“In the UK we spend over 25 billion minutes each year leaving or listening to voicemail so most people will have received one or more of these types of message. At best they are annoying and at worst counterproductive, using up the valuable time that people increasingly don’t have to spare in their busy lives,” says Christina Domecq, SpinVox co-founder and CEO.
According to SpinVox, the following are the worst offenders – voicemails that people should avoid leaving at all costs.
Top Ten Annoying Voicemails (#2 is our pet hate by the way)
1. The Marathon Message: The extremely long voicemail that never ends.
2. The Death March: Leaving a phone number at the end of a long voicemail. If you missed it, you now have to listen through the entire message just to get the phone number.
3. The Screaming Eagle: The voicemail left in a noisy bar or as a fire engine is passing by.
4. The Drunken Dispatch: The drunk dial voicemail.
5. Voicemail Interrupted: As the person is leaving the voicemail, they stop in the middle to have a conversation with someone else or answer another call before they return to finish the message.
6. The Misguided Message: A person or telemarketer leaves a message for you that was actually intended for someone else.
7. Voicemail Incognito: The anonymous voicemail.
8. The Dehydrated Dispatch: Any voicemail left by someone with a bad hangover.
9. One Way Wonder: When the person thinks they are speaking to you when they are actually talking to your voicemail.
10. The Pocket Dialler: The person who accidentally calls you because the phone is in their pocket or bag and isn’t locked, leading to an endless soundtrack of them walking down the street, driving or having a conversation with someone else.
“We created this list to spark a discussion about something that is very irritating and that most Brits have to endure day-in, day-out,” adds Domecq. “The good news is that the introduction of SpinVox voice to text services converts your voicemail messages to text and sends it you as an SMS or email message. This means you don’t have to go through the hassle of dialling up your voicemail and listening to something that’s not useful. You simply read the message, and in one click retain it for future reference or delete it.”