Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think E mails are much faster and easier than returning phone calls. No, i dont want to press 5, no, I dont want to leave a message, no, i dont want to hold on, No, i dont want to explain my situation, then have someone switch me over and go thru the song and dance again.
On my office voice mail, I suggest that if it is important you E mail me for a faster response. It works, Id rather get the E mail, and solve the problem. Than I just respomd thru an E mail
The call won't take that long, but it is difficult for me to get away from my desk sometimes.
Please, are you an air traffic controller? You can step away from your desk for a few minutes. Everyone needs the restroom at some point. Sounds like you're job hunting, I wouldn't be doing any of that on a work computer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
It doesn't sound like it is about work-related appointments or OP would certainly be able to return their calls from her desk at work and wouldn't have to try to slip away to return them.
If it's a personal appointment like a doctor or hairdresser, I would never ask them to take the time to go back and forth and back and forth. It also wouldn't work....if they write "we have 1:00 Friday open" and you don't answer the e-mail for 5 hours, are they supposed to keep it open just in case you want it whenever you get back to them? What if you write back and say "I'll take it!" but by the time you've written the slot is now gone?
It just sounds horribly inefficient to me and if it were my business, I'd be picking up the phone, too.
Sounds like the OP is job hunting. Wouldn't be sending emails off from my employer's computer. That's when you slip away for a few minutes to a private area out of earshot of others.
You're right, phone is the best way. An actual conversation live leaves little to no room for miscommunications, can't say that about texts and emails.
It can be as efficient or inefficient as you make it. If I email my doctor and say I need to make an appointment this week, preferable late afternoon, but I'll take whatever is available. Book it and let me know. No need for them to have to call.
It doesn't sound like it is about work-related appointments or OP would certainly be able to return their calls from her desk at work and wouldn't have to try to slip away to return them.
If it's a personal appointment like a doctor or hairdresser, I would never ask them to take the time to go back and forth and back and forth. It also wouldn't work....if they write "we have 1:00 Friday open" and you don't answer the e-mail for 5 hours, are they supposed to keep it open just in case you want it whenever you get back to them? What if you write back and say "I'll take it!" but by the time you've written the slot is now gone?
It just sounds horribly inefficient to me and if it were my business, I'd be picking up the phone, too.
I don't know any doctor's office or hairdresser who takes patient or client appointments by email. If they do it electronically, it works like reservations on OpenTable, through a portal on their website. You look, it gives you slots with openings, you select a time, you're done. You don't interact with a human being at all.
Regardless, that's not what this sounds like. Calling for an appointment with a doctor or hairdresser is something that can be done in five minutes on a lunch hour. This sounds like appointments for sales pitches or maybe job hunting, but maybe the OP should clarify for us. At any rate, when someone ignores the preferred method of communication, that doesn't speak well of them.
My way works for me, but I'm a journalist. I'm on the phone half the day conducting interviews--with health care providers, no less. With the number of stories I'm working on at any given time, it would be inefficient of me to call just to set up calls. I'd never get any articles written or stories filed, and their appointment desks and clinic appointments are for patients, anyway. This way, I send out requests like form letters, change the names, boom-boom-bang in 10 minutes I've sent out 5 or 6 of them, vs. calling, being put on hold, dealing with personalities, dealing with language barriers, having to spell out my name and explain again and again who I am, who I write for, and what my credentials are, and trusting that a receptionist who has never dealt with the press before will convey everything accurately. I skip the third-party screening entirely. This way, the source can read the email, click a link to my clips, verify I'm not some "citizen journalist" hobbyist or blogger, and decide that it would be a good thing to talk to me. Likewise, when I send a query to a service for a subject matter expert, I don't want every PR person on the service blowing my phone up as I'm doing interviews or writing, so I usually select email as my preference unless it's a tight deadline.
I prefer e-mail because there is a written record of what was said and when it was said. It is easy to turn a phone conversation into a dispute, into a "he said, she said" situation -- if something is clearly spelled out in writing, the proof of what was stated is right there in black adn white.
Plus, I HATE talking on the phone because I am a "bottom line" kind of person and do not like to "waste time" in social chit-chat -- and especially not with someone who is trying to sell me something! It is also for that reason that I have Caller ID, and I will not answer the phone unless I want to talk to the person calling. (I also figure that if it is important, she or he will leave a message.)
I've had to deal with several types of businesses over the last several days, mostly starting from web-submitted forms where I could specify my preferred mode of communication is email. I always specify email, and without fail it seems like everyone is simply ignoring it and calling and leaving voicemails. I work a core business hour shift and cannot always respond to a voicemail.
Why are people so determined to communicate only by phone?
In some customer service/helpdesk systems, you can close the ticket if you leave voicemail. The goal is to close as many tickets as possible and get a high rating.
Sometimes it takes a phone call to get the point across. If I need something right now, I am on the phone. Too easy for someone to hide behind their emails.
Also, If I have to do business and one company has a phone number and the other is email only, the value of the email only company just dropped dramatically.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
With the number of stories I'm working on at any given time, it would be inefficient of me to call just to set up calls. I'd never get any articles written or stories filed, and their appointment desks and clinic appointments are for patients, anyway. This way, I send out requests like form letters, change the names, boom-boom-bang in 10 minutes I've sent out 5 or 6 of them, vs. calling, being put on hold, dealing with personalities, dealing with language barriers, having to spell out my name and explain again and again who I am, who I write for, and what my credentials are, and trusting that a receptionist who has never dealt with the press before will convey everything accurately. I skip the third-party screening entirely. This way, the source can read the email, click a link to my clips, verify I'm not some "citizen journalist" hobbyist or blogger, and decide that it would be a good thing to talk to me. Likewise, when I send a query to a service for a subject matter expert, I don't want every PR person on the service blowing my phone up as I'm doing interviews or writing, so I usually select email as my preference unless it's a tight deadline.
