What Happens to Leads After a VICIdial List Expires

There is a quiet moment in every campaign where the dialer suddenly stops calling a list and nobody knows why. The agents are logged in, the leads are loaded, the campaign is active, but no calls go out from that list. More often than not, the list hit its expiration date.

The good news is that expiration is non-destructive. Nothing is deleted. The leads are exactly where you left them. They just stop being dialable. Knowing that saves you from a panicked re-upload.

What the expiration date does

The Expiration Date is a per-list setting. After that date, leads in the list are no longer allowed to be auto-dialed or manual-list-dialed by the system. The default value is 2099-12-31, which is the system's way of saying "effectively never expires." If you never touch it, the list will not expire in your lifetime.

When you do set a real date and it passes, the list stays in place. Every Lead keeps its Called status, its history, and its data. The system simply refuses to put expired-list leads into the Hopper to be called.

How to spot an expired list

On the main Lists screen, look at the ACTIVE column. A red "EXP" there means the list has reached its expiration date and will not be dialed. That single marker is usually the fastest answer to "why did this list go quiet?" If instead you see the campaign name in red, that means the campaign the list is assigned to has been deleted, which is a different problem.

The expiration decision

flowchart TD
  A[Hopper load runs] --> B{List active?}
  B -->|No| E[Skip list]
  B -->|Yes| C{Past expiration date?}
  C -->|Yes| D[Show EXP, do not dial]
  C -->|No| F{Lead dialable?}
  F -->|Yes| G[Load to hopper]
  F -->|No| E

The expiration check sits before the per-lead dialable check. That is why a list full of fresh, workable numbers still produces zero calls once the date passes. The leads never get far enough to be evaluated individually.

Why you would set one on purpose

Expiration dates are handy for data you are only allowed to call for a fixed window: a promotional list with an end date, leads bought under a time-limited agreement, or seasonal campaigns. Set the date when you load the leads and the system enforces the cutoff for you, with no manual deactivation to remember.

• Expired leads are not deleted; deleting the whole list is a separate, deliberate two-step action.
• Expiration is independent of the Active toggle; a list can be active and expired at the same time.
• Statistics still display for an expired list, so you can review penetration before deciding to extend.

For the exact field behavior, see the list expiration date setting, and to check what is left in a list before extending it, see reading list statistics. For the bigger picture, start with the VICIdial lists and leads guide.

Want a managed VICIdial box where list controls like this are clearly laid out and the server is live in under 40 seconds? See VICIfast pricing.