours, phone number and reviews when someone searches your name.

Of everything Insites checked, the phone number was mismatched most often. Andrew Waite, who runs Insites, put it plainly: "Wrong phone numbers are the single biggest source of error, by some distance."

Insites points out two catches. Some of the mismatches were likely call-tracking numbers, which are right from the business's side but differ from the number on the Google listing. Insites also says plenty of small businesses leave their Google listing out of date, so some mismatches may come from a stale listing.

One thing I'd add: If a tracking line quit forwarding when an ad contract ended, a customer who dials it reaches nobody at all.

The two tests asked different questions in different months, so treat 7 of 250 and 3 in 10 as two separate results.

What Google asks of the number on your listing

Google's guidelines for Business Profiles are short on this point. They say to "Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location". They also say "The phone number must be under the direct control of the business." So the number should ring at your place, and you should be the one who controls it.

That second rule matters if you let a vendor set up your phones years ago. If an agency or ad company owns the number, you may have lost track of where it rings. Ask that vendor two things: who owns the number, and where it rings today.

A five-minute check you can run today

I put this check together from what the two studies found. Keep a note open while you go, with today's date at the top.

1. Ask ChatGPT for your number. Type "What's the phone number for" and then your business name and town. Copy down the number it gives you and compare it with the number on your Google listing.
2. Dial that number from a cell phone. Let it ring through and note who picks up (yes, it feels odd calling your own business). If a menu or voicemail answers, listen for whose name is on the greeting. If your own front desk or answering service picks up, mark it as good.
3. List every number your business has used. Include lines from an old address and any number an agency or ad campaign set up for you.
4. Search each old number in quotes on Google. Look for directory sites like Yelp or Angi, and for any listing tied to a location you closed.
5. If you've got more time, ask Gemini or Perplexity the same question. Write each number next to the app that gave it, and dial any that differ from the first.

If a number rings somewhere else, or goes nowhere, you've found a leak worth fixing first. If the number reaches you but differs from your Google listing, note that too and make the two match in the next section. I plan to run the same ask-and-dial check on the next few businesses I look at.

Fix it with one main number

Doser's advice is short: "Use one main phone number everywhere: your listing, your site, Facebook and every directory." Start with your Google listing, since both tests used it as the yardstick. Then fix your website, your Facebook page, and each directory your old-number search turned up.

He also says to close or merge old listings when you move or rebrand. Old websites get a warning too. If you stop renewing your web address, like yourcompany.com, you can lose it. Doser warns that a dead web address can still get handed to customers, so ask whoever built your site when yours renews.

If an ad vendor wants its own number on your site, ask what happens to that number when the contract ends. Write the answer down and keep it with the contract.

Neither study says how fast ChatGPT or any other assistant takes in a corrected number, and I haven't seen anyone publish it. So make the fixes, then run the same check again in a few weeks. Compare what you hear with today's note.