If you are like a lot of us, you sit at a desk all day. Being able to schedule your time outside the office while you’re at the office is handy, and email makes it so much handier.
Usually.
My coworker’s recent experience with email and scheduling was the opposite of handy. I think that makes it footy. But anyway…
Desi ’s cat and her new puppy needed to go to the vet for routine care. As a power-emailer, when she saw the vet clinic had an email address, she thought “Great.”
Desi’s newest family member Bella
After a few emails back and forth with Lori at the clinic, Desi had her appointment scheduled. On the day of the appointment, she called to confirm.
Two different people told her that the vet’s office never schedules via email and that they had no record of her appointment.
In a nutshell, Desi was told “too bad so sad,” and was offered another appointment time. By then, she was mad because not only did they screw up, but nobody even apologized to her for it.
So she sent an email back to Lori. And Lori responded with what, to me, is the biggest fail in this whole saga (though the cat in need of the de-wormer might disagree):
I am the only one that can access this e-mail, so that is why Melissa and Julie had no idea that I had scheduled an appointment this way. You are the first client that I have ever scheduled by e-mail.
Not only does this violate the rule (that I admittedly just made up last week) about not telling a customer that they’re the only ones to ever use your email address, but it also exemplifies a HUGE problem with the way companies use email.
When only one person has access to an email account, how can you possibly do any customer service, AT ALL, via email?? In this case, Lori goes on to tell Desi that she only works six hours a day, four days a week, or 24 hours a week. The clinic is open six days a week, for a total of 53.5 hours. This means that more often than not, there is nobody at the clinic to respond to email. If Lori goes on vacation — forget about emailing the clinic at all!
Yes, on your contact page it looks very professional to have an email contact address. But unless you come up with a solution to actually handle the email you are getting, what’s the point?
