In my experience email is losing its effectiveness. For example, twice this past week my email to a company with a question/problem was ignored and I've had to send USPS letters instead. (I prefer such responses in writing so I have an accurate record.) Hope those get read. This is getting more and more common.
Evidently the great rise in spam and phish has caused companies to poorly sort their incoming email or just ignore it unless they recognize the sender.
The USPS shall rise again!
| In my experience email is losing its effectiveness. For example, twice this | past week my email to a company with a question/problem was ignored and | I've had to send USPS letters instead. (I prefer such responses in writing | so I have an accurate record.) Hope those get read. This is getting more | and more common. |
It may be, but it's not my experience. I find that it depends on people. Some use email a lot. Some always read it but often don't bother to respond. Others don't use their email accounts very much. I'm surprised you'd see that with a company. It sounds to me like they're either just not on the ball or for some reason they don't want to bother with you.
Direct e-mail or thru a web "Contact us" link? I'm not terribly surprised at an outside email from an unknown domain; I'd be more so if it were from their own source/link.
Then again, depending on the size of the company and the nature of the question, I could see response time varying greatly all the way to the bit-bucket for trivial stuff. I _would_ however, expect an automated mailer response at a minimum from that route.
I've found that some companies respond to emails or the "contact us" forms on their website, but some don't. My guess is that a lot of companies put up websites for advertising but either don't have the staff or understand the need to check their inboxes.
I find email to still be quite effective but occasionally use regular mail if I have someone really important to contact.
A few years back I got almost instant results by writing directly to the CEO of the company I worked for. A serious problem that had "gone to committee" was solved instantly and he had the VP call me with a "thank you". Some of my managers were not too thrilled to hear that I had gone over their heads but that was tough.
More recently I wrote directly to a major developer in town and much to my surprise he sent me... via regular mail... a nice hand written note.
My stockbroker has his own personal Contact Me link, on the brokerage webpage.. I suspect most brokers do.
But when I use that, they have control over the email. If they delete my incoming email, I have no record that I sent one.
So I email him directly, with an brokerage address he gave me. So far, he hasn't ignored me. But I can't help asking myself what the upside of using the Contact Me link would be. And what all the downsides of writing driectrly are.
Well, if there's a dispute and I've written to Contact Me, his boss, everyone who outranks him, will know what I wrote and when, and there will be no question that I did write. OTOH, I'd be glad to show them my outgoing email, and also, they know -- I'm sure they keep a copy of
-- what comes in on his direct brokerage email address. OT3H, I could address my direct email to an invalid address, and then go back with a harddrive editor and change the address to his, or change the date to one that makes me look good... Before I print it out.
Not about email, but a billionaire, iirc, died fairly recently here, and my friend and I were discussing where he lived. I looked him up in the phonebook (that is, switchboar.com) and he was listed, with his phone number, his address, and even the apartment number.
I think he was in his 90's and the idea of an unlisted number was even stranger for him than for me. Plus aiui, he was a totally honest businessman, self-made, and probably didn't get phone calls at home from angry people. People only do that when they get nowhere at someone's work number.
Hi, It is not a problem with email itself. email or snail mail if recipient does not read them and take care of them, no difference. Been long since I wrote a letter via PO. Also postage got almost doubled lately. When I send email usually I enable the option to make sure it is delivered(and read) Also email saves time.
Depends on the reason for writing. Today, a letter printed on a nice letterhead is likely to be notices more than hundreds of email the same person may get. If I want to thank someone, congratulate someone, I'll either type or had write with a fountain pen. For about a half a buck to deliver it, I think it is quite a bargain.
Recently, I used email through a web site requesting information. Two companies failed to respond. This was about hydraulic parts and a boiler feed pump. OK by me, my money went elsewhere. One purchase was $2000, the other was $3500.
I don't know any billionaires but...
ten years ago I used to do work for a local millionaire who turned philanthropist.
One of the first jobs was to repair a lamp in his bedroom.
He literally had millions of dollars worth of art on the walls, but his phone was a dial-phone. I'm sure his name and address were in the phone book.
Occasionally I'd do some computer repair work for his wife and she was on dial-up.
Hi, One exception is cards with hand writing for many different occasions. Being retired almost 20 years now, I am of no importance to any one any more. Lately many web sites have live chat. Some are very good.
Even worse, with all the "security" being implemented on e-mail, many messages do not even make it through. Some bounce, so you know - others either get caught in the spam filter or get put into the trash
- and others simply seem to dissapear.
Hey, you;re important to us as a contributor.
dpb wrote in news:lk0pq1$1on$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
Then why put your email address on your business card?
Some web sites do not have Contact Us links or they don't work - at least with my up-to-date Firefox browser.
philo wrote in news:lk0rtp$sfc$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
I used to do that often years ago when I had no success going though channels when I had a product problem. Usually worked quickly and very effectively. For example, I wrote the CEO of my former phone company when for a month or more I couldn't get a repair guy and one showed up in a couple of days.
Haven't tried it in the past few years though.
Tony Hwang wrote in news:RmV8v.640747$dK.420314 @fx07.iad:
Never tried that. Perhaps I should.
Tony Hwang wrote in news:UtT8v.1067042$2N5.636802 @fx05.iad:
How do you do that? I use gmail mostly, sometimes my ISP's email. I've never noticed this option.
Letters to the Editor can work too. I took an adult class that was given at the high school. Instructor told us that many of the bathrooms don't work so use care and they have been like that for years. I found out for myself they were in deplorable condition.
I had my letter published in the morning paper. That afternoon, work started fixing them. I imagine the Superintendent of Schools in that city was reading the morning paper and . . . oh shit.
It is an option in Microsoft Outlook. Not sure about others.
Live chat takes out the "thick accent" variable. You don't know if you are communicating with Texas, Mumbai, or Londonderry, or anywhere else when you are on chat. Which often does make it work better than voice comm.
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