The customer is clearly screening your calls

The scenario

Your calls now go straight to voicemail, or reception always reports that your contact is "in a meeting" or "just stepped out," and the call-backs you are promised never come. You suspect — correctly — that the customer is screening you. Calling from a withheld number once got through, which only confirmed the pattern. Picking up the phone again feels increasingly pointless, yet it is the tool you instinctively reach for. The reality is that the channel itself has stopped working, and persisting with it simply feeds the avoidance.

What's really going on

When a customer actively avoids your calls, they have made a deliberate choice not to have the conversation — usually because they cannot pay and do not want to say so, or because they are bracing for a confrontation they would rather postpone. The phone has become the very thing they are dodging, which means every additional call lands in a system designed to deflect it. There is an important difference between a customer who is genuinely hard to reach and one who is screening you: the screener can be reached when it suits them, just never by you about money. Recognising that the channel is compromised is the key, because it tells you the answer is not to call harder but to change the medium entirely.

Your options

Once calls are being screened, shift to channels that are harder to ignore and that build a record:

• Move to writing. Email and posted letters cannot be screened by a receptionist and create a documented trail.
• Send a formal notice. A firm written letter stating the amount, the age of the debt, and the next step carries weight a voicemail does not.
• Reach a different person. A director, owner, or different department may not be filtering your contact.
• Set a written deadline. A clear date by which you require a response converts open-ended avoidance into a decision point.

Recommended approach

Stop relying on the phone and move the account onto a written footing. Send a firm, professional letter — by email and, for a significant balance, by post as well — that states the invoice details, that the account is now overdue, that previous attempts to make contact have not been answered, and that the account will be escalated to a formal demand if it is not addressed by a specific date. Putting it in writing does three things at once: it bypasses the screening, it creates a record that you gave fair notice, and it raises the stakes in a way a voicemail never could. Where you can, direct the letter to a senior person who is not part of the filtering. Log every attempt and keep copies. If the written deadline passes with no response, treat the avoidance as a clear signal and proceed to formal escalation; a customer who will not engage despite fair, documented opportunity has effectively chosen that path for you.

What to avoid

Do not keep calling repeatedly once it is obvious you are being screened — beyond a point, persistent calling achieves nothing and can stray into conduct that looks like harassment under general ACCC and ASIC guidance. Do not resort to deceptive tactics such as repeatedly disguising your number to trick the customer into answering; it damages your credibility and your record. Do not vent your frustration in the written notice, which must stay factual and businesslike to remain effective and fair. And do not let the avoidance simply continue unanswered — silence that goes unescalated is read, correctly, as permission to keep avoiding you.