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How hard can it be?

This past Saturday at approximately 12:30 in the afternoon I received a call from the answering service regarding another agent who wanted to book a showing for one of my listings. OK, I take the information down and call my seller. "I have an agent who wants to show your home today from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, would that be OK?" My seller tells me that yes, that would be fine. So far, so good. Now I call the agent back to confirm the showing. I get his answering service. I identify myself, tell them what I'm calling in reference to and ask them to page the agent. "No problem, we'll page him right away," comes the reply. Excellent. Things are progressing as they should. Easy as pie, right?

Nope. Not even close. An hour passes and still nothing from the other agent. OK, maybe he's busy. I call him again and ask his service to please page him again. The woman at his service replies, "Fine, I'll page him a second time then!" and sounded a little miffed. Hey, it's not my fault he's making you work harder. I wait another fifteen minutes and then decide to get on with my day. After all, I have things to do as well.

I dash over to the printers to pick up some new feature sheets for the listing in question and am on my way over there to drop them off. At 5:45 pm I get a call from my answering service saying that this agent is still waiting for me to get back to him with a confirmation on the showing. Huh??? Two things are odd about this; 1) I had called him twice so why had he not returned either of my calls, and 2) he had requested a showing at 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm and was only calling back for a confirmation at 5:45 pm, well after the time he had requested. Uh, sure... OK..... I was also puzzled that he continued to leave the office number each time he called. Why wouldn't he leave me a cell number or another number where he could be reached?

I call him back a third time and get his service again. I ask to speak with him and am put on hold only to be disconnected ten seconds later. My day just gets better. So I call back again, time #4 now. I ask for the agent by name and am asked for his last name which I then have to repeat three times before the woman at the other end of the phone hears it properly. Then she asks me for his first name. Twice. Sigh. Can you even make this stuff up? I am told she will page him for me. OK, I've heard this one before but hope springs eternal. I decide to wait but resolve not to hold my breath.

Good thing too because I didn't hear from him all weekend. I made it a point to call him on Monday thinking maybe he would be in the office. Fat chance. They offered to page hime for me so I chuckled and said, "Sure, I'll roll the dice and see what happens."

I'm still waiting for his return call three days later. I'm really thinking maybe I should give up.

So that was the highlight of my week so far. But wait, there's more!

This evening I get a call from my answering service that another agent wants to show the same listing from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm tomorrow night. Great. I clear it with the seller and I call the agent back only to get an answering machine telling me to leave a detailed message which I gladly do. An hour and a half pass and still no call from the agent. Hmmm, maybe she's busy with a client I'll wait another half hour and try again. Ten minutes later the service calls me saying that this same agent I'm waiting on a call from wants to book a showing for 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm tomorrow evening. I ask if it's instead of the previous time given or in addition to. The service doesn't know nor did I expect them to. I thought maybe the agent would have offered the information but alas, no.

So I call her back and leave another detailed message on her answering machine. This message, along with the first one, contains my cell number. 

It's after 10:00 pm here and still no call back. 

Both of these agents work for smaller independent offices. Is this the way these offices tend to operate? If so, how do they manage to stay in business? I'm astounded at the incredibly appalling lack of professionalism they are exhibiting. I've never had this problem dealing with agents from RE/MAX, Keller Williams, Homelife, Royal LePage, etc. but these folks are something else.

So I ask you, how hard is it to return or respond to a phone call? Especially if you were the one who initiated contact in the first place?

For some it appears to be extremely difficult. Is it me? Am I perhaps expecting too much form my fellow agents? My seller called and asked me if the showings were confirmed. I told her what was going on and she said, "What's wrong with these people?"  

If only I knew......