My sister-in-law is due for some very specialized heart surgery. She has to travel from Hawaii to Los Angeles for the procedure.
For several weeks she was emailing the surgeon’s office, trying to confirm the day and time of her procedure, pre-op appointments, preparatory instructions and the like. Irritatingly, the surgeon’s office never replied.
Finally, out of desperation, my sister-in-law called the surgeon’s office and was transferred to the Patient Contact Coordinator. When she told the Coordinator that she’d been emailing for weeks but had received no answer, the coordinator replied, “Oh, your emails went to the SPAM folder and were deleted. If you’re not in my Contacts List, emails are automatically listed as SPAM and deleted.”
“So, can I confirm my appointments and get my pre-op information?” asked sister-in-law.
“Sure. Just send me an email,” replied Patient Contact Coordinator.
Pause. Wait. Wait for it.
“Soooooo, do you want my email address to add to your Contacts List?” finally inquired exasperated sister-in-law.
“Huh?” responded the quick-on-the-uptake Coordinator.
“So that the email you just asked me to send you doesn’t get automatically sent to SPAM and deleted ….. again?”
“Uh … Oh … Yeah, I guess.”
To quote a sage, contemporary American icon: “D’oh!”
How does this surgeon ever stay in business if they never get new patients because new patient emails are summarily deleted because they are not in the Coordinator’s current patient Contacts List?
This office, or at least this Patient Contact Coordinator, could benefit from the advanced email management features of Email Center Pro.
Steve Lange
Senior Editor (Ret.)
Palo Alto Software
