Wait Time Option: rerouting callers who wait too long

Long waits cost you customers. A caller who has been on hold for two or three minutes is one bad moment away from hanging up and calling a competitor. VICIdial's Wait Time Option steps in before that happens: once a caller has waited longer than you allow, it offers them a way out, like a callback or a different department, without forcing them to keep holding. This walkthrough covers how it works and how to set it up.

What it does

Wait Time Option triggers on actual time spent in the Call queue. Once a caller in your Ingroup has been waiting longer than the threshold you set, VICIdial plays a short prompt giving them a choice: press 1 to take the offered route, or simply stay on hold and keep waiting for an Agent. It is the time-based cousin of the Estimated hold time option, which routes based on the predicted wait rather than the wait that has already happened. Both exist so a caller is never stuck with no way out except hanging up.

Setting the trigger time

Wait Time Option Seconds decides how long a caller waits before the offer plays. The default is 120 seconds. Set it to match how long your callers will realistically tolerate before frustration sets in. One important rule: do not set it shorter than the time it takes your welcome message and any other prompts to finish, or the offer will collide with audio the caller is still hearing.

What you can offer

Each option is one of the PRESS_ choices. Common ones include:

• PRESS_CALLBACK_QUEUE: keep the caller's place in line and ring them back when their turn arrives, so they can hang up and get on with their day.
• PRESS_INGROUP: send the caller to another Ingroup, handy for overflow to a different team.
• PRESS_CALLMENU, PRESS_VMAIL, PRESS_EXTEN: route to a menu, a voicemail box, or a dialplan extension.
• PRESS_STAY: send them right back to the queue without losing their place, useful as a "no thanks, I'll keep holding" choice.

You can stack up to three options on the 1, 2, and 3 keys. The second slot only works if the first is set, and the third only if the second is set, so fill them in order.

Getting the prompt right

The Wait Time Option Press Filename is the audio that explains the choices. Record it so it names every option you turned on, for example "press 1 for a callback, press 2 to leave a message." Then set the Press Filename Seconds to the real length of that file. If the length is wrong, the timing breaks and callers may press a key that does not register. There is also a No Block setting that lets callers behind this one reach an agent while the offer plays.

Wait Time Option is one piece of keeping queues humane. The full set of queue and routing controls is in the inbound call handling guide, and if you are seeing this trigger constantly, our piece on callers stuck on hold digs into the root causes. For a hosted box where this is ready to configure, see our plans and pricing.