Changing the Phone Greetings

We have one of those fancy phone systems that prompts callers to find out info or dial the extensions they want before ringing to the front desk. We also installed voicemailboxen for individual staff members. Try it out! Do you love it? Hate it? Let staff know! Below is the current message, and reference instructions for staff who'll be changing the greetings.

Please do not change the phone messages without first talking to Shawn or Mary Kate. We need the person updating the greetings to really know what they are doing. If you want to learn, let us know.

FYI - The phone number for the main line at FREE GEEK is (503) 232-9350.


 * Phone System Howto

Greeting 1 (plays during open hours)
"This is the FREE GEEK Community Technology Center. We're a non-profit computer and electronics reuse and recycling facility in close-in industrial SouthEast Portland."


 * (plays home menu)

Greeting 4 (after hours)
"This is the FREE GEEK Community Technology Center. We're a non-profit computer and electronics reuse and recycling facility in close-in industrial southEast Portland.

"Our hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 A.M. to 7 P.M. If you have called outside of these hours, we are closed.

"Please note: We will be closed Friday, July 4th and Saturday, July 5th for Independence Day. We will re-open at 11:00 AM Tuesday, July 8th."


 * (plays home menu)

Home menu
"If you know your party's extension, you can dial the extension number at any time. For information on our hours and location, press 1 (info mailbox - path 1) For information on what we accept for donation, press 2 (info mailbox - path 2) To learn how to become a Free Geek volunteer, press 3 (info mailbox - path 3) To reach our thrift store, press 4 (ext. 228 - path 4) To reach tech support, press 5 (ext. 225 - path 5) (Temporary info mailboxen, like for Geek Fair, press 6 (only used sometimes) (info mailbox - path 6) ) For a staff directory, press 7 (info mailbox - path 7) To speak to a receptionist, press 0 or stay on the line (ext. 222)

Path 1: Hours/location
"Free Geek is located at 1731 SE 10th Avenue. That's on 10th Avenue, two and a half blocks south of SE Hawthorne Boulevard, between Market and Mill streets.

Our normal hours are eleven AM to seven PM Tuesday through Saturday. We are closed on Sundays and Mondays. These hours and location are the same for our Thrift Store.

Free Geek is served by Tri-met SouthEast Portland bus route numbers 4, 6, 10, 14, and 70."


 * (plays home menu)

Path 2: Donations
"We accept for recycling all computer equipment in any condition. There is a ten dollar fee for each monitor, and suggested donations for everything else.  We also accept audio and video equipment like stereos and DVD players.  We do not accept microwaves, photocopiers, or smoke detectors, and we can't pick up materials for recycling nor accept donations outside of our business hours.

We never boot from the hard drives we receive for donation. The small ones are physically destroyed beyond repair, and we overwrite the data on the larger ones so that it is unrecoverable.

For more information on what we take and how we process it, please visit our website at www.freegeek.org."


 * (plays home menu)

Path 3: Volunteer Info
"We have two main volunteer programs. In our Adoption Program, anyone can volunteer 24 hours of his or her time at the Free Geek facility to earn a computer.  In our Build Program, our volunteers spend approximately 70-100 hours learning about and building at least 5 computers for us.  Build vounteers may take home the sixth computer they build.

We have many, many other volunteer opportunities depending on your interests and skills.

If you're thinking of volunteering, but feel intimidated, don't worry: you do not need to have worked with computers before to volunteer at Free Geek. Also, our facility is wheelchair-accessible.

If you'd like to volunteer in any capacity at Free Geek, please come by for a short tour at noon or 6pm any day Tuesday through Saturday to see the facility and learn more. You're also welcome to leave a message, or check out our website at freegeek.org."


 * (plays home menu)

Path 7: Extension List
The available extensions and mailboxen are listed. Callers have to wait until they're returned to the home menu to dial the extension they want. This isn't one of those, "Dial the first three letters of the person who you'd like to call" things. I just thought it would be faster and less complicated this way. If I'm wrong, let me know. Shawn


 * (plays home menu)