New call introductions for June 2008

We changed the call introduction used by Typetalk Relay Assistants at the start of 2007, following feedback from customers. You asked us to review this introduction after a year.

During the 2008 review, we have tested a shorter introduction that does not mention either Typetalk or TextDirect. This new shorter introduction doesn’t go into detail about how the Relay service works or asks if the person receiving/making the call was familiar with the service.

We were also asked to trial the relaying of the greeting of the called party on answering the call. At the moment, once the call is connected and the introduction given, if required, the caller – the text or the voice user – is instructed to begin the call. This means that any greeting, such as ‘hello’, that may be spoken or typed by the called person, is not relayed.

Our trial discovered that the script we used, or something similar, plus relaying the greeting given by the called person to the caller, would speed up the process and give more equality to text users. We have therefore decided to introduce the new introduction script during June 2008.

Let us know what you think of the new introduction script - please contact our Customer Support team on: 18001 0800 500 888 (textphone), or email helpline@rnid-typetalk.org.uk