AAARRRGGGHHH !!! (Annoying)

I run a sales team and in the course of our business we need to phone clients who have previously contacted our office. This is usually on a mobile and if they don't answer and don't have message bank, we hang up (naturally).

Well a number of calls every day now from these people who see our number and ring back "Hello, I had a missed call from this number. Who are you " etc. Why do they call back numbers when they have NFI who it is ? I don't !

Telstra must be laughing all the way to the bank.

It got me thinking though, is this normal ? If you have a missed call on your mobile and don't recognise the number, do you ring them ??

(Pees me off, not to mention our receptionist) :rolleyes:

No just wait until they call back - have had a spate of these recently and when getting to the phone quickly it was the Bendigo Police :confused: . Both times looking for the same person.

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Originally Posted by Gumby

..... If you have a missed call on your mobile and don't recognise the number, do you ring them ??

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Only if I was expecting a call from somebody & I didn't know what number they might be calling from.... IE. Expecting to meet tradesman or delivery driver at a particular time & I gave their boss my mobile number if they were waylaid or lost....

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Originally Posted by Gumby

..... (Pees me off, not to mention our receptionist) :rolleyes:

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Try blocking your calling number when you are making those follow up calls, dial 1831 first, set it up on a speed dial, press the speed dial first & then finish dialing the number.... that might work. Mind you, there are a few people who refuse to answer a 'private' number on their calling number display. :rolleyes:

gumby it really depends whether I'm on call or not, when I'm not on call, I won't call anyone!:p I hate mobiles and pagers and whoever invented them should be castrated :D :D :D (WARNING... I tend to be worse after I have been on call for 72 hours!)

I tend to answer calls from 'Private Number' on my mobile but never at home around 6-7pm! It's always those bloody Indians ! "Hello, Mr Goomby, can I interest you .......etc"

At home and on the mobile I have message bank. If it's somebody who knows me then they can leave a message.

Sorry Mr Gumby.

I missed your post.
I am replying now, what did you want??

Al :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by flea1607

No just wait until they call back - have had a spate of these recently and when getting to the phone quickly it was the Bendigo Police :confused: . Both times looking for the same person.

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And your excuse was?http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gifhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gif

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Originally Posted by routermaniac

whoever invented them should be castrated :D :D :D (WARNING... I tend to be worse after I have been on call for 72 hours!)

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With a blunt router bit running at 2rpm?http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gif

Cheers!

PS Couldn't agree more. I'll even supply the blunt bit...

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Originally Posted by Steve.Bisson@te

With a blunt router bit running at 2rpm?http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gif

Cheers!

PS Couldn't agree more. I'll even supply the blunt bit...

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As an aside, I work for a major Telco - but the wholesale division, not the "dark side" (and no, that doesn't mean by hand in this case. Hmm, I might have to revise that, but I doubt that I could publicly say what I'm thinking...http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gifhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gifhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gifhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gif),
and I still hate mobiles and such. Gee...

Cheers!

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Originally Posted by Steve.Bisson@te

And your excuse was?http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gifhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gif

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Sorry Officer - not me LOL:)

I've only run back when something was likely to be urgent - like my elderly father in Hospital. Generally I don't ring back to numbers I don't know.

As for blame - I'd blame the idiots who set up the modern phone standards - fax machines are able to send a short text message with their identifier as part of the 'standard' for fax machines - how come the TelCo standards people left that out of the standard for digital phones? Could it have been pressure from the telemarketer crowd who didn't want to be identified to their intended victims?

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Originally Posted by Gumby

I run a sales team and in the course of our business we need to phone clients who have previously contacted our office. This is usually on a mobile and if they don't answer and don't have message bank, we hang up (naturally).

Well a number of calls every day now from these people who see our number and ring back "Hello, I had a missed call from this number. Who are you " etc. Why do they call back numbers when they have NFI who it is ? I don't !

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I don't get it.
Weren't you trying to contact these people?
They ring you back and you complain :confused:

Good point but then we go through the process of asking who they were dealing with, "don't know" is the usual answer. And they say that they weren't dealing with anybody in our field at all. My receptionist goes through the list, rattles off the names "oh yeah, we have might talked to Colin" but of course he has gone out by then. :rolleyes:

It's just the attitude. They miss a call, have no idea who rang (could be a wrong number) and ring back. Why bother ? Must cost them a bloody fortune.

I like the conversations you have when someone dials your number by mistake. I had one today:-

(Ring, ring)

Me: Hello.

Caller (In heavily accented, very deep aggressive voice): 'Allo - Michael!

Me: There's no-one here called Michael, mate. I think you've got the wrong number.

Caller: Nah! Michael! Bring Michael - now!

Me: (Thinking: Do I just hang up? No- this might be a bit of fun!): No mate. Don't have anyone called Michael. What number did you dial?

Caller: Whatta you talk? Where is Michael? Bring Michael!

Me: You've got the wrong number! There's no-one here called Michael.

Caller: Who are you? What your name?

Me: No mate, you first. Who are you?

Caller: OK bastard! I get you! (Click)

On the other hand, in my old job, I had a phone with not just a direct line but also (get this!) a private line with a different number. Only my family had the private line number - and they didn't call it very often, preferring to use my mobile instead.

About once every two weeks the private line number would light up as the phone rang. I would answer and the voice of a little old lady would ask to speak to Susan. Over time, I got to be quite friendly with her and we would have a little chat. Her name is Mary. Susan is her niece and is married to Tom. They have two kids - whose names I can't remember. I eventually wrote down Susan's number (same digits as my private line but slightly different order) so that, at the end of our chat, I could tell Mary the number to save her the bother of looking it up. I did actually at one time explain to her the process of adding the number to her Touch Phone memory but I got the impression that she thought I was trying to tell her not to call again so I backed off a bit.

When I retired recently from that job, I explained about Mary to the bloke who took over from me. He's a friendly sort and he promised he wouldn't be rude to her when she calls. And she will!

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Originally Posted by Jack E

I don't get it.
Weren't you trying to contact these people?
They ring you back and you complain :confused:

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Only 'cos they were too silly to know why they were returning the call so all the did was confuse the blonde receptionist. :p

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Originally Posted by Driver

I like the conversations you have when ......

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Dave? Dave's not here. :D

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Originally Posted by Gumby

It's just the attitude. They miss a call, have no idea who rang (could be a wrong number) and ring back. Why bother ? Must cost them a bloody fortune.

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The whole mobile phone thing goes right over my head. Poeple seem to be desperate to talk to someone else on the phone. Even with land lines people will drop what they're doing and run inside to answer the phone :confused: . If I'm busy or simply don't feel like being disturbed a ringing phone won't get answered (private numbers definately won't get answered). Email on the other hand makes much more sense, look at them when it suits and reply if need be after you've had time to think.

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Originally Posted by Dan

The whole mobile phone thing goes right over my head.....

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Dan? Dan's not here..... :D

ahh, Cheech and Chong, havn`t heard them for years

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Originally Posted by Gumby

I run a sales team and in the course of our business we need to phone clients who have previously contacted our office. This is usually on a mobile and if they don't answer and don't have message bank, we hang up (naturally).

Well a number of calls every day now from these people who see our number and ring back "Hello, I had a missed call from this number. Who are you " etc. Why do they call back numbers when they have NFI who it is ? I don't !

Telstra must be laughing all the way to the bank.

It got me thinking though, is this normal ? If you have a missed call on your mobile and don't recognise the number, do you ring them ??

(Pees me off, not to mention our receptionist) :rolleyes:

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Gumby,

By the sound of it, you're making your calls via a PABX?? It may be possible to configure it to send the extension number making the call as the number received by the called party. I look after a couple of Nortel Meridian 11C's which are 10 years old and we've been able to get them to do it. Check with your techo people and see if they can do some tweaking..:)

Cheers,
Keith

No Keith, it's just an older style Telecom Commander with 5 lines. Thanks for the thought but the office isn't all that big. Only 6 of us.

At work, one of the numbers I had programmed into my speed dial occasionally went through to a wrong number that didn't even have the same area code.

Eventually, Julie in Yass & I became quite friendly ;)

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Originally Posted by AlexS

Eventually, Julie in Yass & I became quite friendly ;)

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Go on, tell the whole story

..and got married, lived on a farm, had babies etc :D

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Originally Posted by Gumby

Good point but then we go through the process of asking who they were dealing with, "don't know" is the usual answer. And they say that they weren't dealing with anybody in our field at all. My receptionist goes through the list, rattles off the names "oh yeah, we have might talked to Colin" but of course he has gone out by then. :rolleyes:

It's just the attitude. They miss a call, have no idea who rang (could be a wrong number) and ring back. Why bother ? Must cost them a bloody fortune.

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Gumby it seems like you are not the one paying for your firm's outgoing calls, if you were and they are to mobiles you would be happy that they are paying for those "huh dunno" type calls.


Slightly off the topic but still about phones. Nothing p's me off more than when I've gone to all the trouble to physically go into a business and while I'm being 'served' the phone rings....."Excuse me sir, I just need to take this call" or something to that effect. Far out....the caller is sitting on his a*s* in a comfortable chair, spending all of 15 to 25 c, depending on what deal he got from the telemarketer, while I spent, time, effort, travelling costs etc to get to be served in the shop, but I have to wait patiently. Chances are the caller is only comparing prices anyway! I have made up my mind that next time a salesman says: "Sorry sir, do you mind if I take the call", my reply will be;"Yes I do!"

I don't get excited about being 'abused' generally but I really get hot under the collar when this happens. It will be so easy for the receptionist to take the number and the caller to be phoned back when convenient ( that means when I'm not standing in the shop waiting to be served )

:mad: :mad: :mad:

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Originally Posted by gatiep

Slightly off the topic but still about phones. Nothing p's me off more than when I've gone to all the trouble to physically go into a business and while I'm being 'served' the phone rings....."Excuse me sir, I just need to take this call" or something to that effect. Far out....the caller is sitting on his a*s* in a comfortable chair, spending all of 15 to 25 c, depending on what deal he got from the telemarketer, while I spent, time, effort, travelling costs etc to get to be served in the shop, but I have to wait patiently. Chances are the caller is only comparing prices anyway! I have made up my mind that next time a salesman says: "Sorry sir, do you mind if I take the call", my reply will be;"Yes I do!"

I don't get excited about being 'abused' generally but I really get hot under the collar when this happens. It will be so easy for the receptionist to take the number and the caller to be phoned back when convenient ( that means when I'm not standing in the shop waiting to be served )

:mad: :mad: :mad:

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Couldn't agree more, Joe! Answering the phone in that situation is the precise equivalent of turning away from you and serving a customer who has arrived after you did.

Don't put up with it. The last few times it has happened to me, I have (politely) interrupted the phone call and explained that I don't appreciate being treated this way and that I would not expect to be ignored if another customer arrived behind me - so why is this any different? I've had varying reactions but no-one has been game to continue the call once I've made my point.

Last year I had someone make an appointment with me to sell me something. Ten minutes into our meeting, his mobile rang. Without missing a beat, he answered the call! Sitting at my meeting table in my office! He mouthed at me: "Sorry. Won't be a minute."

I said: "You're right. You won't be a minute."

I got up, took him by the elbow and gently eased him out of my office.

When he had finished the call, he had the nerve to come back in and sit down at the table. By this time, I was back behind my desk. I said:

"Our meeting ended when you answered that phone call. Don't bother closing the door on the way out. And don't try to arrange another meeting with me because we won't be having one."

He attempted to apologise but by then he had tuned in to what was going on and he realised, finally, that he was wasting his time.

I wonder if he learned anything from the experience? I suspect not. If he had thought in the first instance that it was acceptable to bring his mobile phone - switched on - into the meeting, he probably hasn't got the gumption to understand.

Col

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Originally Posted by Gumby

Good point but then we go through the process of asking who they were dealing with, "don't know" is the usual answer. And they say that they weren't dealing with anybody in our field at all. My receptionist goes through the list, rattles off the names "oh yeah, we have might talked to Colin" but of course he has gone out by then. :rolleyes:

It's just the attitude. They miss a call, have no idea who rang (could be a wrong number) and ring back. Why bother ? Must cost them a bloody fortune.

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Let me get this straight. You are part of a business which calls people to generate income from clients, yes? And when those potential clients call you back you are a) confused as to why they would call you back and b) give them the run around when they don't know who called them and c) dont have a simple system for tracking which sales person calls which number? and d) use a mobile to make the call in the first place?

Expect to be in business long? :)

I run my own little landscaping business and return all missed calls from unknown numbers - probably half of which are potential clients. If you don't want potential clients to return your call (I mean who needs those pesky customers anyway) then just use Telstra to make your number private.

I would be grateful that I was dealing with a potential client who was smart enough to use the technology to call back.

:rolleyes:

I'm with Namtrak & Jack E on this one. I have Ads running in the local rag every week. I return every call I miss as these are often my customers. I get really ****** off when its some telemarketing mob. What am I supposed to do...the public are fickle and often wont call back if they can't get through pronto.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by vsquizz

I'm with Namtrak & Jack E on this one. I have Ads running in the local rag every week. I return every call I miss as these are often my customers. I get really ****** off when its some telemarketing mob. What am I supposed to do...the public are fickle and often wont call back if they can't get through pronto.

Cheers

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I don't blame you for ringing back in that case. I see it differently to the problem we have. When we make a call that isn't answered, it's on a different line from our advertised number so the number displayed on the recipient's phone gives them no idea that it was one of our sales team.

Col & Joe, totalliy with you on this.

For some reason too many people place too much importance on the ringing phone, rather than the flesh & bone person in front of them. I'm all for good telephone customer service, but not at the expense of good face to face service.


Cheers..........Sean, thanks for calling :)

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Originally Posted by Driver

I said: "You're right. You won't be a minute."

I got up, took him by the elbow and gently eased him out of my office.


Col

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Col, Well done!

If only we all had that sort of gumption!

I normally try and be polite and decorous, but there are times..

Anyway, that gets a green star from mehttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gif

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Originally Posted by scooter

Col & Joe, totalliy with you on this.

For some reason too many people place too much importance on the ringing phone, rather than the flesh & bone person in front of them. I'm all for good telephone customer service, but not at the expense of good face to face service.


Cheers..........Sean, thanks for calling :)

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Like Namtrak and Squizzy, I return missed call as they often mean money. After years of using a mobile that's usually set to it's loudest ringtone in order to be heard over all the power tools and machinery you tend to be "programmed" to answer the bloody thing because: (a) it's so loud and annoying and (b) it might be a customer = dollars in your pocket next week.(or (c) it could be firecom calling me to a fire :rolleyes: ). However Joe and Col are right of course, the bloody things have taken over our lives and we tend to forget our manners sometimes.

Mick,
excuse me for a moment while I answer that, oh hang on now the other one's ringing too.

What I find annoying is mongrels that ring your mobile and because you cant answer it goes to your message bank... Hmm handi feature you'd think, so you dail up you're message bank and go through the machine talk BS then click beep beep beep beep the A'oles wait for the beep to start talking and then hang up... WHY OH WHY? it cost's me a call every time(I cant access my phone at work, because of the Aust lead act)

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Originally Posted by Harry72

What I find annoying is mongrels that ring your mobile and because you cant answer it goes to your message bank... Hmm handi feature you'd think, so you dail up you're message bank and go through the machine talk BS then click beep beep beep beep the A'oles wait for the beep to start talking and then hang up... WHY OH WHY? it cost's me a call every time(I cant access my phone at work, because of the Aust lead act)

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That mest be a heavy act to abide by!