DON'T HANG UP

Washington Relay is designed to connect deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing and speech disabled people with people and businesses that use standard (voice) telephones. Although the relay service has been in existence for more than 14 years, many people don't understand how it works. As a result, people who receive relay calls often hang up, believing the caller is a telemarketer. Thus the Don't Hang Up campaign was developed.

The goal of the Don't Hang Up campaign is to decrease the frequency of hang ups by people who are unfamiliar with relay. The campaign includes a public service announcement, as well as articles in business publications.

But the best way to reduce hang ups, especially by businesses, is to identify them and educate them about relay. You can help in two ways:

When you experience a hang up on a relay call, please contact Van Scheppach (by clicking on "CONTACT" for e-mail or telephone number), and Washington Relay will contact the business to educate them about relay.

Consider changing the way you have your relay calls announced so instead of saying, "This is the Washington Relay Service...." you ask the operator to begin "This is a customer of your business calling through the Washington Relay," or "This is [your name] calling through Washington Relay." Some people have found that this kind of greeting reduces hang ups. Another option would be to ask the operator not to announce relay, and give the operator instructions as of how you'd like the call to be announced, such as "Hello, this is [your name]," however it becomes your responsibility to educate the person that you're using the relay service (as the operator automatically becomes the third party after you take over).