Hold Timers

[Lebeter]

I need some direction on how to setup a call flow path with our 5000.  Right now someone puts a call on hold, it waits the 90 seconds, and then if the user does not pick up their call on hold, the call gets directed back to the receptionist/operator.  From there if the receptionist is not available it forwards to a hunt group of which there are random users assigned from different departments ensuring someone will pick up the call.  this is a small business so its vital we pick up the call vs it going to voicemail and lost business.

the situation arises where the user receives a call, puts the call on hold to refer to another person the user calls out to, and then wants to retrieve the call.  The problem is the call wasn't answered within the 90 seconds and then the original caller gets thrown around to the receptionist and then possibly to the hunt group if the receptionist doesn't answer.  the original caller is then confused as to how they lost the employee they original called.  while i can extend the initial hold time, i'm not sure how i can mimic the programming our old system had.

In our previous comdial system you had a hold timer and then a retry timer with i believe a programmable set number of retries.  that does not exist at least in the factory timers for the 5000, so i'm guessing people either setup workarounds as far as forwarding to dummy hunt group and setup a recall timer?

Does anyone have a method for setting a specific number of hold retry timers while not disrupting the eventual fallback forwarding if there is no pickup after so many retries?  I see an alternate hold timer, so wasn't sure how that worked.

I just remembered that the comdial system allowed you to press the hold button to extend the hold timer again vs the intertel which requires you to pick up the call and put them back on call to extend the timer.  i guess the question may be can that be programmed?

[DND ON]

It seems to me you're over thinking this. Just increase the hold timer; 90 seconds is way too short.

What is the recall destination and how long is the recall timer?

[dwayneg]

If you put a call on hold at a station the hold timer will send the call BACK TO THE STATION FIRST for the interval set by the RECALL system timer, then it goes to the attendant.  Sounds like you might want to increase this timer.

Gotcha to check: are you sure that calls are going to the attendant because of the hold timer expiring?  It's also possible someone has set up a SYSTEM FORWARDING path that sends recalls right to attendant instead of back to user?  Inspect SYSTEM FORWARDING in the extension programming to check.

One more thing: each station can be set to use either the standard HOLD TIMER or the ALTERNATE HOLD TIMER (presumably longer).  Choice is made in SYSTEM/PHONE-RELATED-INFO/Timers.

[DND ON]

Calls will recall to the Recall Destination, which is the own station by default. It could have been changed, and calls not recall to the original station when the hold timer expires.

[619Tech]

The Alternate hold timer is just a second timer you can use. It is enabled on a STN by STN basis. So, extensions can use the HOLD timer, or the ALTERNATE HOLD timer based on their flag settings. This gives you some flexibility for users that need a longer hold time without afecting the rest of the company.

[Lebeter]

that makes sense with the alternate hold timer.  yeah the recall goes back to the receptionist as its supposed to do.  what happens is if the attendant/receptionist is gone we have setup a ring group to forward to, so of course those recalls will go to random people, but it works as it should.  I extended the timer so hopefully that keeps folks happy.  maybe the alternate hold timer is what a few of these folks need.

[DND ON]

You may be confusing the Recall Destination with the Attendant. Calls will remain on hold until the Hold timer expires, then transfer to the Recall Destination. When the Recall timer expires, the call is transferred to the Attendant.

If users are complaining about calls disappearing from their phones, I would change the Recall Destination back to default, their own station. That way, calls will ring back the user who originally put the call on hold before disappearing into the abyss. I set my Recall timer to 20 seconds, so the call will ring 4 times before transferring to the Attendant.

The Attendant doesn't have to be a single phone, it can be a hunt group.

[Lebeter]

yes you are right.  currently once the recall timer expires, it does go back to the recall destination which is the station.  and yes once the recall timer expires it goes to the attendant.  the calls aren't disappearing per say.  if the station doesn't pick up the phone after it rings back their station and the recall timer expires, it goes to the receptionist.  if the receptionist doesn't pick up, the call gets forwarded to a day call group where it rings out selected extensions.  These folks are leaving people on hold for 5-10 minutes while they call someone else to get an answer.  if they don't answer that first call they put on hold they lose it.  So my only choice is to set a long hold timer for everyone, or a long alternate hold timer and assign those specific folks extensions to that alternate timer.  Hope I have it correct now?