I have been both the provider of customer service for technology companies and receiver of customer service for every area of my consumer life; both are trying, patience-testing activities. People want answers right now! However, some issues take some research and if the person on the receiving end of the customer service is rude and cranky, it will be a very short phone call. My experience as a provider of customer was via e-mail and over the phone. With all the ways to connect with customer service providers, you'd think that there would be a great improvement in communication, right? Not always. Personally I would never want to conduct customer service over IM. The provider can only pay attention to one pop up message at a time, and I can only imagine the hundreds of windows on that person's computer screen; I'd rather play the phone game with the recorded voices to finally get to an actual person dedicated to my issue for an entire three minutes. I bring this up because customer service via IM and e-mail have become available to get questions answered regarding doctors' services, and many of us have had the experience of being rushed through a visit with unanswered questions still hanging in the air while we pay our co-pay fee. My obstetrician's office offers an e-mail address that I have been encouraged to use; but I have yet to get a response from one of my doctors. I finally got a response from a nurse, who I thought gave me good advice. But it makes me wonder; if doctors are too busy to spend time with me on the phone, they shouldn't promise their time will be used to answer my e-mail queries. Just stick with what works. So, that brings me back to IT. Are customer service centers using IM for answering customers' pressing questions? At what point does an ongoing (or endless?) e-mail or IM exchange warrant an actual phone call? If you've ever been part of a lengthy e-mail exchange about something complicated, you quickly realize that it's more efficient to just pick up the phone. Perhaps IM is a happy medium between e-mail and phone calls? Do tell, readers. Do tell. What works best for you?