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...!!

[Lee B]

The absolute worst is Comcast. It is an exercise is mental torture to get a live person on the phone.

[Sara EA]

Our dentist's office is a sole proprietorship--not part of some national chain.  There are two people working in the office.  Yet when I call them there is a menu, "press 1 for appointments, press 2 for billing, press 3 for...."  It's not like they have 16 different departments to route my call to.  Grrrrrrr. 

Some of our clients have expressed surprise that when they call us a real person answers the phone.  Sad.

[jklcpa]

Lots of that around here with medical practices too.  My husband usually has to drive to his GP's office because they never answer the phone and their portal is useless ever since they were bought out by the major hospital here. It's right here in town, so only about 1/4 mile away. That hospital is buying up lots of the smaller independent offices.

Today, husband drove about 10 miles round trip to his new ENT's office in order to change an appointment. They also never answer, and last week he'd left a message, someone called back on Monday only to have a click followed by silence on the other end when he answered the call. Yesterday he tried to call back 4 times without success, so he was mad enough to go in person today.  Receptionist said that scheduling is outsourced to a third party.  There are numerous and frequent complaints on social media about this particular office being hard to contact, and I knew it would be a problem. It's a shame because the original office was very responsive over the years my mother used them, but they merged with a larger practice sometime last year and this is the way the larger practice runs. Simply awful.

[Corduroy Frog]

Judy's experience is exactly what I'm talking about and how we can turn this around.  One thing is for sure - we're dealing with corporate America, because when the big fish swallow the little fish the problem gets worse.

If and when these facilities figure out that they are losing more revenue than the cost of answering the phone, things will change.

[Randall]

And so it goes.  My office phone is a landline.  I have given my cell number to a few clients.  Some clients try to text my office number and of course, they can't text a landline.  Then there is the 'e' everything.  Oh well, what can I do, go with the flow.    

[Abby Normal]

I use a Google Voice number to text with clients. Texting seems to be the main way to communicate these days. All my healthcare sources text me reminders of appointments and allow me to check in online. Although I was at one doctor's office yesterday and the receptionist told me their online portal and their office software are not connected, so they have two separate systems they have to look at.

[Catherine]

18 hours ago, jklcpa said:

they merged with a larger practice sometime last year and this is the way the larger practice runs

It becomes more and more important to plant a medicinal herb garden...

[Catherine]

I got a phone message left just today, reminding me of an appointment for something or other. Let's just ignore that I already got, and responded to, the email notice. And went online and filled in all the #$%^&^%$#$%^ forms they now require (where you have to click all the &*@#$%& checkboxes; it was ridiculous). My guess is the text message comes next.

Message was annoying but at least funny. Recorded, not even a real person, and it sounded like the "play" speed had been mis-set to make the recording sound like the "person" was either drunk or tranquilized.  

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Ah, those pre-registration online forms....So within the same hospital system (all my doctors save one), every #$%^&^%$#$%^ (thanks, Catherine, for this special word) appointment reminder requires ALL of this same information which they already have.  I'm 79, I had one child and won't have anymore even though I'm not on birth control.  Geez!

At least we are not alone.

[Lee B]

This sounds like the "Mychart" system that my Doctor's office uses.

The pre-registration questions go on and on and on for pages

[mcb39]

The worst part is that you have to listen through all of the options so that you can press Y to confirm or N to cancel.

[Corduroy Frog]

1 hour ago, Lee B said:

This sounds like the "Mychart" system that my Doctor's office uses.

The pre-registration questions go on and on and on for pages

And your doctor recommends you to another specialist.  Let's say your primary doctor recommends you to a dermatologist.

Now you have to fill out and answer the same questions over and over again - same information that your primary doctor has.  They can't or won't share information - "privacy" they call it.

A year later you go back to the same dermatologist -same questions over and over again.

 

[Lion EA]

All of my doctors use different systems, so the questions are basically the same but in different orders, on different forms, and worded differently -- so you can answer Yes to one and No to the same info but worded as did you ever instead of did you never. You have to read carefully and read every page. I'm 78 and can NOT remember when I had my last period or when I had my tonsils out (3rd grade? how old was I in 3rd grade? what year was that?). And if the form is seeming too easy, it's probably because I already responded to the email so now the text is a duplicate!

[Gail in Virginia]

Its bad enough to fill the form out online EVERY SINGLE TIME but most of the time when I get to the appointment they will ask me AGAIN if my address has changed (since I filled out the online form yesterday?) and so on.  What a waste of time.

[Randall]

Lucky for me, I don't have to do too many appointments.  The annual eye exam, regular dental exam.  I should I suppose go to my GP for a physical (I think they call it a Wellness Exam now).  The last time at my GP, she said after three years, they consider me a new patient.  So I guess I should try to get in within the threee year limit.  Ha.

[Catherine]

4 hours ago, Randall said:

So I guess I should try to get in within the three year limit.  Ha.

Just about the only reason I bother to go in is that when my mother in law got sick (in her 90s), she had been so healthy for so long and skipping any annual exams (too busy!), they no longer had any record of her. She might as well have been a Martian who showed up, sick as a dog, to be treated.

[mcb39]

I am thankful for every day that I get to open my eyes.  At my age, some of that is the result of routine exams.  For my husband, as well.  Eight years ago, when I had breast cancer, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  Both were caught very early.  Last summer, I had not been breathing well for over two years before it got to be too much for me.  The result was 7 days in the hospital and I am lucky to be here.  The hospital Dr said that I had been sick for a long time and would have a long recovery.  I am just now turning the corner and will soon be driving again for the first time since last June.  I survived another tax season and am considering another one because I don't believe that my work on Earth was finished.  The medical practice certainly can be annoying, but it can save your life.