Many people are really bad writers. Further, many people are really bad readers. Restricting yourself to email with someone who functions better on the phone or in person is just asking that relationship to collapse. At some point one of you will take something the wrong way, or write something the wrong way, and you'll just get deeper and deeper resentment and other fundamental causes of relationship dissolution.

If you're working with someone who doesn't "get" email, even if they think they do, you do everyone a favor by manning up and calling when you have to and meeting in person when possible.

I agree on the voice mail, although I've come to realize that some people avoid email and online communication altogether and if you don't call them, you won't talk to them.

Many people do this to avoid a papertrail. Sometimes its a good idea to followup with an email summarizing the conversation when working with these types.

and some people avoid phone communication entirely; For me, the phone is essentially a pager; If you call me and nothing is on fire, generally speaking, I won't be particularly happy.