Can I change Digital Voice voicemail message without using my own voice?

[nellie61]

I would rather have a neutral, mechanical voice. I don't answer calls from unknown numbers, so want my voicemail message telling people this, and asking them to leave me a message so I don't ignore their call. (Getting too many scam calls, despite signing up to TPS etc.)

[iniltous]

TBH , the standard BT 1571 answer service ‘voice’ is a pretty generic female voice with no personally identifiable traits, saying ‘sorry your call can’t be taken right now’  , if you don’t want to record a person greeting, that’s the default, if it’s not mechanical enough not much you can do short of recording your own greeting  putting on an affected ‘mechanical voice’ yourself

[nellie61]

I want my message to say "I don't answer unknown numbers, so please leave a quick message to say who you are."

[iniltous]

If you subscribe to the paid for version of BT 1571 ( rather than the free basic version) your personal message can say whatever you want , but obviously you record it yourself , it’s normally with your own natural voice .

TBH , in my experience only genuine callers bother to leave messages anyway , scammers etc don’t wait for an answer machine to finish the default ‘sorry your call can’t be taken right now’ message they just hang up an call the next number on the list , plus , given the usually ridiculous rubbish they come up with like  ‘I am calling from your bank ‘ when they have no idea what bank you use , and they can’t give a number for you to call back on , as that would give the game away, what message could they leave that would benefit them, if they say call your bank , you would call your bank not the scammer, so the standard answer message is pretty good at vetting unwanted calls anyway ….

I doubt many  people call back the few scammers or  time wasters that do leave a message, what’s more even if the outgoing answer service message said what you wanted  it to say , that wouldn’t stop the unwanted messages being left in the first place .

[licquorice]

Whatever is the point of such a message. Scammers won't leave a message and genuine callers will leave a message anyway whatever the message.

[nellie61]

I'm afraid that some genuine callers are not leaving messages eg prospective employers. Also, 2 friends have died recently and maybe their relatives are trying to contact me about funeral arrangements. The same number has called 3 times without leaving a message, and I don't want to block it just in case... and women who live alone might not want to use their own voice.

I only have the free version, I think, so maybe what I want to do isn't possible.

[iniltous]

Why would genuine callers  not leave a message, if you think it’s the generic nature of the standard prerecorded message saying ‘your call can’t be taken at the moment’ so you want to personalise it seems at odds with your original requirement to have a robotic voice effectively saying ‘I don't answer calls from unknown numbers’ , so want my voicemail message telling people that and asking them to ‘leave me a message’  so I don't ignore their call, this seems a reasonably blunt ‘state your name and I may call you back’  message, and I’d have thought that (without you even giving your name and in a robotic voice that doesn’t suggest male or female ) would be far more off putting to genuine callers than the basic BT message .

[truCido]

You can record a personal greeting on the free version, dial 1571 and select option 2 and follow the instructions, but you will need to record it yourself. 

---