Why the change?
In November of last year, RingCentral updated its billing packages and no longer allow free/unlimited call routing which we have relied upon for many years. When someone dials our 1-800 number then one of your direct extensions 10+ times in one billing period we now get slapped with a $69.99 fee, the cost of one "digital line" for the usage. We do not actually get that many direct-to-extension calls but these fees are too much.
What can we do?
All we're going to do is ask that everyone updates their RingCentral Voicemail message and keep their RingCentral Account on DND. As the vast majority of our client based calls are going to either be HD related (routed into Zendesk) or outbound, this should have a nominal impact on us or our clients.
How do we update?
Everyone reading this should use the below script to record a new voicemail message. Most of you can manage this with the software you already have. If you can't, the instructions for updating the file in RingCentral has options to do it via phone or through the browser (though providing your own file ensures the highest quality audio. Please USE THIS SCRIPT:
You've reached "YOUR NAME", "JOB TITLE" at vCreative, I'm unable to take your call right now. Please leave me a voicemail and I will call you back as soon as possible. You can also reach out to me at "YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS".
Where do we do it?
- Log in to RingCentral
- Using the "Sign In with Google" should work
- Go to Settings > Messages and click the Edit button
- Click the red "record" icon and upload your audio file
- If you are unable to record the file you can use the "Phone" and "Computer Microphone" options as well.
- Set your account to not take direct calls from the dropdown at the top of the page where you see your name
- Test - using your home/cell phone call our 800 number and your extension. Wait for the Voicemail message to play and leave a voicemail to yourself.
- Verify that you get the email with the audio attached.
