Let’s say you hired an attorney and left him a voicemail. When do you expect a call back? Would the answer change for another service professional (i.e. doctor, accountant, mortgage broker, etc.?)
Next business day.
If I have an established relationship with said professional I would expect it in some window of my choosing which they should have in their records. A rousing game of telephone tag is not going to endear you to me or ensure a long and happy future. However if its someone I have just hired I can be more flexible.
I’m a home Inspector. I return calls same day if at all possible, next day if not.
No later than the next business day; the same day if it’s to a doctor’s office about something reasonably urgent.
I just tried to reach the company that mows my lawn about an incorrect bill. I left two voice messages and got no response, so we paid the correct amount.
Certainly the same day, unless it’s late in the day. Within 2 hours, if possible.
I used to own an office-cleaning franchise. It was written into my contract that I had to return calls within ONE hour, or risk a fine.
Same day is ideal, next business day is acceptable. Beyond that is unprofessional (there are exceptions of course, but I’m speaking of the normal rules of business). If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my careers, it’s no one wants to be ignored.
Attorneys are notoriously crap at returning phone calls. It’s the biggest complaint they get from clients. You’re best off doing your research ahead of time and hiring an attorney with good reviews.
Professionals should call back within 24 hours max, or have someone else let you know they’ll be delayed in responding. These days there is email etc. to use instead of direct phone calls. But I wouldn’t count on a call back from a lawyer, I’d just start calling again with increasing frequency until I got a response or a new lawyer, and the new lawyer would probably not be any better.
Sorry responsible lawyers, blame your colleagues for your profession’s reputation.
I usually get calls back within 24 hours at the most. Many times same day if I am calling in the morning which I usually do.
And if the professional is busy, they will have their assistant call back with the answer/information I requested.
Those few who do not return my calls or have a phone system which results in telephone tag find that I take my business elsewhere!
To defend lawyers for a brief second here. Lawyers are often in places where they can’t make phone calls, like client meetings, courtrooms, or in conferences with other attorneys. These things take time. A court hearing can take half a day if your lucky and a full day if the judge doesn’t feel like coming to court until 11am.
For many attorneys that leaves your lunch hour and after hours as the only time you can return phone calls. It’s not a matter of responsibility as much as whether you think it’s worth it to spend your after hours returning phone calls. And then when you get to the office most of those calls you missed during the court hearing are about work that ten different clients wanted to be done the same day. So now it becomes a question of whether you want to spend your after-hours apologizing to ten different clients.
The attorneys that can return calls the same day are exceptional and often affordable.
I gave them 24 hours to respond, or have someone else respond in that time frame. How often is that impossible for a lawyer?
Not impossible, just difficult. Even more difficult to do without ignoring your family or developing a drug addiction. That’s my experience at least. I’d be curious to hear if another attorney would agree with me.
Same day or next day, and that pretty much goes for everyone. This is one thing that has completely mystified me throughout my adult life, the number of businesses or professionals that simply don’t call back or are lousy at it. I have money that I’m trying to give you. Do you not want my money? I swear to god I would make a killing if I went into residential construction/plumbing/electrical, simply because I’d call people back. Those people are the worst.
I counted email and text, and having someone else respond. The response can just be “I got your message, I’ll call you tomorrow”. I don’t see how hard it is under those circumstances.
I’m a lawyer, and I’m up front in the initial consult that I try to return calls within one day, but I’m not able to always do that. If you have a question or concern the best thing to do to get a quicker reply is email me. That not only allows me to respond after hours, but it also gives me time to think about your question, look at your file, and give a thoughtful response.
Professionals who are regularly too busy to return phone calls are taking on too many clients. Once you learn to balance your workload, it shouldn’t be a problem.
I’ve been in private practice as a psychologist for over 10 years now. I bet I haven’t missed returning a call the same day more than once per year.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease, call them back if their services are worth it. Some of the best people in their fields take on too much work load and you’ve got to fight a bit for attention.
This. And what Lakai said. And also: lawyers have deadlines. Some of which can get us sued for malpractice if we miss. We have to prioritise. If I always put “call client back” at the top of the list, I would never get anything else done.
Next business day is reasonable in my professional judgment - unless it really is extremely urgent, in which case, you should either leave some detail or send a follow-up email explaining why (not just saying “it’s urgent” because 90% of the time it isn’t).
I loved my divorce attorney. During our initial discussion she mentioned that she preferred email over phone conversations. I told her I had the same preference.
We worked so well together! Other than face-to-face meetings, it was all email and text, which I was able to save and refer back to as needed. Neither of us ever had to wait over 30 minutes for a reply, even if the reply was, “busy now, I’ll get back to you by noon”.