System and method for called party controlled message delivery

A method comprising:

• performing, via a computer system,
• identifying a collect call placed by a calling party to a called party;
• in response to the collect call being blocked, allowing the calling party to record a voice message for the called party, in response to a determination that the called party has previously accepted at least one collect call from another calling party;
• the voice message delivered to the called party in response to a called party's agreement to pay for the voice message;
• in response to the voice message being delivered to the called party, allowing the called party to record a return voice message for delivery to the calling party;
• and
• in response to the called party recording the return voice message, causing the calling party to be informed that the return voice message is available to the calling party.

A tangible computer-readable storage medium including program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

• block an attempt by a calling party to place a collect call to a called party in response to a determination that the calling party is forbidden from communicating directly with the called party;
• allow the calling party to record a voice message for the called party if the called party has previously accepted at least one collect call, the voice message delivered to the called party in response to a called party's agreement to pay for the voice message;
• in response to the voice message being delivered to the called party, allow the called party to record a return voice message for delivery to the calling party;
• and
• in response to the called party recording the return voice message, inform the calling party that the return voice message is available to the calling party.

A tangible computer-readable storage medium including program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

• block an attempt by a calling party to place a collect call to a called party in response to a determination that the calling party is forbidden from communicating directly with the called party;
• allow the calling party to record a voice message for the called party if the called party has previously accepted at least one voice message, the voice message delivered to the called party in response to a called party's agreement to pay for the voice message;
• in response to the voice message being delivered to the called party, allow the called party to record a return voice message for delivery to the calling party;
• and
• in response to the called party recording the return voice message, inform the calling party that the return voice message is available to the calling party.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store program instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the system to:
• identify an attempt by a calling party to place a collect call to a called party;
• block the attempt in response to the calling party being prohibited from communicating directly with the called party;
• and
• allow the calling party to record a voice message for the called party in response to a determination that the called party has previously accepted at least one collect call, the voice message delivered to the called party in response to a called party's agreement to pay for the voice message.