How to build Mom a personalized tech support hotline just in time for Mother’s Day

Ever had to give tech support to your parents or grandparents? Yes, we love them very much, but those calls asking “Where did I save that?” or “Where is my Internets?” can be just a wee bit frustrating.  Hell, it might even be our fault they’re using iPhones, Macs, and “liking” everything we post on Facebook! But, it seems one VoiceBunny user figured out how to help grandma and save himself some frustration (without hurting her feelings) at the same time.

The project was titled, “Talk to my Grandma! Fun? phone menu script” and we knew it was special the moment it was posted. Click here to see the original project posting and to listen to the audio.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I emailed Drew, who posted the project.

VB: What exactly is “Drew’s Grandma’s Hotline”?

Drew: It’s just an automated help desk for my grandma. She can dial (***) ***-*GMA day or night to get password hints for the online services she uses. She freaks out at the thought of trying to figure out how to text message, so I also set it up so she can record a message. Her message is transcribed and then sent to whomever. They respond with a normal person text message and it calls her with a voice recording of their reply.

VB: What inspired you to create it?

Drew: I get calls like every other day from her which is cool because it’s my grandma, but at the same time she usually just wants me to tell her what her Facebook username is or something. Last week, while I was at work, she left a voice mail, and not knowing if it was an emergency or something I dropped everything and listened to every message in my phone to get to hers. Her voice mail was something like “I keep seeing this game Foursquare and I really want to play. I know I’ve played it before, but I can’t remember my password. Call me back ASAP.” She’s never used Foursquare, and the day I don’t help or don’t respond, it’s going to be the day she finds some stranger to “help” her reset her online banking information or something scary like that. I’ve tried like everything imaginable in the past and nothing has been a perfect solution. I’m hoping she uses this!

VB: What service are you using to set this up for her?

Drew: Twilio.

VB: How was your experience using VoiceBunny?

Drew: VoiceBunny is awesome! It took like 30 minutes and I had a perfect reading ready to go. I haven’t used the API yet but plan to and could definitely see using it for the right project. It would be too expensive for this, but when someone replies to her text messages, VoiceBunny could do its thing and she would get a real person’s voice rather than a computer reading. A lot of cool things could be built using VoiceBunny.

 VB: Can we get your grandma’s potato salad recipe?

Drew: I asked, but she said she really doesn’t have one. She says she has been making it forever and ‘It’s a pinch of this and a dash of that.. and no one ever notices the difference even if I make a bad batch.’

I don’t blame Drew’s grandma for guarding her secret recipe! (I did google “best potato salad ever” and while I am sure this one doesn’t even come close to touching Drew’s grandma’s, it will have to do.)

The VoiceBunny Entourage is always pleasantly surprised by projects like this. People all over the world are using VoiceBunny in ways we hadn’t imagined, and we are just in the beta!

Mother’s Day is coming up. Want to send mom a cute message, get her a professionally recorded voicemail greeting, or even make her a hotline for tech support? Click here to post a project.

How would you like to use VoiceBunny?