Google Voice transcriptions: butcherer of voicemail

I’ve been using Google Voice for a little more than a year now. Google Voice is loaded with features and I absolutely love the service. According to the website, “Google Voice gives you one number for all your phones, voicemail as easy as email, free US long distance, low rates on international calls, and many calling features like transcripts, call blocking, call screening, conference calling, SMS, and more.”

Favorite feature: voicemail transcriptions

With so many features it’s hard to pick a favorite…but I have! My favorite feature of all time has got to be the voicemail transcriptions. Not because it’s particularly useful, helpful, or accurate. On the contrary, Google Voice transcriptions is a butcherer of voicemail. Basically, Google Voice will automatically transcribe your voicemails, and the transcription is displayed along side your recorded voicemail on the website. Sounds great right?

Not right, not even once

If I had to guess, I’d say the voicemail transcriptions has about a 50% accuracy rate. But out of 12 voicemails from a colleague of mine, voicemail transcriptions has never got his name right. Never. Not even once.

“Ron Holcroft”—a real tongue twister

Check out Google Voice voicemail transcriptions take on Ron Holcroft¹:

• run home. Cross
• Ron home Kraut
• Rumple profit
• Ron home from
• Ron whole crowd
• Ron hold crock
• around both pro
• Ron homePro
• Ron hold for up
• Ron home for a
• Ron. Hope proper
• run full crop

Google Voice butchers Ron’s name so bad it almost makes me want to let it go to voicemail just to see what transcriptions comes up with next.

1. Ron Holcroft is a colleague of mine and owner of Holcroft Letterpress.