Calls lost in (queue) space

[RePetE815]

Here's an interesting little problem since upgrading to VoiceMail Pro 2.1.10 and/or IP 403 firmware 2.1.24.

The call flow is defined, in part - as follows. Callers select the technical support department from attendant menu. There they are presented with a Voice Question module (please state your company name after the tone, press # when finished). This is passed to a Whisper command which attempts to connect to a TechSupport hunt group. Technicians on call have their extensions set to "Forward Unconditional" along with "Forward Huntgroup" to ensure calls are routed to their external numbers (i.e. home, cell, etc.).

When the on-call tech receives the call, they are presented with the option to either accept or reject the call by pressing 1 or 2. At this stage, CallStatus (app) shows the extension for the call in queue as "Queue". Problem is, if they simply hang-up without entering an option, the call ends up lost in queue (now showing as extension "Voicemail" under CallStatus) and will remain their until the original caller hangs up. Oh joy...

Going to try to get this escalated to Tier 3+. In the mean time, I wanted to inquire with you experts out there. If the objective is to be able to route after-hours calls to on-call staff available at external contact numbers BEFORE routing to a voicemail box for paging of said on-call staff, what would you recommend? I imagine this is something many of you have combated - hopefully coming out on top. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[IPGuru]

You could create a call out group for the nigh service & call the eng direct (without going through VM)

Doing this you could either call each eng in turn untill one answeres or take all the useres out of group except the eng on call.

 

[RePetE815]

Thanks for your post IPGuru. The on-call technicians really need to be able to accept or decline the call and, in doing so, allow the whole process to remain transparent to the caller. I"m concerned that circumventing VM won't allow for this, with after-hours callers going direct to on-call technicians, without the IPO having the ability to grab the caller back if the tech is unavailable and pass on to another person or drop into VM for paging.

 

[Morrack]

This is VERY similiar to the assisted transfer problem they had with 2.1.15 - I am wondering if it's the same bug, they just didn't fully quash it. I found the exact same symptoms when I would do an assisted transfer from a queued callflow under 2.1.15 - the caller would be lost in space until they hungup, and call status would show them in "queue"

Peter