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Calls going straight to voicemail

Last updated on August 5, 2022

This article explains how to prevent RingCentral MVP calls from going straight to voicemail.

Issue

You may notice you’ve been missing calls if:

Your phones aren’t ringing.
You receive voicemails but don’t receive calls.
People tell you they’ve called but have only reached your voicemail.

Resolution

Make sure Do not disturb is turned off
Check your work hours
Check your intro greetings
Make sure your forwarding numbers and/or devices are turned on in your call handling settings
Make sure custom call forwarding rules don’t conflict with your regular call handling settings
Check your incoming call announcement settings and ring sequence length
Make sure your forwarding numbers and/or devices are valid and working

Make sure Do not disturb is turned off

If your presence is set to Do not disturb, your incoming calls will be silenced and sent to the destination set in your call handling settings.

To check your presence and turn off Do not disturb:

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in.
Look for your profile picture in the top right. Notice the dot at the bottom right of your profile picture. A red dot with a white line through the center indicates Do not disturb is on.
To change your presence to Available:
1. Click your profile picture.
2. Click Do not disturb.
3. Select Available.

Note:

Setting your presence in the RingCentral mobile app or the RingCentral app on your desktop or web browser won’t sync your presence on your deskphone or RingCentral Phone app. Set your presence in the Admin Portal for the change to take effect across all your apps and devices.

Depending on your service plan, your presence may automatically display as Do not disturb when you’re in a meeting or on a call. Learn more about setting your presence

Check your work hours

If your work hours or time zone are incorrect, your calls may go straight to voicemail.

To check your work hours and time zone:

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in. If you’re an admin, click Admin Portal > My Extension in the top right.
Select Settings in the top menu.
Go to Call Handling.
In the Work hours tab, click work hours to view your schedule and time zone. If either is incorrect, click Edit schedule.

Adjust your schedule as needed and select the correct time zone. Then click Save.

After hours

If you want to receive calls after your work hours:

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in. If you’re an admin, click Admin Portal > My Extension in the top right.
Select Settings in the top menu.
Go to Call Handling > After hours.
Under Incoming calls, select Ring all at once or Ring in order from the dropdown.
1. If you select Ring in order, drag and drop the numbers and/or devices to place them in the order you’d like them to ring.
Click Save.

Check your intro greetings

If you’ve uploaded a custom voicemail greeting in place of your intro greeting by mistake, callers may think they’ve been sent to your voicemail. You’ll need to replace the custom voicemail greeting with the correct intro greeting.

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in. If you’re an admin, click Admin Portal > My Extension in the top right.
Select Settings in the top menu.
Select Screening, Greeting & Hold Music.

In the User Hours tab, check for anything labeled Custom under User Greeting, Connecting Message, and Audio While Connecting. Click the play button to listen to your custom audio.

If any custom audio is incorrect, click Edit under the audio player. This will open a popup window.
1. In the User Greeting or Connecting Message popup window, select Default from the dropdown or press the red button on the player to re-record your custom greeting or message.
2. In the Audio While Connecting popup window, select Ring Tones or Music from the dropdown or click Browse to replace the incorrect custom audio with a WAV or MP3 file from your computer.

Make sure your forwarding numbers and/or devices are turned on in your call handling settings

If any of your forwarding numbers or devices are turned off in your call handling settings, your calls may go straight to voicemail. To make sure your forwarding numbers and/or devices are turned on:

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in. If you’re an admin, click Admin Portal > My Extension in the top right.
Select Settings in the top menu.
Select Call Handling.
In the Work hours tab, look for your forwarding numbers and/or devices below Incoming calls.

Make sure each forwarding number and/or device under Active is turned on. If a forwarding number or device isn’t turned on, click its toggle.

Make sure custom call forwarding rules don’t conflict with your regular call handling settings

If your custom answering rules conflict with your regular call handling settings, your calls may go straight to voicemail. For example, a custom rule might send certain calls to voicemail or might not have any forwarding numbers listed. To check if you or your company has set custom rules:

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in. If you’re an admin, click Admin Portal > My Extension in the top right.
Select Settings in the top menu.
Go to Call Handling > Custom rules.

If you or your company has set custom rules, they’ll appear as a list. Each toggle under Active shows whether a rule is turned on or off.

Click Edit to view a custom rule. Check for:
1. Rules that send calls to voicemail during times that conflict with your regular call handling settings.
2. Rules that are missing call forwarding numbers.
Edit, delete, or turn off custom rules as needed. Learn about managing custom rules

Check your incoming call announcement settings and ring sequence length

If you’ve selected to play an announcement for incoming calls, the ring sequence length of your forwarding numbers and/or devices must be long enough for:

The announcement to play.
The agent or recipient to provide any required input, such as pressing a number in response to a prompt.

If your ring sequence length is less than 20 seconds, the call becomes missed and may go straight to voicemail.

First, check whether you’ve selected to play an announcement for incoming calls:

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in. If you’re an admin, click Admin Portal > My Extension in the top right.
Select Settings in the top menu.
Go to Call Handling > Settings.
Click Edit under Incoming call information.

Click Play Announcement.

Check the dropdowns under Direct Calls and Call Queue Calls. If For non-RingCentral phones only or Always is selected, announcement settings are turned on.

If your announcement settings are turned on, check the ring sequence length for your forwarding numbers and/or devices:

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in. If you’re an admin, click Admin Portal > My Extension in the top right.
Select Settings in the top menu.
Select Call Handling.

Under Ring for in the Work hours tab, set the ring sequence length to at least 4 Rings / 20 Secs for your forwarding numbers and/or devices. Note: Selecting Always Ring, for desktop and mobile apps only, leads to about six rings, or 30 seconds.

Note: If your calls are still going straight to voicemail, you can select not to play an announcement. Learn more about managing your announcement settings

Make sure your forwarding numbers and/or devices are valid and working

If a forwarding number or device is invalid or not working properly, your calls may go straight to voicemail. To learn whether the issue is caused by a specific forwarding number or device, you’ll need to test each one:

Go to the Admin Portal and sign in. If you’re an admin, click Admin Portal > My Extension in the top right.
Select Settings in the top menu.
Go to Call Handling.
In the Work hours tab, look for your forwarding numbers and/or devices below Incoming calls.

Turn off all numbers and/or devices except for one. To turn a number or device on or off, click its toggle under Active.

Call that active number or device to test if it rings.
If that number or device rings, continue to test each device or number.
If a number or device doesn’t ring:
1. Use its toggle to turn off that number or device. Then, use the toggles to turn your other forwarding numbers and devices back on.
2. Test to see whether your calls still go straight to voicemail. If they don’t, you’ve confirmed that the issue is with that specific number or device.
3. Troubleshoot by contacting the phone number carrier, the device manufacturer, or Customer Support.

Note: If the issue is with a third-party number or device, the number might be invalid or the device might not be working. If you’ve checked that the number or device is functioning but you’re still not receiving calls, contact Customer Support.