R E L A Y

IP-Relay is foreign accents. No one understand what relay agent saying or us trying to tell to third person on the phone. It been messy for one person on phone and other person on computer. Relay agent has difficult understanding each other. I found out more from one of our committee last few months and realized same plm.

I think AT&T or MCI or etc.. should be straight relay agent that understand the deaf commiunuty. VP or TTY should do same thing.

I not trust with IP-Relay unless I left the message on voice mail to email me instead.
 
:roll: Don't mean to come off as an asshole, but this whole relay operators have foreign accents thing is dumb and unfounded. As a whole, relay operators as a group are just as ethnically diverse as America itself, primarily being caucasians. Maybe some of you have called through a couple of Phillipines operators, but accents are not a problem.
 
Yup - I use relay, and I've been hung up on. It doesn't happen often , but sure it happens ...and it doesn't happen "more" with one relay co. than another.

I don't think it has ANYTHING to do with the accent of the person voicing for me ( if that was the case then the business would hang up on 1/2 their clients). In Canada everyone is from somewhere lol - and alot fo us have accents - so one thinks we're scammers because of it - I think it has to do with 2 problems

1) telemarketers that call businesses ( it happens at my workplace at least a few times a week) ...Businesses should be excluded from all that 'junk' - it's a waste of everyones time.

2) Hearing people don't often know what relay is about - so they assume that it's someone 'wasting their time' ... I've even had people at my workplace hang up on relay callers accidentally ! - and I've made a HUGE point of explaining how that works lol

The wording CAs use varies alot from area to area, and RS to RS... I personally prefer if the CA says that I'm hoh or deaf, and that I am using a relay service provided by the government - and the operator will voice for me, and type EVERYTHING that the other person says !

I do respect that some people don't want to be identified as hoh/deaf or SD/SI ... but honestly ... unless your a scammer ... be realistic who the heck uses relay for "fun" - relay is often a royal pain in the arse to use ( even with a nice helpful CA) . I'd think the person on the other end would think I was an idiot if I didn't tell them why it took so long for me to "answer back" ... and that I was typing.

I do agree that awareness is a key factor - however I know that it's hard to 'get the message out' to everyone.

There HAVE been times where I ask the relay operator NOT to be to one to identify relay , but instead to allow ME to do it ( only some places will let you do that I think ?? ) That way I can say " Hi my name is XXXX , I am hoh and I am using a government service called Relay, to assist me - I will now let the relay operator explain how this works in case you haven't used it before... thank you. ( ga - CA pls continue) -

I only use this if I've been hung up on 2x in a row ;)

ohh and what we usually do if we think it's a scam - I get whoever picks up the call to mention our workplace has a hoh/deaf worker who has a TTY in the building and we'd be happy to call them back directly - usually the scammers just disconnect the call at that point lol. Since Canada DOES NOT have IP relay of any kind ... if you're calling in canada ... you'd HAVE to be calling from a TTY ( not an IP based call)
 
I know how you feel about hanging on you via relay service.

I work for the federal agency and I had to contact the office supply vendor to obtain the info about the office supply product. The vendor told me that he do not accept the relay service and hanged up. I told relay operator to relay the message for me before he hang up again: this is me calling from the federal agency, and you can not hang up on me because of the federal laws. Guess what they already hanged up. I contacted GSA (they do business with vendors) and complained about hanging up on the deaf federal employee. I also wrote to GSA that vendors must meet my three demands: they must not hang up on me because of ADA and other federal laws, the employor must train his employees for sensitive culture of deaf culture that they must accept the relay service and a letter of apology. Guess what, the vendor wrote me a letter of apology and did change the policy immediately.

If any vendor refuses to meet my demands, I easily sue them. The legal federal employee, as a lawyer, at my federal agency told me that I personally sue the GSA vendor becasue of my deafness. Honest...

Know why? GSA vendors can not afford to loss their federal government business for one small complaint from the deaf federal government employee.

BTW, I collected the letters of apology from three GSA vendors.

I know it is not easy to tell the fucking hearies to follow my demands when I am not on the federal governemnt clock. All you have to do is to contact Better Business Bureau in your state. If any corporate refuses to accept your call via the relay service, you better find out that if they are on the public stock. If so, you have to contact Securities and Exchange Commission for discrimating against deaf stakeholders.

Good Luck
 
Anij said:
Yup - I use relay, and I've been hung up on. It doesn't happen often , but sure it happens ...and it doesn't happen "more" with one relay co. than another.

I don't think it has ANYTHING to do with the accent of the person voicing for me ( if that was the case then the business would hang up on 1/2 their clients). In Canada everyone is from somewhere lol - and alot fo us have accents - so one thinks we're scammers because of it - I think it has to do with 2 problems

1) telemarketers that call businesses ( it happens at my workplace at least a few times a week) ...Businesses should be excluded from all that 'junk' - it's a waste of everyones time.

2) Hearing people don't often know what relay is about - so they assume that it's someone 'wasting their time' ... I've even had people at my workplace hang up on relay callers accidentally ! - and I've made a HUGE point of explaining how that works lol

The wording CAs use varies alot from area to area, and RS to RS... I personally prefer if the CA says that I'm hoh or deaf, and that I am using a relay service provided by the government - and the operator will voice for me, and type EVERYTHING that the other person says !

I do respect that some people don't want to be identified as hoh/deaf or SD/SI ... but honestly ... unless your a scammer ... be realistic who the heck uses relay for "fun" - relay is often a royal pain in the arse to use ( even with a nice helpful CA) . I'd think the person on the other end would think I was an idiot if I didn't tell them why it took so long for me to "answer back" ... and that I was typing.

I do agree that awareness is a key factor - however I know that it's hard to 'get the message out' to everyone.

There HAVE been times where I ask the relay operator NOT to be to one to identify relay , but instead to allow ME to do it ( only some places will let you do that I think ?? ) That way I can say " Hi my name is XXXX , I am hoh and I am using a government service called Relay, to assist me - I will now let the relay operator explain how this works in case you haven't used it before... thank you. ( ga - CA pls continue) -

I only use this if I've been hung up on 2x in a row ;)

ohh and what we usually do if we think it's a scam - I get whoever picks up the call to mention our workplace has a hoh/deaf worker who has a TTY in the building and we'd be happy to call them back directly - usually the scammers just disconnect the call at that point lol. Since Canada DOES NOT have IP relay of any kind ... if you're calling in canada ... you'd HAVE to be calling from a TTY ( not an IP based call)
Click to expand...

:gpost: Thank you.

I don't think most users get that they have complete control over the call. You tell the operator how you want it handled, and they're suppose to do it.
 
Hi!!

I have to say to all relay operators: :ily: !!! (grin)

But seriously does My IP Relay tell people that the relay service is for deaf and hoh people? When I've talked to people in person after talking to them through the My IP Relay (the one on AOL IM) they've said that they don't say that it's something for dhh people, they just say the script says that the relay is for someone talking through a computer.

I get hung up on and some strange comments when I use relay but overall my experience has been really good. I love it because I don't have to ask people to repeat themselves like 20 times if I use relay (grin).

Julia
 
In the explanation script, no but it needs to be. If they ask "What is relay?" or something like that we explain "Relay is a public service that makes telephone communication accessible to people who may be deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled." Yes, the scripts do need work. Sometimes, if I foresee trouble with the call, I'll shorten it and explain its a service for the deaf, hard of hearing, and speech disabled. One thing I have about the scripts is that they're so long winded.
 
One thing to keep in mind : because some relay services do NOT disclose that may be hoh/d/si/sd - the person on the opther end might just be told that you are using a computer to complete the call ( no wonder people get suspisous ... honestly I would too)

that being said,

For those Relay services ( either standard phone line, or IP relays) ... remember that you have to option to REQUEST that the CA informs the person that you are calling that you are hoh/deaf , or SD/SI ... even if they don't do this as a "standard" thing - that doesn't mean that you can't say something like "pls call 123-1234 , also pls inform the person who answers that I am deaf"

just a thought ;)
 
I been there many timmmee sheshhh every time i call thur on Relay then they hung up on mah face i was like WTF so has to call them again and told them to not hung up cuz i m not respond back to them yet then they said ohh sorry thought it's look like business or something blahhh pluck them :lol:
 
<too hung up on me many times, once I called through relay on TTY to find elementary school for my older daughter they hung up on me and said not interested person :mad: i kept calling back same hung up on me, fine, i called city hall they knew about relay and answered my call she really apoligized and helped me call there for me which meant nothing i dont like to call city hall to call others for me, uh, something unfair there is many mexican ppl here spanish everywhere they just forget deaf ppl there also, my God! I have complained to city hall many not only ppl hung up on me, relay, also interpreters awful at hospital even she has certification of interpreter, huh! :-o
 
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