I get so tired of sending businesses emails or messages from their “Contacts” page only to receive no reply. I’ve suggested to Choice that they develop a register of such businesses based on member feedback and shame such businesses perhaps annually. Sort of a shonky contacts page!!
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I agree with you as I have often experienced the same thing.
I now always type my message in MS Word and file a copy in Documents so that I have a record of my message.
Some businesses do the right thing with their online contact forms but I much prefer using a conventional email form, and having a copy of the message in my Sent Emails file.
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In my experience over many years I’ve found that OS (mainly US) businesses are much more likely to respond to web contact page messages or emails than Australian businesses, who frequently ignore questions… I guess they don’t really want my custom.
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One doesn’t have to wait for Choice to action something, one can name and shame on this forum or other social media platforms.
If a company has poor service, including not responding to inquiries, then it will affect their business as many customers will chose to take their business eslewhere.
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Indeed anyone could create a Facebook, or other Social Media page to enable this. Then just send a link to friends and ask them to spread it further and so on. As the creator the person/s who made the page/s then need to moderate and collate the details into a form of easily accessible info (spreadsheet comes to mind) that is easy to place in a central area of the topic.
Nothing to stop someone creating that page here on this forum and making the entry of details a “wiki” post so that others can amend or add as needed. If unsure how to make a post a wiki one, staff of Choice on this site eg @BrendanMays, @ajohnson or any consumer defender should be able to help.
If you want to see if you can create a wiki entry click the three dots at the bottom of a post you created and then click the wrench/spanner symbol and see if you have the item that is titled “Make Wiki”. If you do you can create the wiki post.
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COMPANIES/BUSINESSES AND IF THEY RESPOND TO CONTACT VIA EMAIL OR CONTACTS PAGE
PLEASE ENTER THE BUSINESS NAME FIRST, THEN CONTACT DETAILS EG CONTACT PAGE ADDRESS OR EMAIL ADDRESS, THEN ADD IF THEY RESPOND AND IF THEY DO YOU CAN ALSO OPTIONALLY ADD HOW LONG IT TAKES.
This is a wiki entry so anyone can edit or add to this post. If you wish to add a business please do so. Remember this is public and so be accurate and polite in your posting. Any dubious posting/edit can be removed or edited to ensure civil outcomes.
AS AN EXAMPLE:
ABC Business Pty Ltd (this is just a dummy name and is not meant to reflect on any business that may use this title)
abc.business @some.emailaddress.com
Yes they respond promptly within 24 hours
(or if no response then)
No they don’t respond
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No need to even do that- places already exist, Product Review, Google Reviews etc. I’ve certainly seen reviews about poor/lack of response to email and phone contact from people who never got to purchase anything.
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Indeed, in my experience setting up and maintaining websites for companies, often they don’t even realise their web form isn’t functioning. Give me a simple contact email any day.
In * general * any domain should have an underlying mailbox set up for webmaster@ or postmaster@ emails to their domain.
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I am the person who responds to the online contact for our business. It is mainly used by spammers, but for some reason, the potential clients we respond to, often ignore our replies and when I try and contact them by phone, if they have a phone number, tell me that the mail probably went into their spam folder and they cannot be bothered to look for it.
Personally, I prefer to look for the business email address and email directly. It is much easier to have a record for me.
I judge a company if they do not have clear cut contact details on their website, including an email address and a phone number. My feeling is that if they don’t want to provide me with an alternative form of contact (not a contact form on their website) they are not sure as to whether they really want me as client and they are possibly dodgy.
I also am annoyed by 1300 numbers, as i pay more to use these. I want a direct number. Some mobile phone prepaids do not like these numbers being used and I pay extra to use these numbers if i call on my NBN voip line - yes, I still have that, as I need a landline number for some of the things we have to register for our business. It is barely used now, but as long as i don’t call 1300 numbers, it does not cost extra to have.
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