Telemessaging Won't Call Numbers With 999 Prefix

Prefixes (not area codes) beginning with 999 are not dialed by Telemessaging.
The Telemessaging software is written to block calls with the prefix “999” (e.g. 559-999-1234). This is related to the fact that the company that developed the Telemessaging software has headquarters in New Zealand and associated offices in Australia and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom and some other countries, “999” is commonly used as an emergency number, like “911” in the United States.

This affects over 1,770 borrowers at this time. Telemessaging will not work for these phone numbers. These customer should use an alternate phone number of select an alternate notification method. 

Also see "Area Codes and TeleMessaging"

Phone Notice Customer Is Mailed a Notice

Scenario: your customer's account is set to receive their notices by phone. So why did receive a notice in the mail?

Reason 1: The automated telephone messaging service (TM3) calls the customer to deliver the hold or overdue notice. If it is unsuccessful after 3 tries (no answer, line disconnected, fax machine, not ringing, etc.), that notice will be printed and mailed via USPS the next business day. Look at the notification block on the customer's account to see whether it was complete or incomplete.

What can you do? Verify the customer's phone number. Do they have an answering machine? There are a few types of answering machines that do not work with TM3.  TM3 only recognizes these area codes. Do they have an alternate number? Would they like to try email notification instead?

Complete - the notice was delivered by phone

Phone Notice Incomplete - TM3 could not deliver the notice so it will be mailed the next business day.

Reason 2: Final overdue notices (we've told you before, but you'll be charged if you don't return the item) and lost notices (the item is now lost and you owe this much) are always printed and mailed - regardless of what notice type the customer has selected. Click here to see how much time elapses between the first overdue and lost notice.

Telemessaging & Cell Phones

Your customer has notices set to be delivered via Telemessaging (TM3) to their cell phone. However they report that if TM3 calls and they don't answer the call, no message is left by TM3 on their voice mail. Why not?

TM3 isn’t seeing the call as being picked up by voice mail, but rather it registers as a 'no answer'. TM3 can have a harder time recognizing that an unanswered call to a cell phone is transferring to a message system. It's probably a timing thing – basically the phone's 'leave a message' message doesn't kick in fast enough from TM3.

There's nothing we can do to change TM3. The customer has the option of changing to a different phone number or receiving email or print notices.

Troubleshooting Problems w/ Email Notices for Gmail Accounts

If a customer with a gmail account is set up for email notices, but is not receiving them even though their email address is correct, here's some troubleshooting steps you can take:

1. Have the customer create a filter in their Gmail account. Go to Settings > Filters > create a new filter with Subject “Library Notice” with the following options check marked. 
2. Working with your customer, place a test/fake hold on their account
3. Check it into the hold shelf.
4. Did they receive an email notice for the test hold the following day after 11 a.m.?
5. If they still don't receive the email, contact Tech Support for more troubleshooting tips. 

Phone Numbers with Extensions

Some borrowers have a phone number with an extension. Here's the data entry rules for that situation:

• Enter the phone number as 000-000-0000 x000  (Example: 559-123-4568 x910)

• Because telemessaging cannot call a phone number that has an extension, set the Phone Type to one of the "no telemessaging" types

Area Codes & TeleMessaging

Telemessaging (TM3) is the automatic phone notification system that calls customers about overdue items and holds. In the past, Telemessaging was set up to only call phone numbers that had area codes in CA, AZ, OR and NV. 

But with the rise of cell phone use, many people keep their out-of-state phone number regardless of where they live. So we removed the area code restriction since it only costs a few cents for the Telemessaging call even if it's long distance. 

Telemessaging will call any area code, except for out-of-country area codes (i.e. 441=Bermuda). For obvious reasons, it won't call numbers with 911 as the area code or the prefix. It will not call numbers with a 999 prefix. See Telemessaging and 999.








rev. 8/2018

Language Code In Borrower Registration

The automated TeleMessaging phone system calls customers when they have overdue items or holds is available in both English and Spanish. Customers can also call the system to review what items they have checked out and renew items. The “Language” field in the borrower record determines the language TeleMessaging uses when it calls a patron or when the patron calls the system. There are 3 codes:

0 – ENGLISH (never use this one)
eng – US-English
spa - Spanish

Always use “eng” if the borrower requests English. Do *not* use the “0” code for English. Enter "spa" if the customer would like to receive the messages in Spanish.

If left blank the default language will be English.


rev. 8/2017