How often do you leave a voice mail?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been attempting to contact someone for a business matter.

She had listed an email and a telephone number. I chose the email and sent her one outlining what I was looking for. I got a very quick reply asking me to give her a call.

I called and got her voicemail. I left a detailed message and referred to the email.

She didn’t call back.

I called again.

She didn’t call back.

Now I feel like a fool if I call again. On the other hand, I kinda did need to speak with her.

I never like to leave more than two voicemails, but I can’t explain exactly why that’s the cutoff for me.

How about you? How many times will you call and leave a message before you start to feel awkward?

2

If it’s for business, I will leave three or four, then begin the workaround. Tell the receptionist I’ve been trying for days and is he out of town? Try the secretary, then ask if there’s anyone else that can help me.

Basically, I believe that you have 24 hours to return my call. If you don’t, I am free to leave you another message. If I really need the information, I would likely only give up after a month or so.

3

My personal modus operandi is as follows:

I tend to leave a voice mail if it’s a non-urgent matter.

If it is urgent, I leave maybe one message. If they don’t call back and I have to call again, I don’t leave a message specifically since I intend to call them back until I get them in person. It’s just a personal quirk, but like jsgoddess I feel like an idiot if I leave multiple messages.

If that method fails, I do what Campion mentioned and try to get a secretary to help me out in tracking the person down.

4

Seconded. It’s a business call, call me back. Or I keep calling.

5

Almost never do I leave voicemail.

When I phone it’s almost always because of need to talk to a live person “right now.”

This annoys many, but usually if I believe the person is at his desk, I’ll just keep calling back up to three or four times until he answers or calls me back from caller ID, which usually works.

Failing that, I’ll send an email.

6

That *is * annoying. At least you send e-mails. Occasionally people can be too busy to answer you right this minute, you know.

7

I hate checking my phone and getting “missed calls” but no voicemail–pet peeve of mine because I’d like to know how urgent it is that I call you back–so I generally try to leave a voicemail for anybody I call, business or personal…but you’re right, more than two begins to feel awkward.

Of course, these days with cell phones, just one should suffice, because the phone will log all the other missed calls and it will be apparent that the matter is urgent. Same thing if the calls are logged with a receptionist or answering service.

If I do leave more than two, it has to be over a period of a couple of days. Again, no real reason for it, other than the fact that I start to feel slightly stalker-ish otherwise. “It’s Audrey again…hey…call me back…it’s Audrey again…need to talk to you…call me back…” etc. I start to feel kind of like a loser.

8

It all depends on how badly I need to talk to the person. When I was trying to get my offer letter for the place where I work now, I would sometimes call my future boss 2 or 3 times a day and leave messages. He was always apologetic when we finally talked (once I got here, I found out how ridiculously busy he is) and he would eventually call back. Other people at work are terrible about returning calls, so I just keep calling till I find out what I need to know. Especially if it’s their job to tell me what I need to know.

As for personal calls - it varies with the urgency. If I was just calling to shoot the breeze, I may not leave a message at all. And regarding the receipt of voice messages - as long as the caller leaves a number so that I can get back, I do right away. I hate the “Hi, it’s me, call me” without more clarification of who “me” is and what number “me” can be reached at.

9

Unfortunatly the people who do this to me usually don’t need to reach me right away, they just think they do. Normally what they need to let me know is suitable for them to leave a quick VM and only sometimes requires a reply.

I usually will fwd these calls to VM once I see them on the CID, even assigning a special ring to my phone so I don’t even have to look at the CID.

Also after the 1st or 2nd VM I usually leave a 3rd VM stating that If you tryed to call me in the last (hour, whatever), I was out of signal range and couldn’t receive calls but you should be able to reach me now. Sometimes I add a land line nember that I am at for the next (hour).