When do you consider a customer late for their appt?

R

Richard Grasa

New member
When do you consider a customer to be late, to the point where they have missed their appointment? 5 minutes? 15 minutes? 30 minutes?



I will usually give them 15 minutes in case they have trouble finding me or get stuck in traffic or something. Without a phone call I think anything later than 15 minutes is considered not showing up and they have missed the appt if they show up any later. Of course if I have nothing going on after the time I'm supposed to be finished with their car, I will try to accommodate if they do show up way late. But if it's going to potentially make me be late for my next customer, I don't want their lateness make me look bad to my next person.



I'm asking because I have had quite a few people show up 30 or even up to an hour late and still expect me to fit them in as if they were on time. What do you usually do in these situations?
 
Late is late. Once they are 30 minutes late I consider it a no call / no show, I will not re-book these customers without payment in advance.



If they do show up late, anything past 30 minutes and I am on "their dime".
 
Yep, late is late. I will give a buzz after 10 min or if mobile and they are not home give the house/cell phone a ring. After 20 minutes of no contact I am out and as above will not rebook without pre-payment.



The last time this happened was 3 or so years ago. As such you should state in writing whatever you decide works for your "lateness" charge or cancellation as well as mention it to them on the phone.



I hate this and I simply do not play games with it.
 
~30min at the fixed shop. Usually after that, 99% of people aren't showing at all, and very rarely do they rebook.
 
If I ran a biz, then if they're past 30 min. WITHOUT a good excuse, they would no longer be my customer. Time is money and its disrespectful of them.
 
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