Call queue

Every automated outbound call in Vocallie goes through one queue. Follow-ups, auto-callbacks and campaign leads all join it, and a single dispatcher works through it.

That matters because it means the rules you set — how many calls at once, when it's allowed to dial, how often to retry — are enforced once, consistently, no matter which feature created the call.

Telephony → Call Queue

The live queue

The page shows the queue in three tabs, refreshing every few seconds:

• Upcoming — waiting to be dialled, or dialling right now.
• Success — connected.
• Failed — gave up, expired, or was cancelled.

Each row tells you who's being called, which feature created it, how many attempts have been used, why the last attempt failed, and — for a scheduled row — when the next attempt is due. If the row produced a call, there's a link straight to it.

You can cancel anything still waiting, and retry anything that failed (which resets its attempt count and puts it at the front).

The settings that govern it

Call Queue → Settings

Auto-dialling master switch

One switch to pause everything. Nothing is lost while paused — rows stay in the queue and start dialling again when you switch it back on. Useful over a holiday, or when you're not confident in a change you just made.

Calls at a time

How many automated calls may be in progress simultaneously. The default is deliberately low (2).

The queue is also capped by a second, harder limit: your plan's total concurrent lines, minus whatever inbound and manual calls are already using. Automated calls can never eat the capacity your real customers need to reach you. This is the single most important design decision in the queue, and it's why a big campaign doesn't make your phone line unreachable.

Gap between dials

A pause used when the queue is at capacity. Raising it slows the whole queue down — worth doing if you're conscious of how a burst of calls from one number looks to carriers.

Calling hours

The one that keeps you out of trouble.

Off means the queue dials at any hour, including 3am. On means it only dials inside the windows you define, per day of the week, with multiple slots allowed per day (so you can skip lunch, for example).

There's a Mon–Fri 9–6 shortcut for the common case.

Two important details:

• Hours are interpreted in your workspace timezone — see Settings. Get this wrong and your "9am" is someone else's 4am.
• A call that comes due outside the window is rescheduled, not attempted. It doesn't burn a retry; it just waits for the window to open.

Retry rules, per source

Follow-ups, callbacks and campaigns each get their own settings, because they mean different things:

Sensible defaults are in place: callbacks retry quickly and often (someone is waiting), campaigns retry slowly and rarely (nobody is waiting, and repeated calls annoy people).

What happens on each attempt

For each call that comes due, in order:

1. Is the queue enabled? If not, wait.
2. Has it expired? If past its deadline, mark it expired and stop.
3. Are we inside calling hours? If not, reschedule for when the window next opens. No attempt used.
4. Can you pay for it? If your balance can't cover a call, the row fails permanently.
5. Is there a free line? If not, wait for the gap and come back.
6. Dial.

Then the outcome decides what happens next:

• Answered — done. The contact is marked as called.
• Busy, no answer, unavailable, declined — retried after the gap, until attempts run out. (Yes, including declined — a decline is often just "not right now".)
• On the do-not-call list, or no way to dial out — permanent. Never retried.

Whatever happens is written back to wherever the call came from, so your follow-up, campaign or callback list reflects reality, along with a note on the contact's timeline.

Reading a stuck queue

The most common support question is "why hasn't it called yet?" In practice it's almost always one of these, in this order:

1. Outside calling hours. Check the window and your workspace timezone.
2. The queue is paused. The header shows Paused when it is.
3. No free lines. If inbound calls are busy, automated dialling waits — by design.
4. Not due yet. The row shows its next attempt time.
5. Empty wallet. These show as failed rather than pending.

The row itself usually tells you: the attempt counter, the last reason, and the next-try time are all on screen.

Restarts don't lose work

If the system restarts mid-dial, rows that were in progress are put back into the queue rather than being abandoned. Nothing has to be re-queued by hand.