"Have telephones stopped working?" Topic

In this day and age of (at least in the US) free long distance calling why do we keep seeing threads of people that have not heard anything about their order in months.

Do people not call? I have and do when I think something is taking longer than I expect (or I need to add of change an order)

Email is EASY, but voice is immediate. And your phone bill gives you a 3rd party to verify the call

My thoughts as well.

Jim

If I have to call it will be to my CC company to cancel a payment and I will not be ordering again. An answered email is the way to keep my business.

Many Mini companies are one man operations, there isn't a big office answering the phone. Or for many it's an international call that isn't covered in most phone plans.

Yeah I think most of the time either (a) there is no number to call or (b) it is an international call which requires planning….

I blame technology. Smart phones, which everyone uses, are great for finding directions, ordering things, sending texts and emails, and taking and sharing photographs. Telephone calls, however, while theoretically possible, can be more of a challenge.

Of course, to make a telephone call, all you have to do is go to the Apple Store and ask one of the geniuses how to do it. If you don't have an iPhone, you'll have to find one of your children or maybe a friend's child who is between 30 and 40 and ask him or her. (People younger than 30 may not understand what a telephone call is, never having actually made or received one, and people over 40 are looking for 30-year-olds to help them use their smart phones.)

You can also go to one of the many online forums.

Good luck!

I'm the telecom manager (phone guy) at a hospital. Last month, a nurse pointed to a ringing device at the nurse's station and asked; "How do I answer that?" I picked up the handset, handed it to her and said; "It's a phone, just pick it up." This isn't a joke or an exaggeration.

My experience has been things are straightened out in MINUTES when I have needed to call.

I remember having to go to the BundesPost to make calls, I bet that is not an issue anymore.

In my job I am supposed to call ahead but mainly get voicemail. Leave a message and wait days for a reply. So with a two hour response time its usually a waste of time trying.

Telephones have NOT stopped working. However, people of
a certain demographic…

I took a picture of a Mountain bell Phone booth at Fort Robinson NE. None of my younger friends could tell me what it was.

Last month, a nurse pointed to a ringing device at the nurse's station and asked; "How do I answer that?" I picked up the handset, handed it to her and said; "It's a phone, just pick it up."

I've had to ask this question because most phones in hospitals and large businesses have multiple lines, and telecom engineers have utterly failed to come up with standards. For example, you're at a phone with with multiple lines and a secondary line starts ringing. Do you:

a) Pick up the phone,

b) Press the button for the secondary line, then pick up the phone,

or

c) pick up the phone, then press the button for the secondary line?

Bonus points if you know which of these choices will irretrievably screw up which phone systems!

Now suppose that two of the secondary lines are ringing. What do you do?

The primary line and a secondary line are both ringing. What do you do?

The problem was that the nurse probably knew more than the phone admin. She'd seen lots of phone systems. He knew his inside and out and made the all-too common tech worker's error of assuming that what he was familiar with was the way that everything works.

Sorry,but I side with the tech guy. I know way too many nurses that that lack of knowledge would apply to. You wouldn't believe some of the questions that I get asked,both as a supervisor and RN of 20+ years.

My wife and I drove past an actual AT&T phone booth this past weekend. I could tell it was out of order. But I told my wife, you realize most people under 20 would have no idea what that was even if it was still working. It is like a relic from an ancient civilization.
Similar to a device I used a lot in high school and college, named a Typewriter.

Email is EASY, but voice is immediate.

Answered your own question. People are lazy (yes it's a generalization, but a pretty accurate one).

Tech allows the customer to fire off an email instead of going through the hassle of calling someone. It also allows the seller to ignore a ringing phone because of part 2 of the answer: people are self centered. And if it's important, they'll send an email later.

A certain younger demographic doesn't like to talk to people, they prefer texting.

I guess my point is: if you are not getting satisfied by email, call before you start posting on fourms

Hear! Hear!

Of course I'm of the age when we had a party line, and that was inside the city limits of a state capitol. But we did have a rotary dial phone.

Jim

Party lines-- the original teleconferencing. My grandmother's ring was one long and two short.