Telephone

[Corduroy Frog]

No one answers the phone anymore.  I'm assuming it's not just me, and not just Tennessee, but everywhere.

The obvious answer - corporate America does not want to pay receptionists.  That occupation has as much future as the blacksmith at the livery station.  Their solution is the [endless] telephone menu - if you are calling your doctor, there is for shore no answer and the first on the telephone menu - "If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 9-1-1."  I'm sick of spending 10 seconds listening to that one while I am desperate to talk to someone.

Even our clients.  It should not require more time to contact them or chase them down on the phone than to do their tax work.  One of mine was so bad I charged a PITA fee.  Another one doesn't know they have an $800 refund on an amended return and won't return my phone calls.

And yes, the phone calls I do get are robocalls.  I think the Federal Trade Commission could track down these cretins and prosecute them.

E-mails are a good alternative, but people are giving up on them nowadays because of all the spam.

So I ask this board - "Any effective methods to solve these problems?"

 

[Lion EA]

I don't answer my home phone unless I know and like the name on caller ID. I do answer my office phone, but if there's a pause before someone speaks, I set the phone down. People answer texts, but I won't use texts for tax information or any PII. I end up texting clients to check their email or my portal or to call me, depending on the issue. Or, some will answer if I tell them to expect me to call the week of May 5th, for instance. But, calling the IRS or states or large companies or insurance companies or...!!