About Us / The Mission

A message from the one who started it all

along with our introductory publicity release

My first experience with voice mail came many years ago with a firm called Daisytek.

Before this dark day, when I placed a call an actual person would answer the phone. I’d ask for my favorite sales person and if she wasn’t there, I’d place my order with the person who answered. Life was simple and business dealings were on a personal level.

But suddenly, that all changed. A robotic voice answered and business was done by machine. You know the rest. It never made sense how a supplier would expect me to place my order (spend money) at their convenience rather than mine – and through such a system. Well, I soon tired of this arcane procedure and moved my business ($25,000. per month) to another firm.

And of course as years went by, automated phone systems proliferated like rabbits. Today, it seems like the majority of firms only care about getting people’s money on their terms. I can understand this attitude among government-run utilities, but not companies that invest thousands of dollars in advertising – it is like erecting barricades to keep people from spending their money. Even smaller firms copy the pattern, putting systems in place, thinking that it makes them appear more business-like. Has anyone actually stopped to think?

Over the years I have found that I tend to place my orders with those businesses that offer the easiest and quickest procedures. I refuse to jump through hoops. Our own company – The Linton Company – prides itself in always having a person (usually nice) to answer the phone. There is no voice mail to shuttle callers – in fact, no voice mail whatsoever.

I am hoping that this site will be a home for like thinkers, and that together we can convince American businesses that voice mail automated phone systems are not customer friendly.

Drue Linton

Fed Up With Voice-Mail Run-Around, Internet Retailer Launches “I Hate Voice Mail” Association

Meridian, GA – Press 1, Press 2, To Return To The Main Menu, Press 7… “It’s madness,” fumes business owner Drue Linton, who heard so much frustration about voice-mail run-around that he decided to do something about it. Linton launched an online association of voice-mail opponents, IHateVoiceMail.Biz, with the audacious goal of stamping out voice mail in the USA (www.IHateVoiceMail.Biz ).

“Having enough people to answer the phones signals that a company cares about its customers – putting them first,” states Linton, whose label business in Southeast Georgia personally speaks with 80 to 100 customers a day, in addition to accepting orders online. “Why should customers have to jump through hoops before giving up their money? It’s bad business.” At Linton’s business, there is no automated answering system, and no plan to install one.

“The association is a start,” says Linton. “It gives members a way to vent, and by joining forces, they get some clout with corporations.” Members can not only share stories with other voice-mail haters but also learn little-known ways of bypassing voice-mail menus and be able to nominate offenders for spending time in the organization’s “Voice Mail Jail.” “What organization wants the stigma of having earned jail time?” asks Linton. Organizations that demonstrate voice-mail free customer friendliness can earn recognition on the list the association plans to publish of “friendliest businesses in the USA.”

The official site for the IHateVoiceMail.Biz Association is www.IHateVoiceMail.Biz. People can choose the Steaming membership package for $16.80, the Bristling package for $29.95 or the Seething package for $49.95. Members receive a collection of imprinted items, from coffee mugs and bumper stickers to beach towels and coolers, that help them spread the message that voice mail stinks.

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The world's ways are subject to challenge