2degrees Users - Check your Voicemail Greeting

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › 2degrees Users - Check your Voicemail Greeting

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#996237 28-Feb-2014 11:22

allan: So does this imply that if VM has not been used in 60 days, then after that no message can be left by a caller, or are they just not hearing a greeting, but can still leave a message?

If the mailbox is deleted due to inactivity, and someone then tries to leave a message, a new mailbox is automatically created and the caller hears the default greeting of 'You have reached the mailbox of <phone number>...'

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

jbard

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#996242 28-Feb-2014 11:27

SaltyNZ:
profrink:

What does 2Degrees achieve by culling VM greetings after the 60 day period? Besides irritating customers.

We reuse mailbox licenses when an old mailbox is deleted. 60 days - 2 months - is a reasonable compromise between having unused mailboxes hanging around forever, and not annoying too many customers who just go on holiday for a couple of weeks. Any access - retrieval or deposit - resets the clock, so you've got to not receive or check for a single message in 2 months before it gets automatically deleted. That's pretty unlikely if you use your phone all the time, but I suppose it will, rarely, happen.

I wouldn't say pretty unlikely at all. I get maybe 3-4 voicemails a year but they are usually pretty important.
The whole point of a voicemail is as last fallback, not sure how useful it is if your last fallback keeps deleting itself and gets reset.

profrink

257 posts

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#996288 28-Feb-2014 12:17

SaltyNZ:
profrink:

What does 2Degrees achieve by culling VM greetings after the 60 day period? Besides irritating customers.

We reuse mailbox licenses when an old mailbox is deleted. 60 days - 2 months - is a reasonable compromise between having unused mailboxes hanging around forever, and not annoying too many customers who just go on holiday for a couple of weeks. Any access - retrieval or deposit - resets the clock, so you've got to not receive or check for a single message in 2 months before it gets automatically deleted. That's pretty unlikely if you use your phone all the time, but I suppose it will, rarely, happen.

I'm not sure it's that unlikely at all.

To be honest, I feel this is pretty poor. If I am paying my bill, I personally don't think it is too much to expect for this greeting to remain in place regardless of my VM activity.

Spoonguard

19 posts

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#996329 28-Feb-2014 12:56

profrink:
SaltyNZ:
profrink:

What does 2Degrees achieve by culling VM greetings after the 60 day period? Besides irritating customers.

We reuse mailbox licenses when an old mailbox is deleted. 60 days - 2 months - is a reasonable compromise between having unused mailboxes hanging around forever, and not annoying too many customers who just go on holiday for a couple of weeks. Any access - retrieval or deposit - resets the clock, so you've got to not receive or check for a single message in 2 months before it gets automatically deleted. That's pretty unlikely if you use your phone all the time, but I suppose it will, rarely, happen.

I'm not sure it's that unlikely at all.

To be honest, I feel this is pretty poor. If I am paying my bill, I personally don't think it is too much to expect for this greeting to remain in place regardless of my VM activity.

If you are not checking your voicemail, are you actually paying your bill?

profrink

257 posts

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#996337 28-Feb-2014 13:06

Spoonguard:
profrink:
SaltyNZ:
profrink:

What does 2Degrees achieve by culling VM greetings after the 60 day period? Besides irritating customers.

We reuse mailbox licenses when an old mailbox is deleted. 60 days - 2 months - is a reasonable compromise between having unused mailboxes hanging around forever, and not annoying too many customers who just go on holiday for a couple of weeks. Any access - retrieval or deposit - resets the clock, so you've got to not receive or check for a single message in 2 months before it gets automatically deleted. That's pretty unlikely if you use your phone all the time, but I suppose it will, rarely, happen.

I'm not sure it's that unlikely at all.

To be honest, I feel this is pretty poor. If I am paying my bill, I personally don't think it is too much to expect for this greeting to remain in place regardless of my VM activity.
If you are not checking your voicemail, are you actually paying your bill?

The $39 charge to my VISA every month would suggest that I am?

I can understand how this could be potentially applicable for prepaid, but not postpaid.

jjnz1

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#996350 28-Feb-2014 13:26

Solution:

Set up a free 028 2talk number
Divert all voicemail calls from 2Degrees voice mail number to the new 028 number
Set up voicemail message on 028
Have all 028 voice messages send via email to your phone.

Now you get an email with a .wav file for every message left. And yes, the callers phone number does come through on the email, so you can quickly scan who the message is from without listening to the whole message.

Works awesome for me. Caller is unaware.

SaltyNZ

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#996353 28-Feb-2014 13:29

jjnz1: Solution:

Set up a free 028 2talk number
Divert all voicemail calls from 2Degrees voice mail number to the new 028 number

Hmmm.... pay to receive calls, nice! ;-)

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

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jjnz1

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#996355 28-Feb-2014 13:39

SaltyNZ:
jjnz1: Solution:

Set up a free 028 2talk number
Divert all voicemail calls from 2Degrees voice mail number to the new 028 number

Hmmm.... pay to receive calls, nice! ;-)

I have unlimited calls, so no I don't.

However, how many voice messages does one really get? 10 in a month? Maybe 20 minutes tops. I am sure most people could spare 20 minutes out of their monthly minutes allocation.

And it still beats those paying .20cents per message to receive if your plan doesn't qualify for free voicemail retrieval ;) (Like some of my cheaper business plans).

old3eyes

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#996416 28-Feb-2014 14:25

alasta: I have been a 2degrees customer for three and a half years and have used voicemail numerous times over that period. Yesterday I called voicemail to pick up a message and received an automated prompt telling me that I haven't used voicemail before and I should therefore set up a personal greeting.

I don't know how 2degrees have managed to lose my voicemail greeting, but you might want to check your own greeting in case the problem is widespread.

Funny you show say this but that happened to me about 2 weeks ago. I was quite surprized.. I set it up again.. I don't use my 2D account very often..

Regards,

Old3eyes

Kyanar

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#1007413 17-Mar-2014 16:18

Just encountered this. Ah well, forward calls to 2talk VoIP number. Not a helpful feature at all, 2degrees.

nzkiwiman

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#1008252 18-Mar-2014 17:44

I was coming in to say, thanks for the reminder - I set up a voicemail message when I went overseas in October saying I was overseas and I should change it back ...

But as I only one one call a month or less on my phone and that call is answered, it means that my voicemail box will be deleted.

EDIT: Just rang my voicemail, and I still have my personal greeting from October 2013

kiwigander

231 posts

Master Geek

#1177396 17-Nov-2014 15:06

I'd like to get an update from the 2 Degrees people here regarding the policy and mechanics of 2 Degrees's cancelling a voicemail account after 60 days of inactivity. I apologise for the length of the message; the background is a bit complex, but you can skip to the questions at the end of the message.

I have a cellphone on Prepay on 2 Degrees that I use as a backup to our main home phone service. The main phone runs on WxC VFX (VoIP); there is no landline. VFX is configured so if our VoIP phone is disabled, calls will ring through to the cellphone.

We recently had a puzzling problem when we discovered that the cellphone had received a few calls, and callers had left messages, over the previous six days. The cellphone had had a voicemail greeting asking callers not to leave messages, as they wouldn't be regularly retrieved, but instead to ring my wife or me on one of our mobile cellphones.

When I tried to retrieve the voicemails, the 2 Degrees cyber-bloke announced that this was my first call to voicemail and I had to set the account up. At this point I searched online for what would happen to the messages already recorded when I set up a new greeting and PIN. I found only one direct reference to the problem and that suggested the messages would be deleted.

So I rang the callers back on the numbers recorded in the cellphone's caller ID. The calls turned out to be of some importance to us. I assume the callers had left messages because our greeting was gone and the standard 2 Degrees greeting invites callers to leave a message.

I then set up a new greeting and PIN on the account, and the cyber-bloke then announced how many messages I had, which keys to press to do what etc. I played the messages and they all seemed to be intact. So the suggestion that the messages would be deleted was erroneous.

I've now set a reminder to access voicemail on this account at least once a month so this situation doesn't recur. I understand if 2 Degrees don't want space and cycles taken up serving inactive accounts. But there are problems here:

1. What is 2 Degrees's official policy on cancelling voicemail accounts because of inactivity? How many days must elapse before you do so?
2. Would it be possible for 2 Degrees to send an e-mail, say three days prior to the cancellation, warning that cancellation was imminent so please access your e-mail?
3. If a voicemail account is cancelled, will the messages always be left intact and retrievable once a new greeting and PIN are recorded? If they'll be deleted, when will that occur?
4. Why isn't any of this information available on the 2 Degrees Web site?

shk292

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#1177408 17-Nov-2014 15:25

jjnz1: Solution:

Set up a free 028 2talk number
Divert all voicemail calls from 2Degrees voice mail number to the new 028 number
Set up voicemail message on 028
Have all 028 voice messages send via email to your phone.

Now you get an email with a .wav file for every message left. And yes, the callers phone number does come through on the email, so you can quickly scan who the message is from without listening to the whole message.

Works awesome for me. Caller is unaware.

What a great idea! I always have spare minutes in my prepaid plan, and resent having to pay extra to pick up voice mail. Thanks

SaltyNZ

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#1177409 17-Nov-2014 15:26

kiwigander: I'd like to get an update from the 2 Degrees people here regarding the policy and mechanics of 2 Degrees's cancelling a voicemail account after 60 days of inactivity.

There is nothing to update, sorry. After 60 days of inactivity - no messages deposited, and no retrievals - your voicemail box will be deleted. If you really need to keep it, just call 202 every now and again to keep it alive.

Edit: in regards to why it isn't on the web site; it is. It's in the terms and conditions under 'Voicemail'.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

daparrot

128 posts

Master Geek

#1177498 17-Nov-2014 17:54

jbard:
SaltyNZ:
profrink:

What does 2Degrees achieve by culling VM greetings after the 60 day period? Besides irritating customers.

We reuse mailbox licenses when an old mailbox is deleted. 60 days - 2 months - is a reasonable compromise between having unused mailboxes hanging around forever, and not annoying too many customers who just go on holiday for a couple of weeks. Any access - retrieval or deposit - resets the clock, so you've got to not receive or check for a single message in 2 months before it gets automatically deleted. That's pretty unlikely if you use your phone all the time, but I suppose it will, rarely, happen.

I wouldn't say pretty unlikely at all. I get maybe 3-4 voicemails a year but they are usually pretty important.
The whole point of a voicemail is as last fallback, not sure how useful it is if your last fallback keeps deleting itself and gets reset.

So I guess that although we pay for a phone account which includes voicemail, 2Degrees deems it OK
to steal this service away from us and still charge full rate
I does explain why certain numbers we have keep loosing the voicemail greeting message

Once again another reason I find it hard to recommend to business clients 2 Degrees as a business solution
when we get a mickey mouse business practices like this. The lack of proper billing is also too big a hurdle to overcome.

Bruce

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