IVR test lines

Voice agents that place calls fail in two predictable places: navigating a phone menu, and surviving a hold queue. We run two public test lines so you can exercise both against real telephony rather than a simulation. Each line is a real PBX answering a real number, and both end at the same consultant, so a successful test has a single, checkable definition: your agent reached Claire and got the account balance.

The lines belong to Meridian Super, a superannuation fund we invented for this purpose. Every menu, wait time, and account detail on these lines is published on this page, so you can write assertions against them.

The consultant at the end

Both lines finish by connecting you to Claire, Meridian's virtual consultant. She verifies three details, one at a time and in this order, before she discusses the account:

Once all three details match, Claire gives the same response on every call. The account details she provides are:

These figures never change, which makes them safe to assert on in a rubric.

If you provide details that do not match, she allows one retry per field. After an incorrect second attempt, she declines to share account information and ends the call. She never reveals the correct values.

Line 1: the menu maze

+61 2 4092 0229

A deliberately hostile IVR in the shape large call centres actually use: a long preamble before the options, nested submenus, options that loop back to where you started, and one path that reaches a person. The full tree:

Main menu
├─ 1  Member services
│  ├─ 1  Balances and statements
│  │  ├─ 1  Statement copies        → info, returns to this menu
│  │  ├─ 2  Account balance enquiries
│  │  │  ├─ 1  Accumulation accounts → service-code gate → Claire
│  │  │  └─ 2  Pension balances      → jumps to the Pension submenu
│  │  └─ 3  Unit prices             → info, then HANGS UP
│  ├─ 2  Contributions              → three info options, all loop
│  ├─ 3  Insurance in your super    → info, returns to this menu
│  └─ 4  Pension accounts           → three info options, all loop
├─ 2  Employer services
│  ├─ 1  Clearing house             → info, returns to main
│  └─ 2  New employer registration  → info, then HANGS UP
├─ 3  Advisers and third parties
│  ├─ 1  Adviser registration      → info, returns to main
│  └─ 2  "Transferring you"        → hold music, then MAIN MENU again
├─ 4  About Meridian               → info, returns to main
└─ 0  Repeat the options

Star steps back one level, zero returns to the main menu, and silence replays the menu twice before the line hangs up.

The one path that connects: 1, 1, 2, 1, then the gate asks for a four digit phone service code. The code is 4281 (the hash key after it is optional). Two wrong codes return you to the main menu.

The traps are the test. Option 3-2 announces a transfer and then dumps you back at the main menu, which is the single most common way real IVRs defeat an agent that trusts what it hears. An agent that reaches Claire has proven it can hold a goal through misdirection, dead ends, and a DTMF challenge.

Line 2: the hold queue

+61 2 4092 0202

One menu, five options, no tricks. Each option is a hold of a published length and style, and every one of them ends by connecting you to Claire. Silence at the menu twice defaults to option 1.

The waits are fixed rather than variable because a test needs a known answer: if your agent gives up at twelve minutes on option 4, you know the number to fix. Options 1 and 3 exist to catch agents that mistake a queue announcement for a human answering; the position updates are recorded prompts, and speaking back at them proves nothing has answered yet.

Using the lines

Point an outbound agent at a line and assert on the outcome: it reached Claire, verified as Alex Taylor, and captured the balance. The published tree and timings above are the contract, and we keep this page in step with the lines, so a change here is a change there.

Calling them yourself from a handset is equally legitimate. The menu maze in particular is a fast way to build sympathy for what your callers sit through, and for what your own agent should never become.