Not the best way to confirm an appointment

@Asylum (47893)

Manchester, England

October 19, 2015 10:28am CST

Today I received a telephone call from the Royal Eye Hospital to confirm that I was to attend my appointment for next Monday. This seems a practical thing for them to do rather than risk having an appointment time wasted by someone, but the method was not a good idea. It was an automated system with a recorded message stating the time and date of the appointment and asking me to press 1 if I was intending to attend. With so many annoying recorded messages offering gas boilers, PPI refunds and so on being prolific these days, I would not be surprised if many people simply hung up as soon as they heard a recorded system.

20 people like this

17 responses

@LadyDuck (472121)

• Switzerland

20 Oct 15

Imagine if someone still has an old style telephone and cannot press 1. I know some people that still have something like this.

2 people like this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

21 Oct 15

That is one scenario that I had never considered, but a very good point.

1 person likes this

@LadyDuck (472121)

• Switzerland

22 Oct 15

@Asylum I know, because I realized that my Mother has a very old telephone set the day I was asked to press 1 and nothing happened. It is not digital, it is an old analog. I had to use my cellphone to book a taxi. Ridiculous.

1 person likes this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

22 Oct 15

@LadyDuck Oh yes, analogue would be totally incompatible with such systems.

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@blitzfrick (2890)

• United States

19 Oct 15

I don't have that many appointments to be confirmed but when I do get calls to confirm, they're usually made by actual people. Nice.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

20 Oct 15

@blitzfrick I also refuse to call back if the telephone number is unrecognised.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

20 Oct 15

It seems far more practical because people are more likely to stay on the line and listen to what a person has to say before putting the telephone down.

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@blitzfrick (2890)

• United States

20 Oct 15

@Asylum often when they call I let them leave a voice message. Also my phone tells me who is calling and when I get a robo call, it tells me "Unknown". I never answer those calls.

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@Carmelanirel2 (8084)

• United States

19 Oct 15

That might be true, but before I hang on, I at least listen to see who is calling. Interesting that you mention this, because I have told my daughter many times that she needs to give me or one of the other workers her customer's number so we can do a reminder call, but she hasn't done this. I don't know why, we have had a few who were no shows because they forgot.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

19 Oct 15

The reminder is a veru good idea, but not if people do not stay on the telephone long enough.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

19 Oct 15

@Carmelanirel2 You are obviously right that for a human it would be a very time consuming duty and thus a demand on hospital resources.

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@Carmelanirel2 (8084)

• United States

19 Oct 15

@Asylum Yeah, and my idea was for a "real" person, not automated. It would take time for a hospital to contact so many people (where I would only call 4-5 people for each day) so maybe that is why.

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Belle Starr (Iz)

@BelleStarr (61101)

• United States

21 Oct 15

We have both types here, some live people and some automated. I am just glad they remind me as I have gotten more forgetful as I get older.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

21 Oct 15

Now that you mention it I cannot remember whether I have a good memory or not.

1 person likes this

Belle Starr (Iz)

@BelleStarr (61101)

• United States

21 Oct 15

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@jaboUK (64354)

• United Kingdom

19 Oct 15

I actually think it's a very good idea, and my husband gets those messages regularly. They say straight away that it's a message from the hospital so there is no danger of him mistaking who it's from. Surely if they say the time and date of the appointment you know it's a genuine message?

1 person likes this

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

19 Oct 15

I had no doubt about the message being genuine, but would expect some people to be so fed up with nuisance recorded calls to hang up before the hospital is mentioned.

1 person likes this

ElizabethWallace

@ElizabethWallace (12074)

• United States

23 Oct 15

I agree, and what happens if you don't confirm? Do they cancel the appointment? This would sure make me angry.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

23 Oct 15

If you fail to attend an appointment you are automatically discharged and would need to be referred again by your Doctor. This seems a little severe if something happens at the last minute and you are unable to notify them.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

24 Oct 15

@ElizabethWallace I am actually uncertain about that. However, I would hope that the appointment would still be valid because I cannot remain at home all day just in case they decide to telephone me.

1 person likes this

ElizabethWallace

@ElizabethWallace (12074)

• United States

24 Oct 15

@Asylum I meant, what happens if you do not confirm their silly phone call, but show up on time for your appointment?

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@scheng1 (24649)

• Singapore

20 Oct 15

Our hospitals here send sms to your phone. if you want to change the appointment or cancel the appointment, then you press the respective number. If not, you just ignore the message, and view it as a reminder.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

20 Oct 15

This is a far more practical idea because everyone will read an SMS message.

@marguicha (223863)

• Chile

25 Oct 15

Recorded messages are about the worst that technology has offered us. I agree with you.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

25 Oct 15

They are an absolute nuisance to all telephone owners, so the concept is not suitable for such use since many people will not listen beyond the first word.

@allknowing (137933)

• India

22 Oct 15

Good thing you were vigilant and did not pass it off as yet another of those marketing gimmicks.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

22 Oct 15

I was definitely close to doing, but since the message seemed a new one I decided to listen to it for curiosity.

1 person likes this

@valmnz (17097)

• New Zealand

21 Oct 15

Both my hairdresser and my optometrist send a text and ask you to confirm by pressing A in reply. I think I may have opted in to that system, that is agreed to it. It works for me.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

21 Oct 15

A text message is a far more practical idea because everyone is likely to read it so I would be perfectly happy with that system.

2 people like this

ElizabethWallace

@ElizabethWallace (12074)

• United States

23 Oct 15

@Asylum unless of course your phone is off.

@Sheilamarie78 (2586)

• Canada

20 Oct 15

The personal touch is so appreciated, at least by me.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

20 Oct 15

IO can accept the impersonal touch considering how much time it would take a member of staff to telephone around and confirm all appointments, but if I am not pre warned about the call I am tempted to hang up immediately.

@Marilynda1225 (83103)

• United States

20 Oct 15

Hopefully not too many people ignore those automated calls from the hospital.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

20 Oct 15

It seems as though many do not or they would most likely have changed the system.

@TheHorse (220408)

• Walnut Creek, California

20 Oct 15

I tend to hang up when I hear recorded messages.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

21 Oct 15

So do many people these days, which is why I am surprised that this system is used.

@pcunix (210)

• Middleboro, Massachusetts

21 Oct 15

I agree. I almost did hang up on one of those.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

21 Oct 15

I must have been quite close to doing so myself. The only reason that I listened long enough was that the recording did not sound familiar and I was curious which this one would turn out to be.

@marlina (154130)

• Canada

19 Oct 15

I do not like this way of the clinic to tell me about an appointment at all.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

19 Oct 15

The notification was not even necessary because I had already arranged the appointment.

@amnabas (14714)

• Karachi, Pakistan

19 Oct 15

But here at my place we don't get automatic messages So we can have an argue on date and time.

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

19 Oct 15

It waqs an appointment that I had previously arranged, so the date and time were fine by me.

@garymarsh6 (23412)

• United Kingdom

19 Oct 15

You are not wrong there I would not bother listening to a recorded message!

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

20 Oct 15

Here in England we get so many recorded messages over the telephone that we are all fed up of them and the telephone goes down within seconds as a rule.