Stupid Phone Calls

So the snow was supposed to start around 3, and it was extremely busy as soon as we opened at 10. Every tech had a primary and secondary assignment for when a position got backed up. Our voicemails weren’t addressed from 1 to 1:30 when we closed for lunch. We just couldn’t. We didn’t have the bodies.

Back at 2, the phone rings at 2:01. It must’ve rang 20+ times - nobody was next to a phone, pickup and drivethru were at least 10 deep.

I excused myself from pickup to answer the phone. Woman says she already left a voicemail “an hour ago” and “why didn’t we call her” and “customer service is BS at your store.”

Her question? What time do we close, she didn’t want to go out in the bad weather.

🤬

We’ve closed at the same time every Sunday for over 2 years. She’s a regular. And the automated system gives you the option of store hours long before you’re offered the option of leaving a message. And the hours are posted online. And… and… and…

We get dinged for voicemails that we don’t return, but at least half the calls could be handled by other means. And soon we are going to add a text messaging option. How is this more efficient or better service? I’d really love our corporate overlords to tell us how this is helping.