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.

I do agree with this too though!!

I don't check texts and wouldn't expect anybody to be using a text to tell me something important or urgent, let alone a professional establishment.

I also have Whatsapp notifications off but do check them a few times a day.

I don't check texts very often as it's literally all spam, scams and delivery notification. I just go in periodically and mass delete.

I'm 44, I would expect a text, definitely not a WhatsApp from a service provider.

Just looking through my phone I have recent text messages from Next,my bank, my vet, my hairdresser, Dunlem, Argos, HMRC all telling me things I need to know

It's a perfectly acceptable way for organisations to communicate

I rarely get fake texts, they are generally ones I would be expecting

56 here.

And nope.

If it is a last minute change of plan I would far rather they texted/whatsapped than emailed. I’d be much more likely to have not checked my email.

I think that’s the norm for most people which is why things like this (as well as delivery notifications!) tend to be texted. I think if a person disables their texts that’s on them.

@Alltheyellowbirds what about a phonecall? that's the hardest to miss?

@LightYearsAgo those are almost all national companies. This is a single private individual.

I'm surprised that people don't set their phones to only deliver notifications for people in their contacts list.

I have text message notifications off too as I never get real ones from people, I think if they’ve never texted before it would have been better to drop a phone call.

I'm Person B in that I generally do not check my text messages. Service providers contact me by email, friends by messaging apps. The only text messages I receive (and there are quite a lot of them) are spam and scans. I probably get 1 genuine SMS per year, if that.

I don't think Person A is being unreasonable but, particularly as prior communication was by email, then email and text might have been better or, better yet, a phone call.

My gut is that service providers should move away from using SMS as a primary means of contact but that's based on my personal non-use of SMS which could be an outlier.

For such a short-notice change, I'd have texted AND emailed. If no acknowledgement soon, I'd consider phoning or voicemail too, then using social media messaging if no answer. I'd be looking for a response to confirm the new time.

Well yes, a phone call would be best but no-one bloody phones any more.

The professional wasn't in my phone's contacts. We'd never communicated by phone before.

How come you get so many junk texts? Are you signing up to mailing lists or something? You can de register, surely better than disabling your texts due to it?

In the same age group as you. I’d prefer a phone call, but would be happy with an SMS. I’d be less impressed with a WhatsApp, feels massively unprofessional to me.

@Brightlittlecanary believe you me I have tried! No, I always "unselect" SMS on mailing preferences. I think I was victim to a hacking or phishing thing cos I've been bombarded in the last year, both by email and SMS.

I very very rarely get junk texts.

I'm really surprised by these responses. The only texts I get are from my dentist and mother-in-law. I see it as a fairly dated method of communication.

I have so many notification symbols at the top of my screen from the two schools my children attend, Outlook etc that I could easily miss a text. I'd not be very impressed it hasn't been followed up by a phone call and voicemail if I hadn't answered the phone.

I'm in my 30s for context.

Well, yes, the PP i was quoting said she wouldn't expect professional organisations to communicate by text, my experience is the opposite, numerous professional organizations communicate with me by text. I haven't asked them to, i assume it's their standard method

@Jappled same! I view SMS as essentially prehistoric and mostly for 90 year olds, UK wide companies or scammers.

I myself have a business WhatApp account. It is set up professionally with business branding and automated out of hours messages etc. I can tell that my clients (of all ages) MASSIVELY like it as they often instigate messages there rather than phoning/text/email.

And that's how I communicate with: my vet, my mechanic, my roofer, etc, etc. They all have the same - business branding etc.

Indeed, I've just looked - the "professional" DOES have a business whatsapp account with her company logo on it so why didn't she use it?!

You keep saying about having to go around checking all portals of communication in the run up to an appointment but you don't.

If you just enable notifcations then you are...ummm.... notified.

No going around looking in all different places needed.

🤨

Just to add most communication from my children’s’ schools comes via text, so I’d never turn them off for that reason. For example info re school closures due to snow.

I’m nearly fifty and in my personal life I see it as dated too - everyone in my family and friends would WhatsApp.

However doctors, dentists, vet, garage, plumber, delivery companies etc etc all text.

So I see WhatsApp for personal, texts for appointments and other notifications.

Email I see as a different thing entirely - I have to deliberately open it rather than it pinging up on screen like my texts and WhatsApp’s do. I tend to do that once a day at most so would never expect an urgent change of appointment to go there. Work email is different of course - I’m sat in front of that bastard all day 😂