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9:27 am: 38°F / 18°F » 5-Day Forecast

I get it!  I work for a website.  Computers are the wave of the future and email is my friend.  I believe all of the above statements to be true, but I'm just as passionate in my irritation with the fact I can't get a local phone number (or in some cases any phone number) when I want to deal with a corporation.

I'm not going to name names (yet, but that's a story for another blog), but I began my day trying to reach company A about a service appointment they were in the process of blowing off.  I wanted to call someone and ask what was going on.  I end up sitting on hold with a woman in Minneapolis, who, in turn, is on hold with someone else back here in St. Louis.  Two people three miles apart have to have a message passed by someone who's barely in the same time zone! 

So now I'm so irritated with company A that I've decided to call  their competitor, company B, and simply switch.  I'm done.  So I  go to company B's website, navigate my way to the contact us section, and the only option I have is email.  There's not a single number posted anywhere.  Not even one to Minneapolis.  Don't get me wrong.  I love email.  But there's something about those forms deep in the recesses of websites owned by Fortune 500 companies that just eat away at my confidence.  Who's reading those emails anyway?  Do they ever actually respond?  If so, does the response come from a person or another computer? 

The first irony here is the fact that the 20-something computer generation is famous for it's need and demand for instant gratification, and this is one place where the quickest, most gratifying response is going to come from a good old fashioned phone call...a call all my high tech gadgets won't allow me to make.

The second irony is, with our nation plunging toward recession, and every company in desperate need of every dollar, I have one corporation chasing me away, and a second one essentially refusing to take my business because they won't let me get through.  I'd call to complain, but.....

P.S.  I think the guy in the attached video knows how I feel.  Do you?

Tags: Telephone email recession website phone numbers Fortune 500