3CX Holiday IVR direct to voicemail for extension without playing its message.

[gvandekrol]

Outside office hours, all our calls go directly to Reception (ext. 200) voicemail.
During a public holiday, I can configure a holiday message and send the calls to the Reception (ext. 200) voicemail after that, however the caller would then hear the regular outside office hour greeting.
That's unacceptable, so instead I manually place Reception (ext. 200) in 'Out of Office 2' and set the holiday greeting for 'Out of Office 2' when the holiday starts, I just have to remember to change the status back to 'Available' at 8AM the next day.

If there would be an option for the HOL IVR to play the holiday greeting and then transfer the call directly to Reception (ext. 200) voicemail without playing the regular voicemail greeting, that would be great.

So unless there's another way of accomplishing this, this is basically a feature request to make the HOL IVR usable for our business, and probably other businesses as well..

Thanks!

 

[CentrexJ]

Why don't you make a fake extension that you direct your HOL to and put your voicemail message there and have the messages go to reception 200's email box?

 

[lneblett]

What you might try is to go to extension 200 in 3CX and then set up the extension to use the automatic extension scheduling feature and see what happens. In theory, when the system office hours come back into play you should not have to remember as the system will revert back to in-office for you.

 

[gvandekrol]

Lifeline:
Technically that would work, however the reception person is using a thin client without sound, she normally checks voicemails using the reception phone. I would still go with my manual workaround.

I would imagine this to have come up before, it seems rather strange that leaving a voicemail directly after a holiday greeting doesn't seem to be an option.

Thanks for your input.

lneblett

We already use Automatic Extension Scheduling. Status Available to Out of Office. When I manually set it to Out of Office2 it will not automatically revert o Available at 8AM

 

[lneblett]

OK, then how about this-

Go to the extension within 3CX and under VM, create a greeting for whichever status you choose. Assuming that you are making a greeting for the holidays anyway, simply make one for the extension instead of the holiday and use it in lieu of your normal one. Then your schedule will still work, but the caller will only hear one greeting....the new holiday. Of course, the VM greeting will have to be reset to the normal one afterwards.

The issue I see is the concern over having two greetings, one for the holiday and another at the VM level. Granted, a change will need to be made one way or the other (setting a status and/or setting a greeting) that may require manual intervention, but in your current scenario it may simply depend on how the holiday greeting is worded that prepares the caller for the next step.....going to the normal VM. It may not be the desired, but callers will likely understand and can still leave a message if needed.

I am not aware of another system where a VM greeting is bypassed given a date. Not to say that there isn't, just do now know of one. I have not yet come across your issue until now as the one I hear more about is when users wish to start a holiday (such as today) by taking off mid-day.

In any event - Happy New Year

 

[CentrexJ]

Lifeline:
Technically that would work, however the reception person is using a thin client without sound, she normally checks voicemails using the reception phone. I would still go with my manual workaround.

I would imagine this to have come up before, it seems rather strange that leaving a voicemail directly after a holiday greeting doesn't seem to be an option.

They could still go to the new holiday (virtual) extension voicemail box and not need to use the voicemail to email feature. Reception will have to check messages by dialing 999 and then press #. Then enter the holiday voicemail extension number # and then PIN. They just have to remember to do this after a holiday or the messages left will be missed.