diff --git a/apps/app_voicemail.c b/apps/app_voicemail.c
index 641f5ecb36..429ed3e295 100644
--- a/apps/app_voicemail.c
+++ b/apps/app_voicemail.c
@@ -820,6 +820,7 @@ static void apply_option(struct ast_vm_user *vmu, const char *var, const char *v
 	} else if (!strcasecmp(var, "exitcontext")) {
 		ast_copy_string(vmu->exit, value, sizeof(vmu->exit));
 	} else if (!strcasecmp(var, "maxmessage") || !strcasecmp(var, "maxsecs")) {
+		vmu->maxsecs = atoi(value);
 		if (vmu->maxsecs <= 0) {
 			ast_log(AST_LOG_WARNING, "Invalid max message length of %s. Using global value %d\n", value, vmmaxsecs);
 			vmu->maxsecs = vmmaxsecs;