scam alert on mobiles

[billj]

That?s very arguable with the worst of the technoklutzes.

[Rob Morley]

I always tell people that they'll have to wait for the invention of such a system if they want to contact me in a reliable way, because that talking to disembodied voices thing is not my idea of effective communication (partly because my hearing is getting worse and also I'm likely to forget half the content anyway - written notes may not be as chatty and interactive but they're good for future reference). But letters I'm likely to lose (more accurately "misplace" and then find again later, sometimes much later)

[Roger Hayter]

I must say I always thought email *was* such a system; especially if you avoid any type of "push" notitication and insist on only reading it when you feel like it. And have special folders for future action.

[Steve Walker]

Presumably, if the hospital calls (as they have done here) to offer an immediate appointment due to a cancellation that day, you will know what department and what illness it is concerning and will know where to call.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Email has it uses, but some conversations require a quick decison, but with discussion and even with hearing the other person's confidence or doubt first.

SteveW

[Fredxx]

I'm struggling to find any call charges for UK numbers starting with 085!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its called email

[Paulk]

Whoosh. And texting.

[Andy Burns]

OFCOM's numbering allocation spreadsheet shows there are no ranges allocated between 0845999 and 0870000, so there aren't any 085 numbers.

[Andy Burns]

I think Brian chose 085 as an example, a bad one as it turns out ...

[Jethro_uk]

Bit of a mass whoosh going on here. Might explain why fewer companies can be contacted by email in 2019 than 2009. Wish I'd known that in 1985, I might have gone to a few more parties and worked on a few less RFCs.

[Jethro_uk]

:)

Not perfect. But I write and send it when I want. I then go about my day. The person who gets it can reply at their leisure - maybe getting their shit together to have some facts/figures - and I can read that reply at my leisure.

As an added free bonus it's all perfectly archived should there be a query.

Telephones are a 19th century invention. Preferring them over a 21st century invention in the 21st century speaks volumes about the English attitude.

Colleagues in the far East are astounded at our continual reliance on the phone.

[Jethro_uk]

Slip of the keyboard there. Email is of course a *20th* century invention.

[Steve Walker]

Except of course, what often happens is that the reply raises more questions or doesn't answer everything and you have to email back and this can go on for days. A simple phonecall means that questions can be raised and answered and any more that are generated during the call can also be dealt with there and then. Email can stretch that 5 or 10 minute conversation into many days.

SteveW

[Roger Hayter]

Sorry, I should have thought before replying. But it is true that commercial practice has led many people to believe that email is a sort of instant messaging that makes a pinging noise on your phone and needs instantly responding to. I always refused to allow this when I was working. And some people really may not realise that email is an ideal non-real time communication method. It's certainly true that said RFCs, impeccable as they may be for their design purpose, do not specify a reliable instant messaging service.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No. niot if peole are at teh machines ...but yes, if its that kind of dialogue the situation calls for, pick up the phone. Ot use whats app or skype

[Jethro_uk]

A phone call requires both parties be free at exactly the same time ... which is less likely as the quality of the anticipated response increases.

There's also the possibility for misunderstanding or "misunderstanding" in a phone call that email tends to preclude.

But have it your way. You employ a person do deal with x phone calls a day, while the companies I do business with employ less people to deal with more queries. That's if they are people. There's quite a few half competent expert systems knocking out replies to emails.

As I opened with above. Email isn't perfect. But neither are phone calls.

[Jethro_uk]

It's not emails fault it's email.

Unless it's to the emergency services, RTC is vastly over rated (and usually wrong).

anyway, I prefer doing things at *my* convenience ...

[whisky-dave]

I'm in the media, I looked up the number and found peolpe that had talked to them and then their bills incrsed as they had found themsleves paying for other services such as sports and film channels, which they hadn't agreed to.

So I decided not to ring them back or pick up the phone, especailly as I was at work at the time where I place my phone in a locked draw.

[Jethro_uk]

Funnily enough, while I was typing this, I had a reply from an NHS body to an email I sent 3 weeks ago asking to speak on the phone ... not sure why a yes/no answer needs that. Especially as it's not involving anyone at all. My money is on them losing the original, and panicking when their fluffy PR twitter feed suddenly had a real question on it ....