I needed a BBQ part on Saturday and wanted to buy local. Google gave me a good list of local companies. No local business had a website integrated with their parts systems. It would take a phone call.I called the one that seemed to supply parts for my brand and model but all I got was a recorded message telling me their hours of operation and to call back during those hours.

Strange. I was calling during their open hours but maybe they didn’t update their hours since the lockdown? Or maybe they don’t know that phone systems can forward or route calls? Maybe they didn’t know that they could put me into a call queue and ask me to wait while they dealt with another customer. Instead my call was dropped with a message that made it seem like I was inconveniencing them!

At any rate, they lost my business and I moved on.

Maybe they should consider a VoIP system with an Auto Attendant. It would manage their calls, route calls based on the time of day, and put callers into a queue until the call could be answered. And it would probably cost a lot less than they currently pay to their telephone company.