What a scheduled callback is in VICIdial

A scheduled callback is one of the most common things an agent does in a busy day. The customer says "call me back Tuesday at 2pm" and the agent needs a clean way to make that happen without writing it on a sticky note. In VICIdial, the agent flags the record as a callback, picks a date and time, and the system takes it from there.

The plain definition

A Scheduled callback is a Lead that an Agent has marked to be contacted again at a specific future date and time. Instead of leaving the record in the general pool to be dialed whenever, the agent attaches an appointment to it. When that moment arrives, VICIdial knows the record is due and acts on it.

This is different from a normal call outcome. A regular Disposition like "no answer" or "not interested" closes out the call. A callback says "this one is not done, try again at this time." That little difference is what keeps promised follow-ups from slipping through the cracks.

Two types: anyone and user-only

Every scheduled callback in VICIdial is one of two kinds. An ANYONE callback goes back into the campaign's dialing pool once its date and time is reached, so any available agent on that Campaign can take it. A USERONLY callback is reserved for the one agent who set it, and only that agent can dial it from their own callbacks list.

Which one to pick depends on the promise. If the customer just wants a follow-up and does not care who calls, ANYONE is faster. If they built rapport with a specific rep, USERONLY keeps that relationship intact.

flowchart TD
  A[Agent sets a callback] --> B{Which type}
  B -->|ANYONE| C[Returns to campaign pool at the set time]
  B -->|USERONLY| D[Stays with the agent who set it]
  C --> E[Any free agent dials it]
  D --> F[Only the original agent dials it]

What happens when the time arrives

For ANYONE callbacks that are due, VICIdial puts the record back into the Hopper, the short queue of leads ready to be dialed, and updates its Status (lead status) so the dialer treats it as a priority. That is why a callback set for 2pm tends to get dialed close to 2pm rather than waiting in a long line behind everything else.

USERONLY callbacks behave differently. They wait in the agent's personal callbacks view and the agent dials them when it is convenient, which is the whole point of reserving them.

Who can change a callback later

Plans change. A manager with permission to modify leads can edit any callback record: change its status to clear it, convert a USERONLY callback to ANYONE or the other way around, or hand a USERONLY callback to a different agent. Administrators can also view callbacks across a user, a campaign, or a list, and purge old ones in bulk so the system stays tidy.

For the full picture of how callbacks fit together, read our scheduled callbacks guide. And if you want to compare the two types head to head, see anyone vs user-only callbacks.

Run callbacks on a dialer that just works

Scheduled callbacks only help if your VICIdial box is stable and the hopper stays fed. VICIfast gives you a managed, single-tenant dialer that is live in under 40 seconds, so your agents can keep their promises instead of fighting the platform. See our pricing to get started.