How do you deal with late/tardy customers

g35_coupe

g35_coupe

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I'm sure you've all had them at some point in time so feel free to share how you deal with them or your stories. This may apply mostly to the mobile guys but I see it as crucial when you have several jobs lined up and one late customer early in the day can snowball your schedule even with a good buffer (no pun intended) of time between gigs. I give customers a courtesy reminder the day prior and if I'm booking them the following day, I still send a reminder the day of. I also tell customers that I'm scheduling that I will touch base with them the day before to make sure they haven't won the lottery and moved to Fiji or something.

One of my customers was running behind but the spouse was home and told them they were on their way. Well, they decided to visit a friend at the hospital while on the way home and pushed me back a whole hour. And no tip, which rubbed me the wrong way because it was a spur of the moment non-emergency. Fortunately it was my only job that day. What is your rule of thumb? 15 mins? 30 mins? Do you charge extra for having to inconveniencing subsequent appointments or reschedule tardy ones with a risk of cancellation? Or nothing at all?
 
I call 2 days ahead to confirm their appointment. I have a strict drop off time between 8-8:30am or the night before drop off. If there more than 30min late with out any call I will call them to see what happen. If they can not be there with in 20min of me calling them I have them reschedule for another day. I only do one car a day so I will just take the day off since I work 6 days a week anyways. If they do reschedule I make them give a $50 deposit so they will think twice about not call ahead to cancel.
 
Pureshine said:
I call 2 days ahead to confirm their appointment. I have a strict drop off time between 8-8:30am or the night before drop off. If there more than 30min late with out any call I will call them to see what happen. If they can not be there with in 20min of me calling them I have them reschedule for another day. I only do one car a day so I will just take the day off since I work 6 days a week anyways. If they do reschedule I make them give a $50 deposit so they will think twice about not call ahead to cancel.
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Some might say this is harsh, but it's exactly how I'd do it. This isn't family, friends, or favors so being direct yet tactful is important for running business.
 
I have had 12 cancels/reschedules in the last 12 weeks. Its really annoying. I am going to listen to the comments, since I could use the advice too.
 
I don't detail for a living, so my opinion is mostly worthless... but what about the idea of having a policy that if the car is dropped off late, it won't be ready for another 24 hours? It might make customers think twice if they realize they won't have a car for another day.

Or, do something like what some child care providers do... if you're even a few minutes late, they charge an extra hour. You'd be amazed at how many times I've seen parents hustle out of my office at the end of the day to avoid an extra charge.

The trick is to make the policies very clear when setting the appointments and during reminders.
 
The deposit and charging for time waiting are good ideas. But make sure the customer knows, and has signed something.
 
It's just apart of any business. Some people are just pain shitheads. Overtime your reputation increases and more word of mouth appointments book and you don't run into too many non-emergency cancelations.

A non-refundable depsoit is a great way to reschedule them if they flaked the first time. Great idea Todd!
 
Scott@IncrediblyDetailed said:
It's just apart of any business. Some people are just pain shitheads. Overtime your reputation increases and more word of mouth appointments book and you don't run into too many non-emergency cancelations.

A non-refundable depsoit is a great way to reschedule them if they flaked the first time. Great idea Todd!
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The lady I work for delivering pizzas a couple nights a month will usually go out to the counter (she is generally making the pizzas) and ALMOST yell at people who are late...like yell with a smile. She does it because she doesnt want them thinking the pizza is just bad but let them know that the pizza has now been sitting around since the time they were told and since they are late it wont be up to her standard.

Moral is, be honest and be NICE to them the first time. Let them know when booking the appointment the first time that its very important for you to have them be on time (and you must be on time too)
 
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