Deafilmedia

So the interpreter speak while you sign... or interpreter has to wait til
you finish signing then speak to the caller?

Deafness

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purplecatty

I'm not alone! I called U-haul in KS in 8am through i711. The guy on other end of line picked up and he said "Who is this" then hung up. I kept calling and they ignored me (I instructed i711 operator to keep bugging till he picks up the phone just to give him hard time) After my 9th call. I gave up and tried call other U-haul place. They answer quickly and I asked qq's about tow wiring ect is all I'm asking for!! ( I really don't care if they call it harrassment. I can simply explain that I'm deaf and tried to call them and they're denying service!! period! It's a LAW for all business must provide service to all customer no matter what!!) It's nothing new!!

Did you know that I called Little Ceasar Pizza place back then and they hung up on me several times. I drove over to their place and I spoke with manager explaining that you answered and operator say "This is a relay call". He said "Yeah". I explained him how the system work and It's me calling trying to order pizza. He apologized me and afterward, when we wanted to order pizza. They answered promptly. I ordered pizza at his place after explaining about relay service. It's just educational matter LOL.

My suggestion. If you are ordering Starbuck, Pizza, Chinese ect locally. If they hung up on you. Go to their place and talk with the manager that you are the one trying to make a call to order food or drinks. If they are not familiar with Relay service, explain briefly how relay service work and just answer it and let the operator relay message. So next time you order something, you'll get better response. Tell them that you are making revenue from deaf customers!!!! so please cooperate!! LOL

Catty

Deafilmedia

Catty...

Hearing people have tough time on phone too... not just deaf people.

My mom asked for pizza and her 3 sideing and deliver man didn't give
her the correct order.

Then

When making flight reservation, my mom had to hold for almost an hour...
and then talk to machine, and repeat repeat repeat, and then put on hold...
and then live person answered.. then she asked for plane ticket price, the
live person put on hold..... for almost an hour.... and then CLICK (hangup on her)

My mom got so mad... and frustrated...

relayoperator

it also depends on the relay operator and how persistant they are to get through.

TechBill

That statement is inncorrect.
It not a law that busniess must provide service to all customer in fact busniess have the right to refuse service if they wish to do so.



.

Nesmuth

File a Title III complaint with your local small claims court and get yourself an easy $5,000 pacifier.

Richard

purplecatty

Yes, Business have RIGHT to refuse to provide service ONLY if customer KNOWN to return item for refunds too often or breaking things and refuse to pay for it, opening items while store forbid package openings or have disease which is communicable or have serious condition.. BUT does not say that they can ignore or refuse service to normal customer for no reason... They can get sued for refusal to provide service to NORMAL deaf or handicapped customers. This case easily win tho.. Business know that.. That's all I know. I know there is a law here in KS tho. They CANNOT discriminate their customers.

We had bank in KS got sued because they refused to provide loans to middle class black people becasue of race issue.. They're in deep trouble tho.

Catty

farmerjoe

That dosn't always work either, my girlfriend (hearing) had her toncils out and couldn't talk (for a couple of days) but had to call her insurance company. We tried to call with me speaking for her, but they (the insurance company) told us we couldn't do that. So we made a 2-line HCO call. worked great. IP relay to the rescue

purplecatty

LOL why not! That'll be great for buying nice fancy laptop or pc.

VamPyroX

I recently called them and they didn't hang up on me.

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dkf747

No way! That will take us back 20 years! That's the way it used to be. Forget that.

purplecatty

DITTO!!

All you need to do go over to Starbuck (where you usually pick up coffees ect..) and talk to manager. Explain to them that you're the one who were trying to call. Ask them if they heard "Hello This is a Relay.....", If they say yes, then tell them to take it!!.. If they want to earn revenue from you. They better start taking your order once you called them!!!!


Manager or employees maybe in "Stone Age" mentally. They need to know what's new and stick with it!!! Currently, Some biz take Email or fax for order!! Ask Starbuck if they have alternative like Email or Fax or maybe Text messaging (it may be new)

McDonald's in College Blvd area(Overland Park, KS) already started using Fax machine for taking order 18 years ago!!!! It was popular among business area where people don't have time to make phone call to McDonald's. So they asked employees what they wanted and wrote down and their business name address and fax number then fax em' to McDonald's. McDonald's sent fax for the price so employees would know how much to bring when they go and pick it up. Simple!

So that's why check Starbuck for alternative communication!

Good Luck!
Catty..

PowerON

when I decide to not use relay announcement while reach my sister. She was so confuse and asked if it's really me. So, I had to stick with relay announcement no matter when I reach my family. For business, yeah, they're have stupid moment. "omg! you want to be business with me, shoo shoo!" *hang up*

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Cheri

Some companies are not aware of Relay calls, They might think it's telemarketing companies it takes time and practice for them to get used to it, Don't give up.

I always tell an operator to announce that a deaf customer is calling, so that the companies or stores would be aware.

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MaxUFC

How about online order and be brew your own Starbucks at your home? Starbucks Coffee - Starbucks Online Store - Coffee Beans, Espresso Pods and House Blend - StarbucksStore.com

farmerjoe

Yes! let's all brew our own flavored sodas and other specialty drinks, on our way to work, or in the afternoon when we want to sit and visit with our friends, they won't mind driving out of the way to our homes and waiting.

who needs to know when starbucks is open? we just need to wait about a week for the beans to be delivered then do all the work ourselves. brilliant!

Opertot

As a relay operator for IP-Relay.com I can give a few hints and maybe some insight on what happens.

First of all, unless we're instructed by the text user (you) we cannot tell the called party that you are deaf/HOH/speech disabled. It is against the rules.
We do try to do our best to make sure the called party stays on the line, we make sure they know it is not telemarketing if they ask, we say something like "no sir/ma am you're receiving a call from someone using the relay service" or.. if you give us permission upfront to tell them we can say "you're receiving a call from a person who may be deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled."

How the call goes really depends on how much instruction you give us (oprs).
Remember, you can tell an opr to announce a call a certain way, you can tell us not to announce or explain relay, or use any of the GA/SK protocol.

I am here to try to do my best to help people who are frustrated with the relay service, if anybody here thinks I shouldn't be here or offer help just let me know and I will disappear.

relayopr1

if u only want to know the store hours just say dont announce relay just ask for the store hours and then that is what the opr will do pls dont continue to ask questions or comment because then the opr has to explain relay and go through the whole notion and then the person will hang up eventually

VamPyroX

That's what I do.

If I know what I want, I tell the relay operator up front. It cuts down the time of the call.

For instance, I'll ask to speak with a live representative. I'll simply say... "connect to a live rep". It works.

I also do the store hours thing sometimes.

There were times when the relay operator I talked to was too anal about what was going on during the call. I would ask to connect to a live representative and the relay operator will say that the option is not there. So, I have the operator go through the call again and list the options available. One option was, "To speak with a customer service representative." I told the operator that was the option I wanted. She said, "No, you specifically said 'live'... not 'customer service' representative." Grr...

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relayopr1

When i do relay i dont care whether the caller says live rep, cust. svc, live person or what i get someone on the line, whoever did that was being a a^%hole! I would rather get a person on the line anyway than to type all those trees out, seriously. And when we are typing those trees out we are not typing right along with the recording sometimes it depends on how fast or slow it goes, we have to hang up and call back to get all of that, i typed all of that crap out one time, but the caller was giving me all info that was asked for which was fine, but once we got someone on the line they hung up (grrr.) so this person wanted to redial of course i did to because i hate when that happens and how and why i dont know but we got the same person again she did not hang up this time because i kind of had a attitude with her, i did not type any trees out again, i knew what the caller wanted and it was on my screen, but if i was being monitored i would have got in trouble because i was suppose to retype everything again out for her to choose from, i think that is stupid, even the caller was like thk u relay opr for not typing and going through all of that again thk u! Relay service really wants us to stay on the phone with u and the place ur calling anyway for as long as possible because thats how they get paid. The main thing i hate about this job is that we cant help people sumtimes like on some of those trees it can get confusing press 1 for this 2 for that and we dont use punctation or anything so sometimes a caller will ask opr which one should i push, we cant tell them, but when they ask me, opr which one should i push i just want tech support i key it in because they have told me what they want they just dont remember or know the nbr, i dont care if they(managers/quality assurance) say something to me, because some of the rules are stupid, but we are to be "invisible".

Secretblend

Some of those rules are stupid because it's impossible to be "invisible"
I wish they would give us (Deaf and relay operator) both flexiblies cause it is always different for each call.

VamPyroX

I understand what you mean.

I don't blame the relay operator, I blame the companies putting too much stuff in their automated menu options. It's even a problem with job applications nowadays. You can't get a live person or an appropriate contact information when it comes to applying for a job.

I applied for a job through one company. It turned out that the only place I could apply was on their website. So, I did that. A week goes by and I decide to follow up on that application. (It's considered proper etiquette to follow up a week later.) However, I can't find any contact information online. No direct phone number or direct email address. I do find a standard "contact us" online form. I fill that out and I get an automated response. I reply to that response saying that they didn't answer my question and I get another automated response to that... which was exactly the same as the automated response before that. So, I reply again using words that are not recognized by automated responses... "YOU DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION." I finally got a phone number from them.

So, I call that number using the relay service. I make it simple, "Connect to a live rep." There isn't one. So, I waste my time listening to all the options. Just for the operator to type out all the options was a page long! After picking an option, there's more options... also a page long! After navigating through, I finally find the right person to connect to. (Of course, the operator had to hang up and redial each time I made my choice. ) I finally get a live representative, but that person refers me to a different phone number. So, I call this number with the same instructions... again, there's more options. Again, I go through the whole thing. Argh! I must have gone through 3 or 4 different phone numbers before I finally got to someone that was in the right place.

Oh, was the problem solved... nope. My application remains a mystery.

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skipper

Phones.... grrr. I don't even use the relay, but I have used it to talk to another deaf person long time ago.... It is so frustrating that many companies are switching to these automated systems...... and many are actually disabling the "0" option..

I end up just pushing buttoms repeatedly, and eventually get somebody (who is in the wrong area anyways) but transferes me...... While this often works out best, nothing pisses me off more sitting on hold for 30 minutes or more, only to have them "drop" the call when they pick up...

Anyway - why would anybody drink starbucks!! Try Tim Hortons!

PowerON

it's not spam, it's telemarket they thought.

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GarnetTigerMom

Yep, Agree with you there all the way, what what I do don't let relay annouce the service instead of getting hanged up. Sucks huh. :-)

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shel90

What happened to the good old fashioned way of contacting people who have applied directly? I did encounter those phone "interviews" when I was applying for a teaching job at the public schools. It was very difficult to do them via relay. I went to one public school's office and explained my situation with the phone interview and that I would like to talk to someone regarding a job. Instead, they gave me a phone number so I call..guess what? Automed system.

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purpleagent711

I get this type of all the time --- here is what you do:
type: "no announce relay... this is X biz, pls find out what hrs open today then hang up tk u ga"

We just pretend we are making the call and ask your question, keeping you informed as the best we can while sounding as natural as possible on the phone, then relay to you what they tell us and hang up.

It is really no big deal at all. These calls are so simple. Sometimes just having the opr ask the question for you, avoiding the mention of relay all together, is the best way to go... as long as you don't need anything extremely specific. I, personally, love doing these calls --- it just like asking my hearing friend to call a company and ask the question for me, there is really little difference.

trekwarpspeed

oh yes i remmy that samething from starbucks happend in Arizona 2 years ago. i don't understand whine they refused that is suck!

trekwarpspeed

no it's not telemarket. they was angry that deaf people are freebill that reason hearing have to paid phone bills. that is my point!