Voicemail is such a hassle at this point

[GonzoStyle]

I hate sitting through the rings just to get some morons "witty" message, then after the message where they thankfully explain this new innovation of leaving messages, with a step by step process which includes "speak clearly". Now I have to sit through the unemotional HAL 9000 message where they give me even more detailed instructions on not only how to leave a message but what to do when I am done leaving a message and on top of that the ingenius piece of advice "you can hang up once you are done".... I was really worried about that one, I thought maybe I had to stick around till the person actually got back or that I had to walk around with the phone to my ear for a few hours till told otherwise.

I think we all know at this point how to leave a message and no one needs to leave a numeric page and if they wanna leave a callback number they can do so when they leave the message, I know people are dumb and need to be walked through everything but this answering machine business is pretty standard for everyone older than 3 weeks.

I think the big confusion came with the name change, when you started calling it a "voice mail", even though its the same thing as an answering machine but they needed to make it sound more up to date and futuristic, voice mail! I think that really threw people off.

Finally to the actual cell phone owners, its a voicemail and no one thinks or expects witty remarks or schtick, if we're leaving a message it means we need to otherwise we'll hang up as soon as we hear the first sound come out of your mouth. So make it quick and painless, no need for instructions on what to do "after the beep" or some campy one liner, and more importantly there is no need for background music, no one needs to hear the current head bopper that YOU like.

Also if you really insist on saying more than 4 words, we really don't need you to reassure us that you're not there at the moment, we kinda figured it out. Especially if you insist on saying "I am CURRENTLY unavailable at the moment", yeah thanks, the currently part kinda covers the "at the moment" part, knocks it out.

[King Hippos Bandaid]

Dude its a Voice mail, you listen to someone try to be Funny in their Message

Then you Leave a Message, do you have to Philosophize About this

Just Leave a Message, your Friend or the person you are trying to Reach will Get Back to You

:king:

[RogerPodacter]

I couldnt agree more. These voicemail system make me so angry i literally want to punch things.

The system should work like this. The persons custom message starts, then a beep for you to leave the message.

Or at the very most, after the custom message it can say "Please leave a message after the beep."

[RogerPodacter]

Dude its a Voice mail, you listen to someone try to be Funny in their Message

Then you Leave a Message, do you have to Philosophize About this

Just Leave a Message, your Friend or the person you are trying to Reach will Get Back to You

:king:

He's not talking about the actual persons message. Its the automated system that explains the origins of the universe after the voicemail picks up that drives him, and me, absolutely nuts. Waaaaay too much info in that stupid system.

[King Hippos Bandaid]

He's not talking about the actual persons message. Its the automated system that explains the origins of the universe after the voicemail picks up that drives him, and me, absolutely nuts. Waaaaay too much info in that stupid system.

oh my bad

Carry On

:king:

[Death Metal Moe]

I don't really consider the 2 sentences of instructions in a voice mail system to be a huge problem.

[furie]

voice mail is still better than those damn answering machines from a few years back.
atleast i get messages now.

[badmonkey]

My sister's cellphone voicemail said something like "hey, I'm probaby digging around my backpack right now looking for this stupid thing so if you call right back I'll probably have it in my hand. If you get this message twice, I'm unavailable."

That's a useful message.

Badmonkey

[underdog]

This is the only good thing about Sprint's service. If you get someone's VM who has Sprint, you can press 1 and skip everything and just leave a message.

The worst is when you call someone you don't know has Sprint, and you listen to their 5 minute rant about how they aren't there and blah blah blah, then the message says, "Press 1 to leave a message". It should say it before any other words.

[Jujubees2]

My favorite answering machine message was "You know what to do and when to do it".

[sr71blackbird]

I wish there was a universal way for every system where you can just hit a button and go right to the message you want to leave. I'll go a step further and wish that I can leave a message without having to speak to a person directly. Often in my job I have to give bad news to people and when I leave the message, it is a relief. I hate having to go into a 45 minute explanation for my bad news.

[RogerPodacter]

After my message, the automated system says the following:

Roger's message plays....blah...blah....

Then it says: After the tone, record your message. When you are finished recording your message, hang up, or press 1 for more options. To leave a call back number, press X. To page this person, press 5 now.


Does anyone else think this is a little excessive? Especially when you've already recorded your OWN message explaining what to do, i.e. hey this is mike, leave a message after the beep, etc...

[RogerPodacter]

I wish there was a universal way for every system where you can just hit a button and go right to the message you want to leave. I'll go a step further and wish that I can leave a message without having to speak to a person directly. Often in my job I have to give bad news to people and when I leave the message, it is a relief. I hate having to go into a 45 minute explanation for my bad news.


You know you can do that. Or you used to be able to...with att wireless anyway. Just dial your own voicemail number, and there is usually a send message option. record your voice message, and then enter the number to send it to. used it all the time when i didnt want to talk to someone. it forwards the message right to their voicemail without ringing.

[J.Clints]

My sister's cellphone voicemail said something like "hey, I'm probaby digging around my backpack right now looking for this stupid thing so if you call right back I'll probably have it in my hand. If you get this message twice, I'm unavailable."

That's a useful message.

Badmonkey

HA thats great.....

[sr71blackbird]

After my message, the automated system says the following:

Roger's message plays....blah...blah....

Then it says: After the tone, record your message. When you are finished recording your message, hang up, or press 1 for more options. To leave a call back number, press X. To page this person, press 5 now.


Does anyone else think this is a little excessive? Especially when you've already recorded your OWN message explaining what to do, i.e. hey this is mike, leave a message after the beep, etc...

My brother and I both have Cingular and his message says that after his message and mine does not. I never figured out why that happened. I think once its set up, there is no going back. I might have gotten lucky.

I will have to look into your other suggestion..

[drusilla]

I wish there was a universal way for every system where you can just hit a button and go right to the message you want to leave.

i soo wish that too. i hate the long annoying message you have to sit through. leaving voicemail is such a hassle as is trying to get my voicemail. i hate when people leave me messages. it can be such a pain in the ass to try to get your messages or saved messages. most of the time you know who your missed calls are just from the phone number showing up anyway. i told my mom to only leave me a message if my phone doesn't ring, meaning the phone is off.

i'm a big texter. i would rather send a text to a person than leave a message & rather they did the same.

[cougarjake13]

it doesnt bother me b/c i dont want around for any stupid voicemail

if i call and it goes to voicemail then i just hang up and call them back later

i aint gots no time to be wasting waiting for some jabronie's voicemail to finish

[weekapaugjz]

is GonzoStyle the next Falling Down?

http://www.impawards.com/1993/posters/falling_down.jpg

[LordJezo]

This is the only good thing about Sprint's service. If you get someone's VM who has Sprint, you can press 1 and skip everything and just leave a message.

The worst is when you call someone you don't know has Sprint, and you listen to their 5 minute rant about how they aren't there and blah blah blah, then the message says, "Press 1 to leave a message". It should say it before any other words.

AT&T lets you press 1 as well.

I wish Verizon would put that in.

[cupcakelove]

I refuse to leave voicemails, so I never have this problem.

[grlNIN]

My voicemail is the Sprint Operator. I've never programmed a witty message on the phone.

I take an odd pleasure in having it this way because the Operator recites the entire phone number and it's not very quick so i know no one will willingly sit through it if they don't need to.

Thus i have to call less people back.

[Crippler]

AT&T lets you press 1 as well.

I wish Verizon would put that in.

My brother has Verizon, if you hit the * button it goes right to the beep. But my cousin has T-Mobile (I think) and hitting the * is the way for him to check his messages, so it asks you for your password...I think his direct-to-the-beep button is #. But it's a pain in the ass remembering which person & which button. If they all just made them consistant we could avoid these problems.

[MasterSoySauce]

i dont know how to change the ring count on my phn so its like 7 or 8 then me playing guitar for like 2 2 and half mins, then the little automated thing, then u can leave a msg. I like it, makes me feel like the grand puba of voicemail.