I cannot help you if I can't contact you

[bankworking]

5 voice-mail messages.

FIVE.

"Hi, I spoke with you a few months ago about an IRA and I really need you to give me a call back so I can go over this with you."

Notice anything missing?

Like... phone number? Account number? Even a name (first AND last please); maybe I'll be able to hunt your account down to find out who the hell you are and how to get a hold of you.

Did it fail to occur to you, in leaving those five, increasingly irritated and repeatedly un-useful messages for me, that I work with customers all day long, 40 hours every week, and however special of snowflake you think you are, I simply cannot remember you from the ocean full of other people I have spoken to about IRAs in the past few months.

True, there are a few people who have done this to me who I have remembered by voice alone. People I work with on a monthly basis. Or people who had something complicated where I was in touch with them nearly every day for the course of several weeks. NOT someone I spoke to once a few months ago regarding a very common service.

So, unless you care to give me a bit more to go on, you can keep banging your head against the wall of voice-mail, unless you happen to call at a time when I don't have someone sitting in my office where I can actually answer the phone (not common, we have a call center for a reason).


...I do wish my work phone had caller ID. Would potentially save a lot of hassle.

[MoonCat]

Can you change the voicemail greeting to remind them to leave their name and number? Probably won't help...in my experience...but worth a try.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Can you change the voicemail greeting to remind them to leave their name and number? Probably won't help...in my experience...but worth a try.

And it would at least cover your ass when this "special snowflake" inevitably calls and complains that no one has gotten back with him/her/it and that no one ever told him/her/it that they needed to leave a name and/or number.

Every time Humanity hits rock bottom and I think they can't get any lower, they grab the rock drills and dynamite and keep going.

[Sonoma]

Can you change the voicemail greeting to remind them to leave their name and number? Probably won't help...in my experience...but worth a try.

Won't help, they never listen to the outgoing message. Like the OP, I have a caller with very common first & last names, but they're uncommon spellings, and I can never remember them. She has a HSA health plan through her employer. My department handles the insurance portion of the plan. She routinely calls me to find out how to put money into her HSA or request reimbursement for things she had to purchase. I have no clue which bank she goes through. Several people have explained this to her....she needs to contact her bank for that part of it. But she still leaves her messages, even though no one can call her back with the complete lack of information she gives.

[bankworking]

We have a script we have to leave for our voice-mail message... and it does include the request for name and number. As noted above, no one ever listens.

[EricKei]

I long ago started adding the phrase, "If you don't leave a number, don't expect a call back -- even if I know you".

[Mytical]

Its sort of like verbal signage. You could say the same thing a hundred times in the same message, and they still would swear they didn't see the signs hear the message.

[workerbee222]

I once had to deal with a customer who did not have a phone, land line or cell. She "didn't believe" in them. She relied on the kindness of a friend to relay messages to her, and call back. Lets just say it appeared the friend did feel motivated to do this with issues as mundane as patching blue jeans.

I cynically thought "didn't believe in phones" was an excuse not to pay for one. It's like those people who "quit smoking" as in; they no longer buy cigarettes, just bum them off other people.

[Sapphire Silk]

I once had to deal with a customer who did not have a phone, land line or cell. She "didn't believe" in them.

I assure the woman: they exist.

[Sheldonrs]

I assure the woman: they exist.

Nah. I say they're PHONEy.

[Barefootgirl]

Actually, I have to admit that I have done this. My first name is Sara, which is not exactly an uncommon name, and i have been known to leave voicemails for people saying simply "Hello, its Sara, blah blah blah blah, please call me back". I then have to make a really embarrassing second call, saying "Hello, its Sara, i called a moment ago but forgot to leave my full name and number..." and leaving the information.

Its even more embarrassing when I actually DO leave my full name and number, but then forget that I did that, and make the second call anyway