When the AI hands a call to a person, the caller expects someone to pick up. This page covers what FrontDesk does when nobody does, and the safety nets around it.
How FrontDesk finds a transfer nobody took
A transfer ends the AI's part of the call, so the AI itself never hears whether anyone answered. FrontDesk asks the phone carrier instead:
- Every 5 minutes it checks recent transferred calls, starting about 3 minutes after each call ends.
- A transfer counts as answered only when the call was picked up and lasted more than 20 seconds.
- No answer, a busy line, a failed call, or a pickup of 20 seconds or less counts as not answered. The short pickup rule is there because many office phone systems answer unattended calls with a recording and then hang up.
The Transfer not answered task
A transfer nobody took becomes a task in Tasks, labelled Transfer not answered and marked High. The card says what happened, then the AI's summary of the call:
- "Transferred to the office, but no one answered."
- "Transferred to the office, but the office line was busy."
- "Transferred to the office, but the office line hung up after 14s."
Use the call icon on the card to open the call in Call Logs, or Call back to ring the caller. When you're done, mark it done with the check button. If the caller rings your number again before you get to it, the task clears by itself: they reached you another way. See Manage your tasks.
Offer a message to callers who ring back
Callers whose transfer wasn't answered often call straight back, and a second transfer usually ends the same way. So by default the AI handles them differently.
Receptionist → AI Voice, Voice tab, Handing off to a person: Offer a message when a caller's last transfer wasn't answered. It's on by default and shows while Transfer to a human is on.
With it on, when the same number calls back within 2 hours of a transfer nobody picked up:
- If they ask for a person or mention being cut off, the AI briefly apologizes that no one was able to take their call.
- It offers to take a message so the team calls them back, with their name, best callback number and reason. The message notes that they were transferred earlier and couldn't reach anyone, and the AI reads it back before ending the call.
- If they still want to hold for a person after hearing the offer, it transfers them.
The AI still books, reschedules, cancels and answers questions on that call as usual. The check runs as the call starts. If the 5-minute check hasn't reached the earlier transfer yet, FrontDesk asks the carrier on the spot; if the carrier is slow to answer, the call goes ahead normally.
Turn the switch off and click Save Changes if you'd rather the AI transfer every caller who asks for a person, every time.
The lost-message safety net
Sometimes the AI tells a caller "I'll pass your message to the office" but never actually saves a message. After every AI call, FrontDesk looks for this:
- If the AI said the message was passed on, or offered to take one, and no message was saved, FrontDesk writes the message from the transcript: who called, their callback number, who it's about, what they need, the category and urgency.
- It's saved like any other message the AI takes, so it shows in Tasks and goes to the usual people. If you've turned on the caller's "message received" text, they get it too.
- The message is written in English, even when the call was in Spanish.
- The callback number is the one the caller said if it's a whole US number, otherwise the number they called from.
- If the AI only offered a message and the caller declined, nothing is saved.
- A transferred call is checked only once FrontDesk knows nobody answered the transfer. A transfer someone took already reached your team.
- With athenahealth, a refill request saved this way isn't sent to athenahealth as a case, because its details were never read back to the caller.
If the AI can't start: the office fallback
On rare occasions FrontDesk can't start the AI for a call, for example during a brief outage or when setting up the call takes too long. Instead of leaving the caller on a dead line, the call is forwarded to your office:
- The caller hears "Sorry for the wait. Let me connect you with the office."
- The call rings the number under Transfers ring, with its extension if you saved one.
This uses your transfer settings on Receptionist → AI Voice, Handing off to a person, so it only works when Transfer to a human is on, Transfers go to is An outside number, and a number is saved. With transfers off, or going to My team, there's no number to forward to. FrontDesk keeps the fallback in step with your settings each time you save the AI Voice page.
Make transfers land
- Use a number under Transfers ring that a person answers during your hours, not a line that drops to a recording.
- If transfers often go unanswered, consider Announce to staff so whoever picks up knows why, or fewer transfer triggers so only the calls that need a person are sent. See Set what your AI can do on calls and Why did the AI transfer this call?.
- During your staff lunch break and on holiday closures the AI doesn't transfer at all; it takes a message.