Hello? Is Anyone There? Picture this…it’s a typical weekday at the office. Residents and prospects in and out, vendors stopping by, phones ringing and you are going full speed ahead, trying to get everything accomplished in a timely fashion. The phone rings twice and you answer the phone in the same cheery, professional manner in which you answer every call onsite. But this time you don’t hear a response on the other end of the line after you finish your greeting. You immediately assume it was a wrong number and hang up the phone. This situation has happened to most of us at one point in time or another, no big deal…right? Actually, it has the potential to be a HUGE deal if it was a TTY or relay call. A TTY or relay call is a specialized call that aides individuals with hearing impairments. A TTY or relay call utilizes an operator to relay messages between a caller to a hearing impaired individual. There can be a slight delay in responding when a TTY call is being made. However, if you are too quick to hang up the receiver when you don’t immediately hear a voice on the other line, you may be placing yourself at risk with a possible Fair Housing discrimination case. Currently there are Fair Housing shoppers placing TTY or relay calls to see if this type of discrimination is occurring. But do not fret, there are proactive measures you can take to prevent placing yourself in a possible Fair Housing discrimination claim involving a TTY call. After answering the phone, if you don’t hear a response, make sure to make a statement like “Hello? Hello? I can’t hear you. Is anyone there?” If you still do not hear a reply, make a statement like, “I’m sorry, I cannot hear you. I am going to hang up now”, before you disconnect the call. That way if it was a TTY call, or a Fair Housing shopper, you supplied a fair opportunity for an operator to respond.
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 01:42:10 +0000
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