Sloppy business practice? Naw, it's How It Is. I'm a writer/columnist/reviewer, and nearly everything between me and my editors is done "via email," and there've been some very heavy duty "issues" addressed along the way. Granted, most of the "issues" pertained to third parties (you would not believe some of the crap pulled by companies -- some of them very major -- when they're getting their products reviewed) -- but be that as it may, the fact remains that in the publishing world circa 2001, email is How It Is.
The vast majority of the time that telephone comms entered the picture, they did so for one reason: email was down.
The rift between those two parties may be due to any number of factors, but email ain't one of 'em IMO.