Troubleshooting: transfers
During a transfer the caller stays with the assistant until a person answers. If nobody answers, the destination is busy or a voicemail answers, the assistant says the transfer did not work and offers a call back. Most problems come down to whether the destination is reachable, the transfer rule's Activity setting, or the rule's condition.
Symptoms, causes and fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Transfers never work, the assistant keeps saying it could not put the caller through | Destination unreachable or busy, or a voicemail always answers | Call the number yourself, and make sure someone answers or the forward to voicemail does not kick in too soon |
| Assistant announces the transfer, but the team member gets no call | The team member has no phone number, or Available for transfers is off | Enter the number and turn on Available for transfers under My account → Profile |
| Transfer never happens outside opening hours | The rule's Activity is set to Within opening hours | Check Activity and Settings → Business |
| International destination fails | The outbound voice profile at our carrier doesn't include the country | Contact us to enable the country |
| Destination sees the wrong or an anonymous caller ID | Yarla does not pass on the caller's number as caller ID | Find the number with the call in the Inbox |
| Assistant never offers a transfer | Rule not available right now, condition too vague, or not a phone call | Check Activity and make the condition specific |
| No notification on failure | Notification phone and Notification email are empty | Have an admin fill them in under Settings → Team, and check the Inbox |
| Voicemail not offered or records nothing | Voicemail is off on the Tasks tab, or the caller said nothing after the tone | Turn Voicemail on. Without text from the message you get no notification, so check the Inbox too |
| Transfer goes round in a loop | Destination is a number that itself ends up with the assistant | Choose a different destination number |
Transfers never work
After the hand-off sentence, Yarla calls the destination while the caller stays with the assistant. If no person answers within half a minute, the destination is busy or a voicemail answers, the assistant says the transfer did not work and offers a call back. Under What the assistant did, with the call in the Inbox, you see why: nobody answered, or a voicemail answered.
- Call the destination number yourself to check it is reachable.
- If the destination forwards to voicemail after only a few rings, set that forward later, or answer sooner.
If the caller does end up on a voicemail, it sounded like a person. Turn on Take the call with 1 under Advanced options on the rule: whoever answers then has to press 1 first. See Transfers (call forwarding). 3. Call your own number and ask to be transferred, to test the whole path. In Try it out, Call and Chat don't actually transfer anyone.
See Transfers (call forwarding).
The assistant announces the transfer, but the team member gets no call
A team member with no phone number, or with Available for transfers off, is skipped: the assistant doesn't use the rule. You set this yourself under My account → Profile; an admin can do it for any team member under Settings → Team.
Transfers never happen outside opening hours
Every transfer rule has an Activity setting: Always, Within opening hours or Outside opening hours. If the rule is set to Within opening hours, the assistant doesn't transfer in the evening even if the engineer is reachable. It apologises briefly, notes the name, number and reason and promises a callback.
Check Activity and the opening hours under Settings → Business, including the Time zone: a wrong time zone shifts your entire day. If Use opening hours is off, your business counts as always open and a rule with Outside opening hours is never used.
An international destination fails
The outbound voice profile at our carrier determines which countries transfers can go to. If your destination's country isn't included, the transfer always fails even though the number is correct. Contact us via Report a problem and mention the country; we'll enable it for you.
The destination sees the wrong or an anonymous caller ID
Yarla does not pass on the caller's number as caller ID, so don't count on the team member seeing it on their phone. This can't be set per rule. You can find the caller's number with the call in the Inbox.
The assistant never offers a transfer
The assistant knows your transfer rules and their conditions by itself; you don't have to mention them in the prompt. It only transfers on phone calls, when a rule's condition applies and the rule is available at that moment. Check Activity and make the condition under In which cases should this transfer be performed? specific ("When the caller reports a leak that is causing water damage right now"). If that doesn't help, also mention the transfer in the prompt, on the Instructions tab under Conversation flow: "For emergencies, transfer to the on-call engineer." In Advanced mode this goes in the Full prompt. See Transfers (call forwarding).
No notification when a transfer fails
When a transfer does not work, you get a notification at the Notification phone and Notification email. If those are empty, nothing goes out. An admin fills them in under Settings → Team. The call is in the Inbox either way.
Voicemail is not offered or records nothing
Voicemail is on by default on the Tasks tab. The assistant can then offer to take a message when a caller wants to leave one or when a transfer isn't available. With Voicemail off, it doesn't offer this.
With Voicemail on, the caller hears the tone after the assistant's invitation and the message is recorded. At Max voicemail length (s) the recording stops and the call is hung up. The conversation is in the Inbox with the outcome Voicemail. If no text comes out of the message, for example because the caller said nothing, you get no notification and there is no Voicemail transcription. The notification goes to the Notification phone and Notification email under Settings → Team; if those are missing, nothing arrives. See Transfers (call forwarding) and Technical settings.
The transfer goes round in a loop
If your landline forwards to the assistant and that same landline is the Destination of a transfer rule, the caller ends up back with the assistant. Always use a destination that doesn't itself end up with the assistant, such as the engineer's mobile.
Still stuck?
Can't find your problem here, or did the fix not help? Let us know via Report a problem and include the link to the conversation, the destination number and the time of the attempt.