Would it be inappropriate to ask someone for their colleague's email/contact details?

Question

For context, I was contacting a representative (person 1) from a certain company for media inquiries. Person 1 said that he forwarded my email to person 2, who is the more appropriate contact for media inquiries. However, he did not include person 2's email address

Would it be inappropriate to ask person 1 for person 2's email address? I wouldn't want to bother person 1 with follow-up emails regarding the matter since they already expressed that they do not handle those inquiries, but I also don't know about asking for person 2's contact info.

Answer 1

Since Person1 forwarded your message, I would wait to hear from Person2 directly. Also, since Person1 forwarded the message and made a point NOT to provide you with Person2's contact information, that tells me that they did not want to give it to you directly. For example, if someone asks me for a colleague's contact info, I ask that person for their info and tell them that I will give it to my colleague so they can contact them directly.

Answer 2

Generally not a good idea unless that other person contacts you. It doesn't hurt to follow up with Person 1 to ask if Person 2 has said anything, especially if it been more than 2 business days since your contact.

The reason being is that you're contacting a representative of the company who is taking your request and channeling it to the appropriate person. By contacting the person directly then you sort of lose the ability because that means that person has to forward your email back to his/her boss, then see if the task is okay to proceed. That person may also decide to ignore your request because you're contacting them directly and they do not have a task assigned to them to help you.

At a really good company, they would listen to their clients, price it, draft up a contract/agreement/pricing plan, then they would give it to their project managers who would then give it to the developer/designer/workers.Once the task is done it goes back to the client for evaluation.

Contacting the bottom to the top is never a good idea. My thought is wait, or ask the rep you're talking to who is the best point of contact. But I would just wait to hear back on your request then ask if you have any more questions.

Answer 3

Rather than ask for Person 2's contact information, you should instead apoligise for your error, thank them, and also ask for a better email address to send enquiries in the future.

There may be a an email box set up for this purpose, or some other non-email avenue.

It also give them an easier way to decline your request stating that there isn't one, rather than refusing to pass on the contact detail of Person 2.

Answer 4

Since Person 1 specifically mentioned that Person 2 should be the contact, it's appropriate.

Something along the lines of:

Thank you for relaying my request to Person 2.

I am most likely going to need additional information in this area. Would you please send me Person 2's contact information so that I won't have to ask you to be an intermediary, again?

Thank you.