Forum Discussion
Voicemail Greeting
Hi there. I know this thread is a few months old now, but I completely understand where you’re coming from with this. I have the same issues. What I did, was Google a text to speech service that said my name and record that as the greeting. There’s also “how to pronounce” videos on YouTube that have many names. That’s my workaround to the. I agree though, forcing people to record their own name to set up voicemail does make it inaccessible to some disabled people. Lots of folks are non-verbal for example.
I’ve started a chat with someone asking about this so I’ll keep you updated, but they seem to think when I say the service is “inaccessible” because to people with anxiety and disabilities, they mean I physically can’t access it. 🙄 Not the first time this has happened. SMARTY is not accessible for disabled people in the slightest.
100% agree. It's not only abileist & inaccessible to many with various & numerous difficulties but also poses a danger to more vulnerable people (voicemail gives away their name to a cold caller/scammer who can then ring back & use their name as if they know the individual) or people trying to escape DV & not wanting to give away that this is their number.
This is an absolutely ridiculous requirement to use an integral function in a service that is being paid for. This should not be necessary.
LucyVall_238257 Why do you need to give your name? Why not simply say "leave a message please" - you can even get someone else to record it for you (that is what we have done)
MSF Because then the greeting that gets played to callers would be along the lines of:
"Leave a message please... is not available. Please leave a message..."
And when one user of Three's voicemail system leaves a message for another, it will say to the person listening to the message:
"Message received from... leave a message please..."
I have to agree with most people on this thread - it's always been silly that Three's voicemail system doesn't just let you skip recording a name.
Not quite as bad but still pretty dumb is EE's voicemail system, which doesn't force you to record a name, but if you then choose to, provides no way to later delete it.
SmartyTrousers Fair point! In that case, a suitable alternative would be "The person you called" or similar. My point really was that there are ways around it if you cannot get it changed.
A vulnerable person would leave their name, as that is what they have been told to do. An abuser could recognise their victim's voice. Some people live totally alone & isolated.
I fully appreciate that people are trying to help in this conversation but none of the "solutions" in this thread negate the fact that this is an ableist/inaccessible function for many people & for many reasons.
I have worked around it by just rubbing the microphone, as was very helpfully suggested by someone else here. But it still doesn't change the fact that this should not have been implemented as a mandatory function in the first place. People should be able to choose whether they do this or have an automated message, as it was previously.
LucyVall_238257 Have you formally put that to Smarty via complaints?
The problem with posting here is that we are forum members without 'clout' so unfortunately it just amounts to venting because we cannot help effectively, other than to suggest other ways around it.
