I've noticed a tendency both on this board and in the rest of the world for people to overly rely on the internet and email for information and communication.  Here are a few examples:

1) "I emailed them and never got a reply."  How many times have you seen someone post this?  It's often followed by "I guess they don't want my business so now they'll never ever get a penny from me."  WTF is wrong with these people?  Have they never heard of the phone?  I've seen this exact type of post several times in the Bushmaster forum, or even worse in some other forum ABOUT Bushmaster, and the poster never bothered to get off their ass and make a phone call.  Bushmaster has never been anything but helpful every time I have ever spoken with them, yet people want to condemn them for not answering an email or a post on an internet board.

2) Asking technical questions about a product on a general forum.  If the manufacturer/dealer has their own forum on this board, why not try asking the question there first?  And then if you don't get an answer there, contact them directly via email, or try picking up the phone and calling them.

It's one thing to ask a "this vs. that" question in a general forum.  It's quite another to ask how a manufacturer does a certain thing.  If the piece of information you're looking for is that important, why on earth would you rely on some 4th party heresay on an internet forum?  Why on earth would you not contact the company or person directly?

I have people that work for me that resort to this same silliness.  I'll tell them to call someone and make sure that person is going to be at a meeting, and then they turn around and email them.  When I ask why the person's not at the meeting, they say "oh, I emailed them."  Never stopped to think that someone might not get back into the office and check the email before the meeting time, huh?

I sometimes think that the internet and email are going to be the death of us.

I only use email if the phone isn't an option.

I only use email if it is not too important, otherwise I use the phone.

I'm curious as to what a business week would be like right now, no Internet, email or cell phone usage.

Just 1 week is all!

It would bring most companies to its knees I bet.

Norman, it ain't the tech, it's how some idiots misuse it, or fail to use it to proper advantage.

And if a company doesn't answer their phones you should at least write them a letter. Just because a company doesn't feel like answering their phones doesn't mean they don't want your business.

Quoted: wth do people put up an email address for if they aren't going to answer it?

I'm curious about that too...  Some things, particularly technical things like questions about products, are best dealt with in writing.  More convenient too.  I catch up on alot of personal stuff in the evening when people aren't available to answer phones.

Not everyone is a computer wiz.  And I'm personally convinced that email isn't entirely reliable.  If someone picks up the phone, I know they are there and I know that they are hearing me.  I called Hans Vang onetime and had a 45 minute conversation with him that was VERY educational RE: shotguns.  I doubt I would have gotten half the information in an email.

Quoted: And if a company doesn't answer their phones you should at least write them a letter. Just because a company doesn't feel like answering their phones doesn't mean they don't want your business.

LOL

Quoted: wth do people put up an email address for if they aren't going to answer it?

Yipper.
I don't like to do gun stuff from work. If the only time I can call them is during work...
I'll spen more to buy from a vendor that runs a good website than one I have to call.
But, I understand your point, I don't take failing to respond to an e-mail as being reasen enough to not deal with someone. If I can get it elsewhere they've lost a sale, but not my business.

Quoted: Not everyone is a computer wiz.  And I'm personally convinced that email isn't entirely reliable.  If someone picks up the phone, I know they are there and I know that they are hearing me.  I called Hans Vang onetime and had a 45 minute conversation with him that was VERY educational RE: shotguns.  I doubt I would have gotten half the information in an email.

It isn't reliable on that people are reading it or who it is really from.

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I think we rely entirely too much on electricity myself..

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Try this forum by phone

Quoted: And if a company doesn't answer their phones you should at least write them a letter. Just because a company doesn't feel like answering their phones doesn't mean they don't want your business.

I sense a certain sarcasm here, but it makes my point: If a business don't answer emails or phone calls (or faxes, for that matter), it tells me that they aren't particulary hungry for my business (or at least are too busy to deal with their customers effectively). In either case, that doesn't say anything positive about the quality of their customer service.

As a small business owner, this is my philosophy towards my customers: If you contact me - even if it's by singing telegram courier – you WILL get a timely response.

Quoted: In either case, that doesn't say anything positive about the quality of their customer service.

I disagree completely.  As I pointed out in my first post, I have heard people whine about how slow Bushmaster is to answer emails, yet in my opinion they have some of the best customer service in the industry.

What I think is part of the breakdown is that some people expect that everyone in the world is as up to date with technology as they are.  Some companies are spending time getting good at what they do, rather than learn new technology that is largely just a convenience for the customer too lazy (or scared?) to pick up the phone.

In my business I only recently began to use email and I have come to hate it.  It's too goddamn easy for some little twerp to get uppity.  Phone calls were bad enough dealing with guys that were awefully tough on the phone but suddenly very humble when they came out to the jobsite.  All email did was add another layer of insulation for these punks.  At work I have reduced email to nothing more than a convenient way to transmit and receive files.  Even then it is rare that I find something that I couldn't have gotten via fax.  Fullsize drawings are about the only thing that has to be emailed.  I think that the cost of the speed is coutesy and putting (at the very least) a voice to the person you're communicating with.