Text message when a voice mail is left

chris930

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My better half just got a HTC Rhyme, and so far there is only one thing she doesn't like.

When a voice mail is left two notifications occur:
1. the normal status bar notification.
2. a text message is sent to the phone, it is listed under the calling person's name and shows in the SMS conversation list. The message says something like 1 voice mail unread.

I have seen reports of this on other phones, but I have been unable to determine what option is causing this. Does anyone know what controls this, and how to disable it?
 

eddiecanuck

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Jan 20, 2011
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Just ordered one for my wife yesterday online. Should be here Wednesday, if you don't have an answer yet I'll let you know what I find out with hers.
 

anon(514765)

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It is probably a demo of the visual voicemail feature, unless she subscribed to that. If you go into options for visual voicemail there is no option for turning text notifications off that I have found.
 

mooncat1337

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spoke with VZW customer support last night trying to fix this problem. It is a feature of Visual Voicemail and since all Android/VZW phones now come preinstalled with it unfortunately you can't uninstall it even IF its not activated at the moment. The only way to get rid of this notification is to get rid of ALL notifications. So no email/text/mms/FB messages notifications will be present. I'm HOPING its just a demo to see if you like the service and after "x" amount of days it turns off but Im guessing either go with Visual Voicemail so its stanard or suffer through it. >_< I dont mind the part about the voicemail text notifcation as much as getting a text saying I have no voicemail if I log in to clear it. I already know there's no messages as I just logged in and erased them. I dont need to be told that I logged in and there's no voicemail. Thats a beyond stupid feature... If anyone finds a different way around this please share as its pissing me off.
 

WeaselWeaz

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Apr 19, 2011
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Diagnosed the issue with support tonight. I had the same issue, after checking voicemail I would get a text saying how many voicemails, urgent messages, and faxes I had. It's Verizon's Visual Voicemail service. The only was we were able to get rid of it was by subscribing to Visual Voicemail. Once we unsubscribed the texts came back.

I'm exchanging it for a new Rhyme tomorrow, if it's somehow just the phone. If that doesn't fix it they will have to give me complimentary Visual Voicemail each month. It's noted on my account so we'll see what happens. This was my fiancee's new phone so she's pretty pissed about this.
 

random01

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Oct 21, 2011
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Yes, I've been having the same problem and when I called was routed through to tech support b/c no one knew what I was talking about. Basically, I led them to this thread and was was told the same thing about either turning off ALL notifications (absurd) or paying 2.99 for VVM. I'm so annoyed with this feature. I don't need a text message to tell me have a vm when I already have icons in the notification bar and most certainly don't need a vm to tell me I've just deleted my vm.
And the last person I spoke to, Wendy or Wanda or whatever, laughed at me and was no help with my frustration.

If anyone else gets new info let us know.
Thanks.
 

kalfire

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Oct 24, 2011
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I am having the same issue. Except when I call Verizon and HTC both play dumb; "this is the first I am hearing about this issue" Both also blaming the other for the problem. Spoke to HTC today and they said it is a pre-installed feature of the phone. When I asked why would you install such a feature without the ability to disable it I got the "uhh, I don't know". If this is true, why don't all Rhymes have this issue? Even one of the Techs at Verizon said his wife owns the phone and this is not happening with her device. Very frustrating. :mad:
 

WeaselWeaz

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All Rhyme phones should have this issue but if you find one that doesn't (and they don't have VVM or notifications off) it'd be worth trying to see what in their settings is different. In-store, which isn't exactly the best source of data, they showed me a note on their computer for the phone that said the texts were a normal part of the phone and they did it on their demo phone. I picked up a replacement (the store we bought it from popped out part of the screen when they tried to crack it open) and it has the same issue.
 

kalfire

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Oct 24, 2011
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What does someone do if they don't have unlimited text messaging? Do these extra messages count toward the total monthly allowable. Seems strange that you can't disable this feature. Especially if you want to limit your text messaging
 

WeaselWeaz

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What does someone do if they don't have unlimited text messaging? Do these extra messages count toward the total monthly allowable. Seems strange that you can't disable this feature. Especially if you want to limit your text messaging

They aren't actually text messages, they just show up as them. They shouldn't show up when you check your text usage.
 

random01

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All Rhyme phones should have this issue but if you find one that doesn't (and they don't have VVM or notifications off) it'd be worth trying to see what in their settings is different. In-store, which isn't exactly the best source of data, they showed me a note on their computer for the phone that said the texts were a normal part of the phone and they did it on their demo phone. I picked up a replacement (the store we bought it from popped out part of the screen when they tried to crack it open) and it has the same issue.

So its only Rhymes with this issue or all android phones? I did another search and found a bunch of BlackBerry users having the same issue albeit, that was from a few years ago.
Did you get your free VVM for the account?
 

WeaselWeaz

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The rep I spoke to agreed to put a $2.99 credit on each bill to reimburse me for two years. It's locked in for the first year and if I continue to use the phone after the year they will reapply the credit. I just confirmed it today, they waiting in case I returned the phone. I also didn't want to post it here until I had some sort of proof they would give it to me, just in case everyone who has a Rhyme calls asking for a credit and they changed their minds.

This is just with Rhymes. The Blackberry issue was old and I've used an Omnia (Win6.5), Droid, Palm Pixi, and Thunderbolt without running into this. The internal company line is that it's a feature.
 

random01

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Hmm, when I called abt the issue they pretty much had no idea what it was and idea of a free 2.99 service was laughable to them. What exactly did you say to get the credit?
 

WeaselWeaz

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The reps I have spoken to have no idea what it is either. Out of three I talked to only one knew, at a store when he looked up notes on the phone in their internal notes. I went through troubleshooting and we found that buying VVM was the only fix. I asked if the only solutions were to buy VVM or turn off voicemail notifications completely. The rep agreed, and I said I shouldn't have to pay to fix their bug, while if I have to get rid of voicemail it's impossible to stay with their company. They agreed to credit me for VVM if replacing the phone didn't fix it. The next day they agreed to a credit if decided to keep the phone when the 14 day return period was up. This week I emailed the rep to say I was keeping it and request the credit, which they sent me a confirmation on. If they don't give you the credit make it clear that this bug, which they call a feature, is not documented on their website or in the manual. The fact that it cannot be turned off unless you pay them is extortion.

I'm not excited about the way they handled this. I got a lump credit of $36, I'd rather they just credit me monthly. Plus there's a decent chance I will need to argue with them in a year.
 

science_man_29

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Nov 21, 2011
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Has there been any further resolution to this issue?

I spoke with a VZW tech about 3 weeks ago - we got it solved by signing up for VVM and then un-signing up (so no charge). That seemed to work temporarily, but then a similar (but slightly different issue) cropped up today. Instead of the short "1 new vmail 0 urg 0 fax" like I had been getting, now I get full-sentence texts that say roughly (not an exact quote, since I deleted them) "This is a free text message from Verizon. There has been activity with your voicemail. Dial *86 to check it. (msg #1001)"

Then I called Verizon back, and he reset everything related to voicemail. Now I'm back to the "1 new vmail 0 urg 0 fax" ones.

Just did a factory reset, nothing changed.

Anyone have anything else?
 

bryandamon

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Nov 23, 2011
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My GF bought the phone and we are working through the issues she finds, this one was one of the most annoying.

I think the solution is to use Google Voice for your Voice Mail service. Once she switched to GV for VM the annoying messages stopped.

If you don't have a Google Voice number you should get one, it's free, easy, and vastly superior to the stock VM, and in my opinion better than Verizon's Visual Voice Mail.

(I'll post the links on how to do it after this post as this site requires me to have one post before I can add links)
 

science_man_29

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Thanks for your help. I tried Google Voice Lite, but that apparently doesn't play nicely with Verizon (when it should go to voicemail, Verizon doesn't pass along the number, so Google Voice asks the caller to put in the number again). So I went with Google Voice.

So far, it seems to work nicely.
 

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