Do you check texts? (SMS)

[DoYouCheckTexts]

Who is in the right here?

Person A: a professional service provider, texts (SMS rather than WhatsApp) their client at 8am on the day of the appt advising the slot (which was for 6pm) is no longer available and asking them to come at 8pm that day or rearrange to a different day.

Person B: the client, has notifications turned off for SMSs on their phone as they get annoyed with getting lots of SMSs about parcel deliveries and from scammers. They don't see the message and turn up at the appointment at the original time to find noone there.

This was only the 2nd appt and Person A has previously communicated only by EMAIL.

VOTE:
YABU = Person A is correct. Person B should check SMSs, especially if they have an appointment.
YANBU = Person B is correct. Person A should have PHONED Person B to ensure they got the message, especially when they didn't respond to the text.

Should have checked her texts at least once in 10 hours surely

Is it a therapist? Good practice would be to ask you to respond confirming you’ve received the message, and if you don’t then try another medium

BOTH are unreasonable; there is no need to disable SMS completely, and the provider should have followed up if they got a notification that the message was not delivered.

Person A is right

B should certainly check texts, seeing as they have an appt.
A bears some responsibility, as this is a new method of communicatimg with that client, so should have followed it up with a phone call (to give changed appt details and to inform the client of the new way of communicating)

Person B is in the wrong.

And they should also just stick their phone on silent, check it a few times a day and block any scam numbers.

In case it's relevant, both persons are a similar age, late 30s/early 40s.

Person B needs to check their texts.

Yes you should have checked your texts, they're hardly likely to contact you by email for something urgent which this was.

It's a bit weird to have a mobile and turn off text notifications. I also think if you look to see if you have missed calls, WhatsApp, emails you can check if you've had any texts. I wouldn't expect a professional to whatsapp either.

i would of expected a phone call, not a text.

If person A didnt get a reply they should have called to check person B had received txt.

Unreasonable to not check text messages. Also unreasonable not to follow up with a call or email on something urgent like a last minute appointment change.

I've never used WhatsApp and wouldn't expect a professional to contact me using it. Never known anyone to turn off text notifications.

However, if they didn't receive a reply perhaps they should have telephoned them instead.

I'd think it was odd to get a WhatsApp from a professional.

I have all notification sounds turned off, but I'd see a text within 24 hours.

I'd expect correspondence like that to come via SMS. It does from my chiropractor, private hospital, nail lady and hair dresser. My dog physio and my hobby club WhatsApp instead, but I have my WhatsApp notifications off but know to check them when I have appointments.

Turning SMS off seems so weird to me - it's how people contact you with som level of urgency. If I need to contact someone urgently I would do it in the following order (depending on who it was):

Phone
SMS
Whatsapp
Social media DM (I'd skip this if it was a professional contact)
Email (Email would come after phone for a professional contact)

IMHO a phonecall, given the relatively short notice, would have been more courteous than a text as well as ensuring the person definitely got the message.

This person is a meant to be a professional. Cancelling on the day by text is, imho, something a feckless online dater does. It's almost a bit cowardly!

My solicitor, vet, builder, etc etc all have WhatsApp Business accounts.

What do you mean who is correct? The professional sent a text as it was urgent and emails are not a good way to send urgent messages, so entirely understandable and appropriate. The client didn't get the text due to not using texts - a rather unusual decision but one that she is obviously free to make. The result of this was inconvenience for the client. No one is right or wrong. However I am surprised that the professional didn't give a follow up call when the client didn't reply - if it is a private professional then that is shoddy but if it was a busy NHS clinic then it's just one of those things.

Surely if you choose to turn of your notifications then you can't complain when you're not notified about something.... or am I missing something?

I actually think it's a shame that we all have to constantly check every form of communication on the day we have appts. Being cancelled or rescheduled by a supposed professional really shouldn't be routine.

It's a private professional, not an NHS clinic. Some phones apparently show when an SMS text is read, a bit like whatsapp. (Mine shows 2 blue-ed in circles) So she may have even been able to tell it wasn't read. Indeed, it would have been reasonable to assume the text hadn't been read as no response was received to the question "can you come 2hrs later?"

I'm surprised people think SMS text is a good way to convey an "urgent" message. Call me old-fashioned but that's the rare occasion where I actually pick up the phone and place a call!

I would expect a phone call in this situation. That said, the client shouldn’t be giving out her mobile number if she doesn’t want people to use it.

Person B should have notified person A that they don't like being contacted by text!

I would have expected a phone call and I think it’s unprofessional for someone to rearrange appointments like this last minute unless there is a real emergency which clearly wasn’t the case as she rearranged for a couple of hours later. It sounds like she gave the slot to someone else. She should have called.