No-shows and last minute cancels

[byhammerandhand]

Here it is, noon on Wednesday and I figure I've lost 7 or 8 billable hours already this week.

I do nearly all my work on site, by appointment.   Most of that is paid by third party such as retailer, warranty service, delivery company, etc.  So the end consumer is not paying for it.   Three of my last five appointments have called within 24 hours (some as soon as within 4 hours saying they need to change the appointment.)    This leaves me with a big gap in my schedule that I can't fill.  Sometimes, I've tried to arrange three calls in a distant part of town only to have the middle one need to change, so I'm sitting somewhere else where I can't do any work because if I headed back to the shop (assuming there's some work there, which there often isn't)  I'd just get there in time to head back out.

I'm thinking of instituting a $50 charge for appointments broken with 48 hours or "oops, I forgot you were coming" no-shows once I get there.

Has anyone tried this?   I'd need to get approval from my billing customers  before instituting this (so they don't have a PO'd client), or to bill them.

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

My wife's pratice does this, lets clients know in advance they will be billed for cancelations without 24 hour notice. 

Makes people 'remember' after getting hit with that charge, but this is for mental healh field.  Other industies...well, you better be careful how you tread with each customer, especially these days.  Better to 'make it up' elsewhere I would think.

[Mojo]

The medical community uses this policy a lot.

Myself I probably wouldn't do it because of the competition. The mental/medical profession has a captive audience. :)

Anytime I have appointment's scheduled for the day I call the night before and remind them and make sure they are all set and I tell them I will call them when I am on my way to their location. If they do not answer I try again before I head their way. If no answer the second time I do not go and leave them a message and wait to hear back from them.

This maybe something you want to do. That way if anyone cancels then you can rearranged your schedule. Most businesses that rely on scheduled residential appointments do this as a matter of policy. No one
( HVAC techs, pest control, tradespeople, etc. ) that I know of charges a fee if they are not home. But all will call the night before to remind their customers and will call before heading to their location.

JMHO,

Chris

[kodydog]

I called the customer the night B4 and said I'll be their at noon. My helper and me arrived on time but no answer. Waited 15 mins stuck my card in the door and left. Later that day she calls and apologizes but she had an emergency tennis game she had to attend.

If this happens all the time Hammer maybe you could over book like the airlines do, then if one cancels you still have a full schedule. Just an idea.

[byhammerandhand]

These things tend to run in bunches.   I might go for a month without a problem, then all at once I get hit.   

The instances this week were "funeral" and "can't get out of a meeting at work."    Add that onto a three hour block of time that I've allocated, and when I get there 90% of the parts were wrong parts.

Some companies that I've worked for wanted you to call ahead.   At that time, I was getting such a low rate of problems, I'd rather have one now-show a month than spend another hour on the phone each night leaving messages and getting call backs.   Then what do you do if they didn't get their message and you don't show up?

My policy right now is if I get there, the is no answer at the door, and they don't answer any of the phone numbers I have for them, they get 15 minutes wait.  After that and I have not heard from them, I assume that they have forgotten and are not just running late.  Once I get a no-show on a person, I demand a positive confirmation on the follow up call (I've had some of these that didn't come, so I didn't go, and they apparently forgot again.)

I have a pet peeve against windows.   I know a lot of companies that say, "We'll be there between 8 and noon, show up at 1:30,  then have to run out for lunch, parts, tools, etc."   I think that's just extremely disrespectful of people's time who often have to take off work.   I give people exact times and get there +- 10 minutes.   I figure that's on time.   I don't know of anyone who shows up for a restaurant reservation EXACTLY on time.

One company I used to work for would pay you a minimal amount for a no-show.  The customer got a second chance, but if they no-showed a second time, the repair was on them, not on the company.  They discontinued that policy.

[sofadoc]

I have a pet peeve against windows.   I know a lot of companies that say, "We'll be there between 8 and noon, show up at 1:30

I'm a "windows" guy myself. But I try to keep the window down to a couple of hours. If I say "between 1PM-3PM", I'm almost always there at 1PM.
I recently drove 50 miles to a customer's house, only to find them not there.
She called later, and said "It was just such a beautiful day, we just HAD to get out, and go for a walk. Can't you just drop back by later?"
When customers do me this way, I jerk them around for a week or 2. This seems to make them a lot more diligent about being home next time.
I have a retail store front. I don't do nearly as much "on-site" work as Hammer does, so I don't have my schedule down to a science like he does. 
Mojo makes a good point. If YOU charge a missed appt. fee, they'll just find someone else that doesn't charge one.
Today's customer has been spoiled by the retail world. They expect "Kiss-ass" service, and they usually get it.

[byhammerandhand]

I had a job this summer and the lady was a real B-i-t-c-h.

I get there on time, ring the doorbell several times, call all the numbers I have, no answer.   I wait 20 minutes and am about to put my card in her mailbox and head off for the next call when she answers the door and tells me I'm early.   She had gone for a walk and just gotten back.  A few minutes later, she comes down from upstairs and says, "Yes, I had you on for 8:30, but I thought it was 9:00 so I went for a walk."   No apology, just matter of fact.

I'm required to take photos before and after repair for this service, so I'm snapping away and adjusting settings on every other photo so I get good pix.  She keeps nagging me to get photos that show the damage.   I've taken probably 10,000 photos of damage over the last 9 years, I think I have it down.

She kept complaining the delivery guys dripped sweat on her white sofa (this was the period where is was unusually hot and humid around here. )  Wanna bet she never even offered them a drink of water?

As Gene says, I only have to put up with them for an hour or so, their spouse and family has this 24-7.

[SHHR]

It's a pain for sure. in the spring I bought a new Refrigerator at home only to find the ice maker not dispensing the ice. Since it's new and under warranty, I don't dare touch it myself. After calling the store with no help they gave me the number of the appliance repair company they use. After a discussion with a detailed report of the trouble they told me it would be two weeks before they could be here, with you guessed it, an 8 am to 5 pm window. When they showed up (at 4:56 pm) they just looked it over and said "yep, it's broke. We'll have to order parts, and it'll be two weeks". I'm proud to report after 4 more trips with the wrong parts over 2 1/2 months I finally have a working ice maker. Then was informed that if it wasn't under warranty, it would've cost me over $1000. for all of the visits. Again, I'm proud to say my blood pressure is almost back to normal.

Then this week I have an old car I'm trying to sell. After a day of advertising I get a call from a guy the next town over who says" it sounds like the type of project I'm looking for and I'll be over in a bit". Evidently his idea of in a bit and mine are two different things. It's been three days and I haven't seen him.

And for the kicker, I had to leave the shop for a while yesterday and when I get back there are two cars out front that were just dropped off with no warning or appointments made. one was even trailered in. I called both people and told them I hope they're in no hurry, plus I need a deposit for materials before I start. Oh well, at least business is picking up a bit from my last post last week.
Kyle