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circatee

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Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
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Over the past 6 months or so, I have noticed a trend. It appears that more and more companies, and individuals, are making phone calls, and NOT leaving voicemails, if the phone call is not answered.

Rather curious why this trend has started. With being made redundant in April 2020 (thanks Covid19!?!), I was, in a way, forced to answer all phone calls. After all, one would never know if a Recruiter or someone similar, was phoning to offer a job or converse about one.

But, all in all, still rather odd that this trend is happening. Wondering why this is the case...
 
Hmm, wasn't thinking about the robo/spam calls. Plus, I guess with this being Election year, even more phone calls were happening...
 
Over the past 6 months or so, I have noticed a trend. It appears that more and more companies, and individuals, are making phone calls, and NOT leaving voicemails, if the phone call is not answered.

Rather curious why this trend has started. With being made redundant in April 2020 (thanks Covid19!?!), I was, in a way, forced to answer all phone calls. After all, one would never know if a Recruiter or someone similar, was phoning to offer a job or converse about one.

But, all in all, still rather odd that this trend is happening. Wondering why this is the case...

Quite often, I don't leave voice messages, - it's is a format I have never liked - and, on my own phone, I have yet to record a voice mail message; in fact, since the advent of Covid, I have hardly used my mobile phone (cell phone): instead, I use the landline.

In my experience, voice mail works best with friends, or family, or small companies, where there is some manner of pre-existing personal relationship.

For large companies, phone calls are rarely, if ever, returned, and I find it a complete waste of time.

Thus, I prefer email (a proper paper trail), snail mail, (likewise), or an actual human being at the other end of a line.
 
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I don’t leave voicemail, if it’s important enough that I need to call you I’m going to call until I get ahold of you
 
I don’t leave voicemail, if it’s important enough that I need to call you I’m going to call until I get ahold of you

The other thing about voice mail messages is that most people do not know how to do it properly; this is a message, not a conversation, and not a sprint - thus clarity - which means clear enunciation - is called for.

I cannot recall the number of voice messages I have received where the person speaking, firstly, mumbles, and secondly, races through both the message and when giving their telephone number; and, while I am not especially enamoured of the format, to have to listen to a message three times to ensure that I have heard it properly and that I have also successfully managed to transcribe the full phone number mentioned, does not endear me to the caller.
 
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I do concur with a few of the comments above; email communication is often more productive, for me.

The other new thing I have seen lately, is businesses/people that simply send a text message.
Sorry, but, for me, that is a little too personal and almost invading my privacy. Even more so, if the person sending happens to be using iMessage. They know if the message was delivered. With text, I feel more inclined to ignore it :p

Short version:

Unless you 'know me', confirm you can send me a text message, prior to doing so...
 
The other thing about voice mail messages is that most people do not know how to do it properly; this is a message, not a conversation, and not a sprint - thus clarity - which means clear enunciation - is called for.

I cannot recall the number of voice messages I have received where the person speaking, firstly, mumbles, and secondly, races through both the message and when giving their telephone number; and, while I am not especially enamoured of the format, to have to listen to a message three times to ensure that I have heard it properly and that I have also successfully managed to transcribe the full phone number mentioned, does not endear me to the caller.
Yes if I know I might have to leave a message, I practice it an unreasonable number of times before I call. And yes, even if whole rest was garbled, at least enunciate the phone#!
 
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I’m not sure but I think texting has supplanted voicemail. I recall a few years ago a supervisor being annoyed someone left him a vm. Apparently he tells people not to leave a vm as he won’t listen to it, but will just call the person back. Hence he got annoyed when someone did. This trends with my teenage daughters attitude but he had 30 years on her. My takeaway is that while I find them useful, they are viewed as antiquated by many and seldom used.
I recognized a few years ago that the overwhelming majority of my voicemails are spam. This prompted me to anonymize my greeting so as to not tell the robocall the name of the account holder. Bottom line is nowadays if I don’t recognize the number, I’m not gonna pick up.
 
I had a chief of police for years that would call and never leave a voicemail, even if it was emergent, he would just expect you to call him back. It was strange, but that his was M.O.

There is a performance automotive shop that I use, and when your vehicle is complete, they actually will text you versus call, which I actually prefer. I still find companies or anything of that nature will still leave messages, but from a personal standpoint, I never leave voicemails unless I’m absolutely seeking a returned call.
 
More than likely, most of the calls you get that don’t leave a voicemail are spam / scam callers.
This is my interpretation.

Legitimate callers leave voice messages even if they are prerecorded like my medical clinic.

Scammers won't leave messages because they are using robo-dialers to get a live human to answer at which point the call is connected to the live scammer.

If I see an incoming call from a number I don't recognize, I always let it go to voicemail. If they leave no message, I know it was a phony.

At that point, I will mark the caller as spam and block them (Google Voice excels at this). No more calls from that number.

Legitimate callers will leave a reason why they called. That is standard business practice.

If you spend thirty seconds trying to call someone and you don't leave a message, you just wasted thirty seconds of your time and you walk away with nothing. If you add a ten second message, at least you and the recipient have something.
 
More than likely, most of the calls you get that don’t leave a voicemail are spam / scam callers.
Many, yes, but not all.

This is my interpretation.

Legitimate callers leave voice messages even if they are prerecorded like my medical clinic.

Scammers won't leave messages because they are using robo-dialers to get a live human to answer at which point the call is connected to the live scammer.

If I see an incoming call from a number I don't recognize, I always let it go to voicemail. If they leave no message, I know it was a phony.

At that point, I will mark the caller as spam and block them (Google Voice excels at this). No more calls from that number.

Legitimate callers will leave a reason why they called. That is standard business practice.

If you spend thirty seconds trying to call someone and you don't leave a message, you just wasted thirty seconds of your time and you walk away with nothing. If you add a ten second message, at least you and the recipient have something.

And some legitimate callers may still prefer not to use voicemail.
 
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