American Voicemail prompts - Can we change them?

Posts: 508 · Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:12 pm Post subject:

you all need to let Vonage UK know of your concerns.. keep e-mailing them and they have to listen.. this forum does get read by some Vonage reps and "high-up's" but letting them know directly is what you need to do..

here in Canada we have a PR E-Mail address we can mail to, and they listen, i read in anothe rpost on this UK forum that you have a similar address, i encourage all of you to write this address, do it once a week asking if it's been addressed yet..

I know it's frusterating, and I know ppl accross the pond arent' into being 'americanized' ... Here in Canada we just have learned to accept it since we're so close to them.. lol.. and most of our stuff is the same anyways, and for me, I have 5 of them living in my house.. (wife and kids) haha.. Very Happy

Posts: 71 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jul 19, 2005 Posts: 71

So nothing much happening here then!

I thought this would be a relatively easy change to make and would possibly benefit Vonage when trying to convince those potential new customers who are a little unsure if to make the jump or not.

Maybe its all hanging off a common platform somewhere that they have no control over in the UK?

Regards,

Paul

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 06, 2006 Posts: 1

I sent this enquiry to Vonage:

I've been using Vonage for just under a month. So far I've been impressed with, and mostly enjoyed, the experience. One problem I've encountered is UK callers to my line not understanding the Americanized voicemail prompts. The request to press the 'pound' (£) sign on an English phone is confusing because English phones do not have a '£' sign. You of course me the hash (#) sign common to all UK phones. Could this be rectified as soon as possible, otherwise I feel your UK customer base could be affected? If subscribers continue to have callers being confused and not leaving messages the service loses some of its competitive value.
Thanks.

Received this reply today:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Customer Care.

We are aware of the issues caused by using an American voicemail
system. We are working on changing the prompts to say hash instead of
pound sign and appreciate you patience while we work to resolve this
issue. At this time there is no time-frame for when this issue will be
resolved.

We hope this has answered your enquiry. If you have any further
questions please visit our website at www.vonage.co.uk where you will
find answers to most customer enquiries.

Customer Care
Vonage UK

So there we have it for now. Wink

Posts: 188 · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:25 pm Post subject:

Just to add my two cents (or 2p) worth here; The ITU name for # is "number sign", not "hash", not "pound". Can't we all just get along! Lol

Would folks in the UK understand which button "number sign" is? Would folks in North America know which button "number sign" is? I hope so but maybe not. It would likely but easier to choose a term that is universal rather than customising the prompts with different versions of English.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 09, 2006 Posts: 12

If this was BT going into the US with this service, you could bet any money you want that the messages would be changed so US citizens were not faced with trying to guess what the hash key is.

Is anybody really surprised? - typical American arrogance - after all, we are the 51st state.

And yes, over 10 years working for different American companies has left me bitter and twisted!

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 10

miket603 wrote:

Just to add my two cents (or 2p) worth here; The ITU name for # is "number sign", not "hash", not "pound". Can't we all just get along! Lol

Would folks in the UK understand which button "number sign" is? Would folks in North America know which button "number sign" is? I hope so but maybe not. It would likely but easier to choose a term that is universal rather than customising the prompts with different versions of English.

uk here,
ive always refered to # as a number sign too, never heard of it being called pound before lol,
dunno where hash comes from either but ive heard it plenty.
maybe its like feet and metres but for phones.
anyway id like to keep the sexy yank female if i can,
ill just have to tell/warn my mates about the pound sign thing.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 09, 2006 Posts: 12

She is probably 25 stone.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 6

Come on Vonage, what's happening with this?
I've been told your aware of this issue by tech support for the last 6 months now, but nothing seems to be happening.

I use the Vonage business account, but am having to use voicemail on my simulring'ed mobile, as customers can't find a pound (£) sign on their phone and simply hang up.

I'd like to use the "voicemail --> email" service Vonage offers, however until this can be resolved I just can't risk it.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 12, 2006 Posts: 1

"Is anybody really surprised? - typical American arrogance - after all, we are the 51st state."

I'm sorry that you feel this way! Here in the states we have great respect and admiration for our British friends.

We certainly do not consider you our 51st state. That would be Canada.

Be assured that we love you, our 52nd state, as much as Canada, and Australia (our 53d state). With the exception of Tasmania which we believe to be in Africa.

We also love New Zealand, which as American's we know is on the other side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from Australia's capital, Sydney.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 6

Scott603 wrote:

Be assured that we love you, our 52nd state, as much as Canada, and Australia (our 53d state). With the exception of Tasmania which we believe to be in Africa.

We also love New Zealand, which as American's we know is on the other side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from Australia's capital, Sydney.

lol

Would that be the same Africa your president described as a nation?

Or perhaps it's a different one, near Jordan that good ol' GWB said was a Gulf Coast Country. Lol

Sorry, but us Brit's like to look down at our American cousins whenever possible, especially when they describe a hash symbol as a 'Pound' sign when clearly '£' is a pound sign!!!!

Please Vonage - pleeaaassee - or I'm gonna have to switch back to British Telecom, and that's just going to ruin my efforts in International relations.