Older people, especially with hearing problems having to Phone companies as emails are No reply

magpie83

I have lost 70% of my hearing am 83, I can hears sounds easily, but having to phone nearly every company now is a big 
 problem have loud Tinnitus, using phones is a nightmare for me, by the time i workout the first words, the rest of the i do not understand , its a farce, have a problem hearing the 4 or 5 options, then having to wait as everyone else is having to phone 
 take usually about 15 mins at least, because of this I have been put in dispute with Tesco Car Ins , last November my wife had a
heart attack and fell in the shower ,had spells in Huntingdon Hosp, then to Papworth with heart problems, she has severe Arthritus in Neck, shoulders, fingers etc and really, struggles , so I now am Cooking, washing, ironing she has to take about 12 Tablets a day, I am on steroids, blood thinners etc as well , have a large ornamental pond with about 60 pots with shrubs and flowers which
 during period after Xmas 21 went to ruin, lost 75% of of the pot contents, had a second car for fishing (not been since) and garden waste was paying £70 tax and ins, so was going to sell it , but my grandson offered to do the garden for me if I put him on my insurance , so went online to add him on it , but had to phone which I did, spoke to an agent he took all details told him of my situation and needed him added he asked for all details etc ,how long driver age  no accidents , etc, as far as I knew was added   told my Daughter he had been added, this was end of Feb 22 , he was working some days and we had about 5 days of rain so 
unable to use him till Sat 24th March, he loaded up with all the garden waste, and took to the tip etc but a DPV van stopped suddenly  and he ran into the bumper, driver told him he was ok  phoned to get my ins details, then later got message from Tesco  he was not covered , the renewal of the policy started on 25th Mar which I had checked during the week to make sure he had been added on the renewal, but I told them I needed it when I phoned not a month later, as told the my circumstances had changed, their head office agreed with their refusal, as well (wrote to them) ,so for one day ,if I had known would have done work Sunday 25th , contacted Ombudsman who due Covid have told me could be 4 months or so to sort<I told my grandson he was ok to drive it, so was not his fault driver has since put a claim in apparently ,but this is all because of the trend to get everyone to phone  and wait on average about, something should be done about it, the email addresses are there , but you have to put in a subject, when you do the address goes red and a x appears 
  sorry it it long winded 
  regards
(Removed by Forum Team)

Plasticman

A particular grumble of mine is the GP. No longer able to drop in to make an appointment so your only option is phone or their online system. A lot of older people struggle with the online service and if you can't hear well the phone system is a nightmare. 

DullGreyGuy

How is your eyesight?

There are free services, eg from BT, that do phone calls on your behalf... depending on if you are deaf, mute or both the communication is done via a BT agent with typing and so in your case you would speak to the Tesco Car Insurance agent, the agent would speak but the BT agent would then type that on screen for you to read. You then answer verbally and the cycle continues.

If you arent comfortable speaking then rather than talking you type what you want to say, the BT agent reads it out to the Tesco Agent and when the Tesco Agent replies the BT agent types it to your screen.

Its not too hard to setup but easiest done at home with a computer (though imagine it can be done with a smartphone if you have headphones or speakerphone so you can see the screen as you speak.

roksat

DullGreyGuy said:

How is your eyesight?

There are free services, eg from BT, that do phone calls on your behalf... depending on if you are deaf, mute or both the communication is done via a BT agent with typing and so in your case you would speak to the Tesco Car Insurance agent, the agent would speak but the BT agent would then type that on screen for you to read. You then answer verbally and the cycle continues.

If you arent comfortable speaking then rather than talking you type what you want to say, the BT agent reads it out to the Tesco Agent and when the Tesco Agent replies the BT agent types it to your screen.

Its not too hard to setup but easiest done at home with a computer (though imagine it can be done with a smartphone if you have headphones or speakerphone so you can see the screen as you speak.

It seems to be a good solution, thanks. I'd recommend it to my grandmother who also has issues when using a phone due to her hearing loss. I wonder why nobody (GP, audiologist, etc.) tells about such a possibility. 

IslaMujeres

News to me too. Did you consider to changing your hearing aids maybe? To get a newer model with a lot of model features? The other good thing about those - you can always find all the hearing aid supplies within few minutes. It is much more tricky with the older models as far as i know.