TL;DR
An inbound call is forwarded only if the teammate it goes to has set a personal number and turned on forwarding. Ask each user of the number to go to Settings → Sending settings → Use personal phone, enter their number in Specify your number, and turn on Receive inbound calls on my phone. If the caller still hears the unavailable message, check that the caller is a contact in lemlist and that the number has at least one assigned user who is still on your team.
Symptoms
People calling your lemlist number hear
The person you're trying to reach is unavailable.Incoming calls are not forwarded to your personal phone.
An incoming call shows up as a missed call instead of ringing your phone.
Incoming calls reach a teammate instead of you, or a teammate receives a call from a contact they have never spoken to.
Environment
Applies to: phone numbers bought through lemlist that receive incoming calls, including numbers shared by several teammates.
Does not apply to: connected numbers (your own verified phone line) and calls made through Aircall. Forwarding works only on bought numbers.
Step-by-step fix
1. Turn on forwarding for each user of the number
Forwarding is not set on the phone number. Each user sets their own forwarding number, and a call is forwarded only if the user it goes to has done this. On a shared number, every user should set it up.
Go to Settings → Sending settings → Use personal phone.
Enter your number in Specify your number.
Turn on Receive inbound calls on my phone.
✅ Verify: call the lemlist number from a phone that belongs to one of your contacts. The call rings on the personal number you entered.
If forwarding was set on the phone number itself in the past, that setting is no longer used. Calls are not forwarded until each user sets their own number as described above.
2. Make sure the caller is a contact in lemlist
If the caller's phone number doesn't match any contact in lemlist, the caller hears The person you're trying to reach is unavailable. The call is not passed to the users of the number.
Check whether the caller exists as a contact, with this exact phone number on the contact.
If not, add them as a contact or add the phone number to their existing contact. See Use the Contacts section.
3. Make sure the number has an assigned user who is still on your team
If every user assigned to the number has left the team, the caller hears The person you're trying to reach is unavailable.
Go to Settings → Call settings.
In Manage phone numbers, open the Used by dropdown for the number.
Select at least one current teammate.
Only admins can assign users to a number.
Why it happens & prevention
lemlist sends each incoming call to one user of the number, based on who has dealt with the caller before. If nobody has, it goes to a random user of the number. See Manage your phone number in lemlist for who receives an incoming call.
To prevent missed calls:
Have every user of a shared number turn on Receive inbound calls on my phone, since any of them can receive a call.
When a teammate leaves, check that their numbers still have at least one assigned user.
If your case is different
If you want to be notified by email when a lead calls back, see How to get notified when leads call back.
If you haven't bought or connected a number yet, see Set up lemlist in-app calling.
Escalate if unresolved
Contact support and include:
Your lemlist account email
The lemlist number that was called
The caller's phone number
The date and approximate time of the call