Before you call me on the phone....

.... to ask if I got your email you sent a few hours ago, please know that I am a one-man business and do all aspects of the operation from taking care of in-store customers, unloading/loading trucks, ordering, moving furniture and stocking the store, accounting, cleaning the store, and the like. I am generally not sitting by the computer waiting to answer the next email. So please - have a little patience (three folks called to ask why I had not yet responded to their emails they had sent in the past few hours). I will normally try to answer all emails in a 24 hour period unless its a Sunday/Monday when the store is closed and it may take a little longer i get to the forum when I can - which will often be in the evening after store hours.

Also know that 45 minute phone calls asking me to explain all aspects of leather furniture really are not practical to answer, either. I would love to be able to do that, but will instead refer you back here to the forum where over the past 6 years, its probably been detailed here where you can use the search function to get answers to many of your questions. Kindly keep your phone inquires relevant and timely as I cannot stay on the line with you as you browse a maker's web site asking questions as you go. I will do my best to continue to answer questions here on the forum free of charge as I have since its inception, however time is one commodity I never seem to have enough of. Thanks!

Not sure what email client you are working with, but most can handle automated responses. For example, in Apple's Mail, you could set up a rule:

IF a message was sent to [email address used for forum communication]
and
IF recipient is not in your "previous recipients" list
THEN reply to message [with an automatic message saying the email was received and that you try to respond to all messages within one business day].

That would send the automated reply to the first email message anyone sends you (but not subsequent messages), although having the reply go out on every message is also an option. If nothing else, it would assure people the message was received, cutting down on the "did you get it" calls.

That is an excellent idea! (I use Gmail). I will have to explore and see how to do that.