Callback Queue Expire Hours: how long a callback waits

Once you turn on in-queue callbacks, callers start banking spots in the callback queue. Most get dialed back within minutes. But some never get reached: the line is busy every time, nobody answers, or the queue stayed slammed all day. Callback Queue Expire Hours is the setting that decides when VICIdial stops trying and clears those stale entries out.

What the setting does

It is a simple number: the maximum hours a callback can sit in the Callback queue before it is removed without being dialed. The default is 96 hours, which is four days. The clock starts when the caller banks their callback, not when an agent last tried. Once that window passes, the entry is gone and no call is placed.

This setting only applies when a wait-time, hold-time, or closing-time option is set to PRESS_CALLBACK_QUEUE. It is the safety net that keeps your queue from filling up with callbacks that will never connect. Without it, a number that is busy or unanswered every single time could in theory sit there forever, getting retried and clogging the line. The expire window draws a hard line under that.

Worth being clear about what expiry is not: it is not a retry count and it is not a per-attempt timer. It is one wall-clock window measured from when the callback was first banked. If the window passes, the entry is dropped whether VICIdial tried to dial it once, ten times, or not at all because the call-time guard never opened.

Choosing a value

There is a real trade-off here. Think about how long a callback is still useful to the caller:

• A short window, say 8 to 12 hours, suits time-sensitive lines where calling someone back two days later feels random and unwelcome.
• The default 96 hours suits general support, where catching someone within a few days is still helpful.

Set it too long and you risk dialing people who have moved on and forgotten they ever called, which can feel like a cold Robocall rather than a helpful callback. Set it too short and you abandon callers who would still have welcomed the call. A good way to land on a number is to look at how quickly your queue normally clears: if you almost always reach callbacks within a few hours, a long expire window is just insurance for the rare bad day, and there is little harm in leaving the default.

It works with two other settings

Expire Hours decides when to give up. Two siblings decide when it is even allowed to dial. Callback Queue Call Time uses a Call times scheme to keep dial-backs inside legal hours, so a callback banked at 9pm waits until morning. The Callback Queue Dial Filter scrubs the queue against your DNC (do not call) lists so you never dial a number that has opted out, which matters for staying on the right side of the rules around a TCPA complaint.

All three sit together on the Ingroup. If you have not set up the callbacks they govern, the in-queue callback guide is the place to start, and the inbound call handling guide shows how it all fits together.

Want a hosted dialer where callback expiry and call-time guards are already in place? Check our pricing page.