Business not calling back

[HALLETT BOY]

I can not believe the amount of business’s that will not call you back ! I have wasted so much time waiting for a call back, then it’s on to the next no call back vendor . Is it only me ? My imagination ? Let’s start a no call back forum on here so we don’t waste so much time and energy , what do you think Dave ?

 

[sintax]

kind of the name of the game these days.

I've had calls into all sorts of people trying to get work done, no one is hungry.

 

[4Waters]

Just remember who did call back when everyone is starving

 

[HALLETT BOY]

Just remember who did call back when everyone is starving

I have actually started a list at home , I don’t want to forget and waste more time later

 

[C-2]

I had an issue with one of our horses and needed a vet on an emergency basis.

It took 2 days for them to call back to schedule an appointment in another 3 days.

The vet made it out 3 days later, but the day after the visit the horse looked bad. I called again and texted the vet EMERGENCY, I NEED YOUR HELP, YOU WERE HERE YESTERDAY.

Crickets.

We found the horse dead last Saturday morning.

Vet responds this past Tuesday, do you still need help?

Unreal. Literally, nobody gives a fawk.

 

[rivermobster]

I had an issue with one of our horses and needed a vet on an emergency basis.

It took 2 days for them to call back to schedule an appointment in another 3 days.

The vet made it out 3 days later, but the day after the visit the horse looked bad. I called again and texted the vet EMERGENCY, I NEED YOUR HELP, YOU WERE HERE YESTERDAY.

Crickets.

We found the horse dead last Saturday morning.

Vet responds this past Tuesday, do you still need help?

Unreal. Literally, nobody gives a fawk.

Fuck that's awful.

If you ever have another horse issue, I may know someone. Really sorry to hear this.

 

[Go-Fly]

Business have got themselves into quicksand on getting work done and returning calls. They run back and forth between jobs putting out fires and not getting anything done. They are under staffed to handle calls and do paperwork. Remember when we were told smart phones and app's would handle all of this. If I cant get a real person on the phone to talk to me, I move on.

 

[jet496]

I've always called people back right away, usually within hours. Lately it's been a different story. We're just so overwhelmingly busy that we miss calling back for days & sometimes longer (it sucks). We have continuous ads for help and always trying to modify it to see if we get better responses.

We're in training for implementing a new software platform to help us stay organized, but that's extremely time consuming right now as well (another 6 weeks of training before going live). This should solve a lot of our time management problems.

It's the new world we live in due to extreme socialism.

 

[grumpy88]

I've always called people back right away, usually within hours. Lately it's been a different story. We're just so overwhelmingly busy that we miss calling back for days & sometimes longer (it sucks). We have continuous ads for help and always trying to modify it to see if we get better responses.

We're in training for implementing a new software platform to help us stay organized, but that's extremely time consuming right now as well (another 6 weeks of training before going live). This should solve a lot of our time management problems.

It's the new world we live in due to extreme socialism.

Honest question . So why dont you only take on work you can perform in a proffesional manner ? Are you up front with your clients they are going to get service less then your best ? Do they get a discount on the work or product for signing up for this experience ? Again these are questions im not slamming your buisness

 

[2Driver]

My wife and I were just saying a lot of employees at business we go to don’t give a shit and don’t give a shit that they know, you know they don’t give a shit.

The world has really gone to hell since covid.

 

[boat527]

This just happened to me with a well known local to most RDPrs prop company.. rhymes with "still"..

Timeline:

Late March: inquiry for "what prop(s) should I order?

1 day later. Spoke with the founder of the company. Shot the shit with him for almost 45 min. Didnt know me from Adam, but took the time to talk props and lots of stories.. " oh, you know him? " " I remember a race we were at and yada,yada yada.. "

He sent me pics of props in production, told me to call back "so and so" to get the ball rolling.

April 1: ordered props from so and so , was told " 1 prop is here on the shelf but the other one will be ready next week"

Took my 4 figure order, next week came, no confirmation of shipping...

Hmmm, next week...nothing.

Called 4.20 ( a good date for most) " oh yeah Dave , that prop should be ready to go out NEXT Tuesday. ( 4.26)..

4.26.. crickets
4.27 emailed a nasty gram with a copy of my order to the sales dept.
4.28, crickets....got on the phone, got voicemail.. perfect.

Left a detailed message of what I was told by " so and so" TWICE and mentioned customer service and my option to cancel and order from another company.

This morning:
Wow.. recieved a call from " so and so" that my order was shipping today AND got an email of the shipping confirmation.

I wouldnt be that pissed off if i was told " 3 weeks" from the get go BUT, I shouldnt be told X, have to call, then rattle someones tree to get my stuff..

Rant over

 

[endobear]

I'm a painting contractor in Colorado. I've been booked out for years at a time . For the last 10-20 years. I'm sorry, but I don't have time for new clients. If I know you. Call my cell and get In line. Sucks butt it is what it is.

 

[jet496]

Honest question . So why dont you only take on work you can perform in a proffesional manner ? Are you up front with your clients they are going to get service less then your best ? Do they get a discount on the work or product for signing up for this experience ? Again these are questions im not slamming your buisness

All good. These calls aren't regular customers, we definitely take care of all our contract customers no problem. It's the out of the blue calls that get missed here & there which we want to try & alleviate by implementing this new software program.

The topic & complaint of this thread by Hallett Boy, is why people don't call him back. You make a good point, basically if you're not an existing and good standing customer, businesses are too overwhelmed to call back, let alone take on the work. Just the new world we live in for sure.

 

[petie6464]

I have saved probably 20k in the last two years, from shity businesses that don't answer, don't call back and just suck in general. I have better luck buying things off market place, consignment stores and yard sales. .

 

[Go-Fly]

All good. These calls aren't regular customers, we definitely take care of all our contract customers no problem. It's the out of the blue calls that get missed here & there which we want to try & alleviate by implementing this new software program.

The topic & complaint of this thread by Hallett Boy, is why people don't call him back. You make a good point, basically if you're not an existing and good standing customer, businesses are too overwhelmed to call back, let alone take on the work. Just the new world we live in for sure.

What is your new software going to do for you that a 10 second call back to say sorry I dont want your business, would do? I know that sounds stabby but I didnt know a better way to say it.

 

[28Eliminator]

not
Calling someone back after an inquiry is one thing. If your a current customer and they won’t call back.. that’s fucked.. ask me how I know

 

[C_J_J_C]

I wish people didn’t call back or had FU on their message machines. I get calls back and then they interview me as to how easy the job and how much I will pay.

 

[lbhsbz]

Customer service is shit these days...I think people look at it as normal.

I had a customer send me a pair of Wilwood calipers to rebuild...and since their website is crap, I had all the part numbers handy off the calipers and gave them a call to get the rebuild kit part numbers....it went to voicemail. This was last wednesday. Thursday I sent an note on their "contact us" form....they emailed back, answering less than 1/2 my inquiry on Tuesday of this week. I called them, they picked up, and I tried to order the parts....since I'm in Long Beach and they're in Camarillo...UPS ground will get things here next day....job was promised in 1 week. They said the only way they could ship today is if I paid for 2nd day air. I pointed out that the same level of effort was required by their staff to stick a UPS ground label on the box that was required to stick a 2nd air label on the box, after pointing out that it took them 4 days to reply to fucking email, but they held fast to their way of doing things.

So I told the asshole that he could fuck right off, and sold the customer a complete big brake kit from a competitor at my cost...and will go out of my way to NOT do business with Wilwood in the future and also do everything I can to drive business away from them in the future.

I have no patience for assholes.

In contrast, I had a customer who bought a set of BMW 2002 calipers from me call me upset because a caliper was leaking after he installed it...and he thought it was leaking between the caliper halves. Without asking any questions, I explained that I don't have another set assembled or plated, but I can tear down a set of cores and get them plated in a day at a local place that's outrageously expensive and have them built, tested and overnighted out within 2 days. I got them torn down and in the blaster, and just as texted him an update my phone rang...evidently he'd failed to tighten one of the 2 inboard bleeders and that's where the leak was coming from. He thanked me for my willingness to help and mentioned something about nobody does that anymore.

 

[LuauLounge]

My favorite is "Thank you for calling Acme Business Services, your call is very important to us. Please choose from one of the following 400 options that most closely resemble why you are calling." Somewhere in that process you are disconnected.
We started our operation 23 years ago and one of the two owners answer the phone. It has worked out well.

 

[The Prisoner]

Called and left 3 messages to a local Kingman water softener company. Never heard back. 3 strikes you’re out.

 

[DRYHEAT]

My wife and I were just saying a lot of employees at business we go to don’t give a shit and don’t give a shit that they know, you know they don’t give a shit.

The world has really gone to hell since covid.

I think it’s been that way for a long time but has gotten a lot worse since Covid.

 

[hman442]

I had an issue with one of our horses and needed a vet on an emergency basis.

It took 2 days for them to call back to schedule an appointment in another 3 days.

The vet made it out 3 days later, but the day after the visit the horse looked bad. I called again and texted the vet EMERGENCY, I NEED YOUR HELP, YOU WERE HERE YESTERDAY.

Crickets.

We found the horse dead last Saturday morning.

Vet responds this past Tuesday, do you still need help?

Unreal. Literally, nobody gives a fawk.

They are still relaxed, rolling on PPP dollars!

 

[HALLETT BOY]

All good. These calls aren't regular customers, we definitely take care of all our contract customers no problem. It's the out of the blue calls that get missed here & there which we want to try & alleviate by implementing this new software program.

The topic & complaint of this thread by Hallett Boy, is why people don't call him back. You make a good point, basically if you're not an existing and good standing customer, businesses are too overwhelmed to call back, let alone take on the work. Just the new world we live in for sure.

Can you please elaborate why people don’t call me back ?

 

[jet496]

I thought I did elaborate very well but now I'm thinking I made a mistake responding at all LOL. Businesses are too busy & just trying to take care of what they can due to being short staffed, lazy people not working, too much government money thrown around, just the new world we live in.

Don't take it personal, people are just overwhelmed trying to take care of business.

 

[Highrisespl]

With all this great feedback anyone have a rain gutter company and roofer in havasu? Need some leaks fixed.

 

[jadenchick]

I’ve called several landscape design companies in Havasu. The ones that have been recommended on here and only 1 called back.

I couldn’t hear him bc we were at DS so I texted him and he asked a few questions. I responded back immediately and then crickets. I texted again and radio silence. It’s impossible to get anyone to call back these days.

 

[Hydroman55]

I’ve called several landscape design companies in Havasu. The ones that have been recommended on here and only 1 called back.

I couldn’t hear him bc we were at DS so I texted him and he asked a few questions. I responded back immediately and then crickets. I texted again and radio silence. It’s impossible to get anyone to call back these days.

Having the same problem in Havasu also. All I can say is this behavior will back fire when things slow down. What goes around comes around.

 

[Desert Whaler]

I've just lowered my expectations to almost zero on EVERYONE & EVERYTHING in general . . . (Largely because I'm in CA).
That way I can be pleasantly surprised when someone, or a company shows me a 1/2-Ounce of Give-a-Shit.
Not to pitch a 'Major Bummer Tent', but I think this world is headed towards a 'Bad Party' . . . i see very little progress / positivity in general . . . hope I'm wrong.

 

[CarolynandBob]

We bought a new park model. Had a lanai put on the side.

I mentioned it here. https://www.riverdavesplace.com/forums/threads/between-the-gas-station-and-home-depot.249073/
I have had no less then 6 quotes to do the interior work. Bath, laundry room and drywall the side of the park model. 3 of the quotes turned into people agreeing to do the job. Mainly drywall tape and mud. (I suck at doing it) Not one has showed up when they said they would. I don't mean they were late. I mean never showed up period and never answered a text or call why.

The latest was a painter. Recommended by others. Sent pics and asked if he was interested. He said yes he would come over last night to look at it. Never showed, never called.

So I have done all the work myself. In the beginning off all this I thought about doing it myself, but this is my happy retirement place and didn't want to do it. Would rather hire it out.

Bids were in the 18k range, so I guess it is good that I am only into it for about 5k, but fuck it has been frustrating.

 

[Happy Smitty]

Remember back in the day people would write letters and place them in the mail?

 

[Go-Fly]

I had a house painted in Az before I sold it a few months ago. I called and the owner answered the phone on the second ring. Very short conversation. He explained how he is doing business. We do bids when we can get to it, about 3 weeks. Have your color picked out before I get there. We take a nonrefundable deposit to put you in line, about 4 weeks. We call you about a week before we start. We only do one house at a time. No starting and stopping. When the job is done I want to get paid before I leave. If you dont like that then feel free to call someone else.
Yes or no?
Sure.
His foreman came out about a week later, that's dry rotted, that needs to be rechaulk, that needs to be fixed. Add add add, $5950.....$600 deposit, check please.
They showed up about 4 weeks later. They have more then one job going at a time but, once they start on your house, someone is working on it every day. One day I had ten guys there, replacing trim, tapeing windows, priming boards and got it ready for paint the next day. Done and done. Owner was there as they finished painting, had them redo some spots he didnt like. Got a check and was off. In business you fight with the army you have. If you dont have time, dont waste time and take care of todays business today.

 

[Your ad here]

Truck needs some work. Call a shop and within a half a ring I get a text message saying text me what you need. Okay, so I text and nothing. Couple days later I ask if he's interested in the work. He responded but all I was reading was a bunch of excuses.
Another thing I'm having a hard time getting is just ball park pricing and I tell the people I won't hold you to the price.

 

[RVR SWPR]

Really feel bad for that horse. Once we put these fine animals in a corral they become totally dependent on us. That vet should be personally informed face to face. Large animal veterinarians seldom let client and animal down,very seldom.

 

[hallett21]

The flip side of this is people calling to shop pricing or who have no intention of having the work done.

It’s no different than a sales ad that doesn’t list a price. 95 people will post “I guess it’s free” etc with no intention of buying.

I answer all phone calls/texts within 24 hours.

Cheap, quick, done right. Pick 2

 

[Mandelon]

I get the frustration. But put yourself on the other end of the phone.

You get tons of calls but there is no possible way to service everyone. You have a core group of customers that get priorities. All your guys are working. You don't have openings for weeks, months maybe. You are going in early, leaving late, working yourself, and the phone doesn't stop ringing. It has been this way for years now. You're fucking tired.

You don't need more business, you can't keep up with what you have now. How much of your day are you going to spend fielding calls for work you can't do?

The calls go to voice mail. You come home tired and frustrated because whatever thing it was you were working on went sideways. Now you have 27 phone calls to return. For work you can't get to anyway.

You could hire more employees, but we all know how new hires are most of the time. Training them will just slow down your already overloaded staff. And they'll probably quit anyway.

 

[hallett21]

I’ve estimated stuff (in the last 24 months) well into the 500k range only to have people say they thought it would cost 75-100k.

 

[Fastdadtsmith]

I get the frustration. But put yourself on the other end of the phone.

You get tons of calls but there is no possible way to service everyone. You have a core group of customers that get priorities. All your guys are working. You don't have openings for weeks, months maybe. You are going in early, leaving late, working yourself, and the phone doesn't stop ringing. It has been this way for years now. You're fucking tired.

You don't need more business, you can't keep up with what you have now. How much of your day are you going to spend fielding calls for work you can't do?

The calls go to voice mail. You come home tired and frustrated because whatever thing it was you were working on went sideways. Now you have 27 phone calls to return. For work you can't get to anyway.

You could more employees, but we all know how new hires are most of the time. Training them will just slow down your already overloaded staff. And they'll probably quit anyway.

And of those 27 calls, 24 are from people wanting to loan you money, extend your car warranty, sell you chinese tools, or offer you a free insurance quote. Just to name mine from yesterday.

 

[HBCraig]

I can not believe the amount of business’s that will not call you back ! I have wasted so much time waiting for a call back, then it’s on to the next no call back vendor . Is it only me ? My imagination ? Let’s start a no call back forum on here so we don’t waste so much time and energy , what do you think Dave ?

People are so busy with so much work. Common courtesy isn't common anymore. When the economy turns these ass hats will be begging to call you back

 

[Your ad here]

@RiverDave years ago you mentioned in a thread there are 3 key factors to running a business but only 2 of the 3 are obtainable and 1 will always suffer no matter the order. Can you re explain it? It was something like customer service, price, and quality.

 

[hallett21]

@RiverDave years ago you mentioned in a thread there are 3 key factors to running a business but only 2 of the 3 are obtainable and 1 will always suffer no matter the order. Can you re explain it? It was something like customer service, price, and quality.

Ya pick 2 lol

 

[Your ad here]

Ya pick 2 lol

Commonly for the customer but I'm talking about from a business standpoint. What the business is able to provide/serve.

 

[Go-Fly]

I've been in the business world most of my life. When I hear a business person say they don't have time to return customers calls, my first question is, are you still advertising? Do you still have a web page up? Are you still running ads or handing out business cards? Are you just stupid or do you not understand how this all works. You tell people to call you if they need help and then tell them to fuck off or ignore them. Your employees see your fine skills of how you treat your customers and do the same and then you wonder why no one wants to work for you. If you work for customers, your first obligation is to the customer. There are ways to deal with phone calls. It's a cost of doing business. A business is it's own entity. They have a way of self correcting and it is coming.

 

[petie6464]

It's a continually degrading of American business, you can get better service from someone in China or Bangladesh. When people look around and see only foreign made products they still can't comprehend why.

When I first moved to Havasu I couldn't handle going into a "business" where in the office there's a crib or a dog slobbering on your shoes, they were ahead of their time.

 

[jet496]

I get the frustration. But put yourself on the other end of the phone.

You get tons of calls but there is no possible way to service everyone. You have a core group of customers that get priorities. All your guys are working. You don't have openings for weeks, months maybe. You are going in early, leaving late, working yourself, and the phone doesn't stop ringing. It has been this way for years now. You're fucking tired.

You don't need more business, you can't keep up with what you have now. How much of your day are you going to spend fielding calls for work you can't do?

The calls go to voice mail. You come home tired and frustrated because whatever thing it was you were working on went sideways. Now you have 27 phone calls to return. For work you can't get to anyway.

You could more employees, but we all know how new hires are most of the time. Training them will just slow down your already overloaded staff. And they'll probably quit anyway.

Exactly this.

 

[Flatsix66]

Calls into a company have a cost both in terms of time wasted and opportunity cost. That is why call centers for medium size businesses are popular but the service sucks.

Average Outsourced Call Center Pricing In 2020

Region	Outsourced Call Center Pricing (per hour)
Africa/Middle East	$15–20
Latin America	$8–18
Asia/Philippines	$8–14
India	$6–10

 

[C-2]

The point is, return calls.

Why keep somebody in limbo? The customer can't read minds or know what's happening at the business.

There's no excuse for not calling customers back. An answering service can screen calls, or tell customers your schedule. That way a customer can make an informed decision about accepting the delay, or finding somebody else to do the job. Not calling them back for several days is simply not acceptable.

An old timer once told me, "if you stop returning calls, one day your phone will stop ringing." "Seen it happen several times," he said. I kinda laughed to myself as all my business was by referral and I was always too busy.

By not returning calls and thru attrition, that old timers warning came to fruition. Then I had to spend 3X the time and effort contacting old clients to smooth things out.

Since the start of the pandemic:

10 year trusted mechanic relationship - not anymore, I've moved on.
15 year vet relationship - nope, time to move on

 

[CarolynandBob]

I get the frustration. But put yourself on the other end of the phone.

You get tons of calls but there is no possible way to service everyone. You have a core group of customers that get priorities. All your guys are working. You don't have openings for weeks, months maybe. You are going in early, leaving late, working yourself, and the phone doesn't stop ringing. It has been this way for years now. You're fucking tired.

You don't need more business, you can't keep up with what you have now. How much of your day are you going to spend fielding calls for work you can't do?

The calls go to voice mail. You come home tired and frustrated because whatever thing it was you were working on went sideways. Now you have 27 phone calls to return. For work you can't get to anyway.

You could more employees, but we all know how new hires are most of the time. Training them will just slow down your already overloaded staff. And they'll probably quit anyway.

I get that. What is wrong, is to come out and bid the job, I agree to the price and then they don't show up when they said they would. Then wouldn't return calls or text.

If you are too fucking busy then when I call, say you can't take any more work right now. This happened with 3 drywall guys.

 

[Fastdadtsmith]

I get that. What is wrong, is to come out and bid the job, I agree to the price and then they don't show up when they said they would. Then wouldn't return calls or text.

If you are too fucking busy then when I call, say you can't take any more work right now. This happened with 3 drywall guys.

I don't think drywall guys out here think past 5 days out. Maybe hangars do, but tapers, day to day is fine for them.

 

[lbhsbz]

Calls into a company have a cost both in terms of time wasted and opportunity cost. That is why call centers for medium size businesses are popular but the service sucks.

Average Outsourced Call Center Pricing In 2020

Region	Outsourced Call Center Pricing (per hour)
Africa/Middle East	$15–20
Latin America	$8–18
Asia/Philippines	$8–14
India	$6–10

The company I used to work for has outsourced all their customer service to a call center in Mexico...we used to have 4 great ladies handling all the customer service calls at our So Cal facility. They knew what they were doing and were familiar with the product and the workings of the company and could provide satisfactory service to nearly everyone who called in. Whatever they couldn't help with, was immediately forwarded to me or one of my 3 tech guys who would bring it home.

The new call center people don't know a fucking thing.

The tech guys are a different story. The group that bought us owns a filtration company, 2 wiper companies, another brake parts company, and a few water pump/fuel pump companies....they fired most of the tech people for all of them, re-assigned one of the training guys from the other brake company as a tech guy, and grouped me in with the remaining 3 that handled calls for filtration/wipers/waterpumps/fuel pumps/brakes. I, being in CA was the most expensive, so they put me way down on the priority list so that a filtration guy and a wiper guy were taking most of the brake tech calls....and they couldn't help anyone because they had no idea what they were doing. Add to that the new "call center software"...and customers were waiting for 30 minutes + for one of the other guys to pick up the line while I was sitting there doing nothing...because my phone didn't ring. The objective my management was to present the call logs to their boss showing the minimal activity on my end to justify terminating my position. All the customers were pissed off, and rightfully so.

I've tried calling a few times....just because I needed some info that I obviously no longer have access too, and attempted to walk the idiots through the system as to how to find exactly what I was looking for....it was like talking to my dog.

To keep customers happy, companies need knowledgable people on the end of the phone to solve problems in a timely manner. If not, then that company will not have many customers for long.

 

[pkbullet]

I think the key to improving the results of incoming calls is to reduce them. The better we do being ahead of current customers with technology keeping them informed reduces incoming calls. An example is service customers. If you are updated of all work flow and status changes on your vehicle by a simple text, you don’t call for updates. If you get a text with a video showing what we found and can agree or decline the repair with your phone hours can be saved in communication. If you get your invoice and can check out via online payment you spend less time in front of advisor. All things that make the current customer have a better experience improves incoming call availability for the advisor. We know the most important customer is the one in front of you, but the next is the one inquiring, can’t afford to loose either.