Troubleshooting

Calls aren't following your flow

Short answer

Most flow problems have one of four causes: the flow isn't the number's first incoming call handler, a mobile's own voicemail answers before the next step, the voicemail email is held by a spam filter, or the flow forwards to a number that uses the same flow.

Applies to
Flow, Phone Numbers
Who can do this
Whoever manages your Enfonica project

Check for a known incident first. If there is one, we're already working on it, and there's nothing to change on your side.

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On this page
  1. What are you seeing?
  2. Calls ignore your flow, or still ring after hours
  3. Calls go to a mobile's voicemail instead of the next step
  4. Voicemail emails don't arrive
  5. Calls fail when the flow forwards to another of your numbers
  6. Still not working?
  7. Questions
  8. What to send us
  9. Related

What are you seeing?

Calls ignore your flow, or still ring after hours

If calls ring a phone directly, ignore your business hours, or never play your menu, the flow isn't running for that number. The first cause below accounts for almost every case, so start there.

Another incoming call handler is above the flow

Each phone number has a list of up to five incoming call handlers, used in priority order. The first handler takes the call. The next one is tried only if a call to the handler above it fails outright. A call that nobody answers, or a busy line, doesn't count. So a phone number or SIP handler listed above your flow takes every call, and the flow never runs.

Check

Go to Phone Numbers > My numbers in the Console, and select the number. Under Incoming call handlers, look for your flow. If it isn't first in the list, or it isn't there at all, this is the cause.

Fix

  1. If the flow isn't in the list, select Add, select Flow, and then choose your flow.
  2. To move the flow to the top of the list, use the up arrow next to it. Or remove the handlers above it that the flow now replaces.
  3. Select Save Changes.

Numbers in a range share one configuration, so this change applies to every number in the range. To give one number its own setup, split it off first. To learn how, see Choose where calls to your number go.

Your latest changes are saved as a draft

Only a flow's published version takes calls. Save Draft keeps your changes in the editor without making them live, so callers still get the previously published version.

Check

Go to Flow in the Console, and open the flow. Next to its name, look for a Draft label, or "Last saved" where you'd expect "Last published". If you see either one, this is the cause.

Fix

Select Publish. The editor confirms with "Flow published", and the next call uses the new version.

Calls go to a mobile's voicemail instead of the next step

Your flow might ring a mobile, and then try someone else or take a message. If callers hear that mobile's own voicemail greeting instead, the mobile's voicemail is answering the call.

The mobile's voicemail answers before the Call step moves on

To Flow, a mobile's voicemail picking up looks exactly like the person answering, because in both cases the call connects. The Call step takes its Complete exit, and the steps under Incomplete never run. Voicemail answers when the phone rings for long enough. It answers straight away if the person rejects the call, or if the phone is off or out of range.

Check

Look at where messages end up, and make a test call that nobody answers. If messages end up in that person's mobile voicemail instead of in your flow's Voicemail step, and the test call hears the mobile's greeting, this is the cause.

Fix

Turn on call screening, which solves this reliably:

  1. In the Console, go to Flow, open the flow, and select the Call step that rings the mobile.
  2. Open Advanced controls, and turn on Call screening. It plays "Press 1 to accept this call" to whoever answers. You can change the wording.
  3. Select Publish.

Now the call connects only when the person answering presses 1. A voicemail service can't press a key, so an unanswered call moves on to the Incomplete exit. The caller doesn't hear the screening prompt.

Two other options help in some cases:

  • A shorter ring time. In Advanced controls, set Ring time to around 12 to 15 seconds. Most mobile voicemail answers after 15 to 20 seconds, so the step usually moves on first. Voicemail still answers a rejected call, or a phone that's off. So use a shorter ring time together with call screening, not instead of it.
  • No voicemail on the mobile. The person can turn off voicemail with their mobile provider.

Voicemail emails don't arrive

When a voicemail email seems to be missing, it has almost always been sent and then held by the recipient's mail system. Check these causes in order.

A spam filter or mail security service is holding the email

Voicemail emails come from Enfonica Voicemail at noreply@notifications.enfonica.com, with the subject "New voicemail" and the recording attached. If the Voicemail step has a Subject, it's added to the email's subject, for example "New voicemail: Sales".

Check

Search your spam or junk folder, and any quarantine your organization uses, for that sender.

Fix

Mark the email as not spam, and add noreply@notifications.enfonica.com to your allowed senders.

If the email isn't in spam either, ask your email administrator to look for it in the mail system's logs or quarantine. Only they can release it. We can confirm on our side when each email was sent, so if you contact us, include the time of your test call.

The call never reached the Voicemail step

A voicemail email is sent only when a caller reaches the Voicemail step and leaves a message.

Check

Look at the path the call took. This is the cause if any of these are true:

  • The flow rings a mobile first. See Calls go to a mobile's voicemail.
  • Someone answered the call.
  • The Voicemail step is on a path that the call didn't take, such as after-hours only.

Fix

Open the Voicemail step, and check the email address under its recipients. Then make a test call that should reach the step, and leave a message of a few seconds.

Calls fail when the flow forwards to another of your numbers

If a Call step forwards calls to one of your own Enfonica numbers and the call never connects, check what that number does with its calls.

The number you forward to uses the same flow

When a Call step rings one of your Enfonica numbers, the call goes back through that number's incoming call handlers. If that number uses the same flow, the call goes around in a loop. Enfonica detects the loop and ends the call, so it can't keep circling.

Check

Look at the number in the Call step. This is the cause if it's one of your own numbers, often the same number that callers dialed, and its first incoming call handler is this flow. It usually happens when the flow should ring your phone system on that number and then take a voicemail.

Fix

Send the call to your phone system over SIP instead of to the phone number:

  1. In the Call step, select Add recipient, and then select Add SIP URI.
  2. After the sip: that the field already shows, enter your phone system's SIP address, for example pbx.example.com. Without a number before the @, Enfonica uses the number that was called. So the call reaches your phone system as a call to that number.
  3. Remove your own phone number from the step's recipients.
  4. Select Publish.

If the number used to ring your phone system directly, its SIP address is the one in that earlier SIP handler. Otherwise, whoever manages your phone system can tell you the address.

Still not working?

Make a test call, and note the time. Then send us the details in What to send us. We can look up the call and see which steps it took, which usually shows the cause straight away.

Questions

Can I edit a flow on my phone?

The Flow editor needs a larger screen than a phone. To build or change a flow, use a computer.

I deleted a flow, so why do calls still follow it?

A flow that a number still uses keeps working after you delete it, but you can't edit it anymore. To stop it, change the number's incoming call handlers to a different flow or destination, and then select Save Changes.

What to send us

Include these so we can check your flow.

  • The phone number that calls go to.
  • The name of the flow.
  • The date and time of a call that went the wrong way, with your timezone, and what you expected to happen.
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