Mitel Attendant Console - call transfer issue

[WallIT]

Hi,

Our receptionist uses a mix Mitel Attendant Console and a 5330 IP phone. Occasionally she will get this weird problem. The steps are

1. Caller dials reception number
2. Receptionist answers call and says hello etc
3. Caller asks to be transferred to colleague
4. Receptionist transfers call to colleague, but colleague not picking up (normally she waits for 2 rings)
5. Receptionist then wants to speak to caller to ask whether they want to leave a voicemail for colleague, a message with her, or call back another time
6. However, she cannot recall/unhold the caller, who then gets stuck in the phone system. She tries repeatedly hitting 'Call Key 1' on her 5330 and in Mitel AC, but the call will not be released to her.
7. Her only way out is to hang up on the caller.

When this happens, the display of the current call in Mitel AC changes and I'm wondering if anyone has seen this before? It can only be described as the green circle which normally appears next to the active call getting shrunk smaller. Strange! Attached are two screen shots, showing a normal call and the stuck call (notice the green circle is smaller and most of the menu buttons are greyed out)

[Tech Electronics]

WallIT,

Have you tried the cancel transfer function since the system sees the person as on hold waiting for transfer. You could also give them a cancel key on their phone to use if they prefer to use the key set for that.

Thanks, 

TE

[WallIT]

Thanks. A very sensible answer. I will feedback to the receptionist and ask her to try that next time. I appreciate the 'cancel transfer' is one of the few active buttons she can press in that situation.

What I find strange however is she gets lots of calls every day, probably around 200 per day, usually to a regular set of the same people. And this issue just happened twice yesterday. I'd like to know what causes it. We used to get this a lot when the system went in so no idea what causes it or what happened for it to go away for so long, only to return yesterday.

I may not be able to answer back until this happens again.

Thanks again.

[Tech Electronics]

WallIT,

Think of the problem in the terms of how you as a person would handle the call without the software.

I hit the transfer button and then dial the extension of the person. This puts the caller on hold awaiting transfer and intercom calls the extension I dialed. If they do not answer then I can use the cancel key and cancel the feature or I can press the hold button or call key to get the person back which cancels the feature.

Now, the only option the software has is the cancel feature since there is not a hold button or a call key to press. What I see in the second picture is that the user is in the middle of the transfer and has not dialed the extension yet as there is nothing in the first part and I can only assume that 700 is the operator. So, logically the cancel feature is your only option, but I am not sure why pressing the hold or call key on the phone doesn't work. You probably need to be standing in front of them when it happens to see how it was done.

Thanks,

TE