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Let's take back the beep from cell phone companies
I'm joining David Pogue's effort to organize users everywhere to tell cell phone companies to turn off their gratuitously long voice mail intro-messages ("At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more options.").
These messages are a complete waste of time for millions of users - a productivity drain and an absolute waste for everyone except the cell phone company that makes millions of dollars off of our time on the phone, waiting through the same stupid message again and again.
As Pogue writes in his column:
Right now, the carriers continue to enjoy their billion-dollar scam only because we're not organized enough to do anything about it. But it doesn't have to be this way. ... Let's push back, and hard. We want those time-wasting, money-leaking messages eliminated, or at least made optional.
Let's do it.
Send your complaint to the phone companies. I'm pasting in Pogue's instructions below:
• Verizon: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/FJncH
• AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations: MS8460@att.com
• Sprint: Post a complaint here:http://bit.ly/9CmrZ
• T-Mobile: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/2rKy0u
Share these instructions on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, your blog, wherever. As Pogue says, "If [the phone companies] ignore us, we'll shame them. If they respond, we'll celebrate them."
Go to it!
I sent one to AT&T:
"Hello Mark Siegel,
I would like to request that AT&T eliminate long voicemail intro-messages due to the fact that they are overlong and they actually cost the subscriber money by keeping the caller on the phone longer than is needed. I would appreciate that my idea be considered and here’s hoping that some kind of resolution can be made."
Hope it works.
This is why I switched voicemail providers a couple years ago. I was sick of the 18 second wait and I wanted to do my part to get rid of it. I switched to forwarding my voicemail to Youmail (youmail.com), which also sent me email alerts and let me set custom greetings for people (a fun way to creep out friends). Now there's a couple services that do similar things - I'm pretty sure this is what Google's Grand Central does.
So tell your cell phone company you're unhappy with the service. Find an alternate voicemail provider. And if your cell phone company charges a surcharge for voicemail, tell 'em your not paying it anymore.
This is the response I got this morning when I sent ATT a note:
SIEGEL, MARK A (ATTSI)
Thanks for your message. I will be taking vacation time from July 29 to 31. If you are a reporter or editor on an immediate deadline, please contact Steve Schwadron on 212-453-2420.
---------------------------
Pretty fortuitous vacation I'd say!
Went to the site for Sprint. Could not leave a comment on the new 'David Pogue Take Back the Beep' section (thus downplaying the numbers of people who go there) but somehow ended up with a 'Voicemail Guy at Sprint.' who gave details on how to avoid the 15 seconds.
Here's a good one: I have a pre-paid Verizon account, in which I pay a relatively high amount per minute, as well as a per-day charge if I use the phone that day. This is a good deal for me when compared against a normal monthly plan. Anyway, it's free to call any other Verizon phone, but it's not free to.... suprise, call in to get your voicemail. Same thing, you're guaranteed about 10-20 seconds of listening to prompts and whatnot.
Some messages actually 'page' and it makes me laugh -- from what decade is that exactly?
This "At the tone..." message smells suspiciously like a scheme cooked up by an MBA trying to squeeze more (billable) minutes out of customer's phone calls. I.e., if I call you from my cell phone and get your voicemail, and I have to wait another 18 seconds before I can leave a message, that's another 18 seconds off my monthly minutes (or even better, towards overage charges.)
While you're waiting for the fix, you can do like I did and use your outgoing message to make the problem into a joke. "Hi, this is Andy! And you can leave me a message! But first . . . you have to listen to THIS lady!" People leave me very happy messages.