Burand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #24

Out of Office Expectations

Does your voice mail tell callers you are out-of-office and will return their calls when you return? Of course it does.

Does your email advise people emailing you when you are out that you are out of the office and not checking email, no coverage can be bound by email, etc., etc? Of course it does.

But are you one of those compulsive people who check your voice mail and email all the time? Or are you simply a person that cannot leave a customer waiting so you always respond anyway? Do you create an expectation then that your emails and voicemails will always be monitored and customer requests will be handled even though your voicemail/email advises their requests may be delayed? What happens that one time when you do not respond and the client chooses that one time to have a claim? When this happens, does the client have a reasonable expectation of you addressing their requests?

While it seems like good customer service should not suffer from rapacious plaintiff attorneys, the key is consistency and doing what you say you will do. If you are not going to check in, say you are not going to check in. If you are going to check in, don’t say you are not going to check your email/voicemail. Customer service is about setting expectations and expectations require consistency and doing what you say. Customer service can even be improved, “I am on vacation, but my customers are important, so I will be checking my voice mail daily and returning calls when possible.”

Topics Professional Liability