Need suggestions with no call/no show appointments

[DTM Brian]

It is getting to be very much a pain in my ass with no call no show appointments. I understand that things come up and/or people change their minds about wanting to get on the dyno. It would be nice to get a phone call saying that you are not coming to your appointment. I had an appointment for a motorcycle today at 1pm for $50.00 ( I am not going to be posting the screen name of who it was) and did not show when I could have taken a 1pm appointment for a $500.00 dyno tune.

I am thinking that if someone makes an appointment and is a no call/no show I will require a deposit if they want to reschedule. If they are not willing to pay a deposit or at least call telling me that they are not coming then I guess they do not want to dyno in the first place.

Please advise!!

[Cheech]

It is getting to be very much a pain in my ass with no call no show appointments. I understand that things come up and/or people change their minds about wanting to get on the dyno. It would be nice to get a phone call saying that you are not coming to your appointment. I had an appointment for a motorcycle today at 1pm for $50.00 ( I am not going to be posting the screen name of who it was) and did not show when I could have taken a 1pm appointment for a $500.00 dyno tune.

I am thinking that if someone makes an appointment and is a no call/no show I will require a deposit if they want to reschedule. If they are not willing to pay a deposit or at least call telling me that they are not coming then I guess they do not want to dyno in the first place.

Please advise!!

Perhaps a "up to certain amount, pay in advance, more expensive partial deposit?" I wouldn't be opposed to fronting 50 bucks for a tune, but if you're going to ask me to front $500 we may have an issue.

[DTM Brian]

Perhaps a "up to certain amount, pay in advance, more expensive partial deposit?" I wouldn't be opposed to fronting 50 bucks for a tune, but if you're going to ask me to front $500 we may have an issue.

I am thinking a 20% deposit. Again this is only for people who are a no call - no show.

I am an easy person to get along with. If you can not make it or change your mind then do the right thing and call me.

[Todd#43]

We used to take guys in for base runs on a "first come, first serve basis". Tuning jobs required a 50% deposit. It avoided the whole issue of "people not showing up".

[Jester851]

^^^^^Agreed, i know at the shop we used to not require a deposit for special order items, and found ourselves with a bunch of items no one ever picked up at the end of every month. Since then we have changed our deposit policy on special orders and rarely find one not picked up. I would think a 50% deposit on any service up to $250, then maybe 25% on anything above that would be more than acceptable.

[jbot]

abduct their children/parents/loved ones and grind them into a meat pie and serve it as a waiting room snack when the flake finally shows. that'll teach em! may i suggest you do pizza rolls filled with "mystery meat"?

or you could simply make it part of the agreement for scheduling an appointment: that if they schedule, they must call ahead of time to re-schedule with 24 hour notice or that they will be charged 25% or whatever arbitrary percentage of the cost of tune/dyno/whatever.

[Cdubyah]

50% deposit, and 24 hr cancellation.

[jporter12]

Anything less than $100 job doesn't get a guaranteed time slot, may be bumped by a bigger job. I'm going to guess that a $500 tune job would have breaks in the process, you could squeeze the $50 dude in, IF he even shows. Maybe modified version of something like that.

[mrbret]

25% down up front.

You can call & cancel or set up a new time upto 2 working days before the day you should have been there. Other than that you lose the 25%.

Seem fair enough to me.

[C-bus]

I like the OP's original idea. In today's economy, you want to make your business stand out as easy to work with, thorough, and of the highest quality. So demanding deposits on all appointments and some of the other suggestions aren't healthy in the long-run. "Once bitten, twice shy" is the mantra here. If a customer is a no-call, no-show then they will have to earn your trust again via a deposit in order to secure their next appointment. If I hosed you like that, I'd be mortified and would be happy to give you a deposit and probably an extra $10-spot for my bad.

[neohiofan]

Screw the deposit. Ask for there debit/credit card number. Let them know a no show will cost them a predetermined amount you come up with. That way you don't have to listen to people cry about a deposit. Make sure you put a dollar hold on there card so you know it works.

[twisted12]

Keep it simple get a deposit of say $50. If the appointment is cancelled 3 days in advance give it back, shit does come up. If the appointment is made on short notice inside the 3 days let them know when they make the appointment the deposit is non-refundable. If they bitch out a $50 deposit tell them to go somewhere else your time is money. In my opinion most people are ok with a deposit and alot of places take them

Edited April 3, 2010 by twisted12

[Lost]

In your line of work I would require a 50% non-refundable deposit at the time the appointment is made. That will weed out the posers.

[C-bus]

Keep it simple get a deposit of say $50. If the appointment is cancelled 3 days in advance give it back, shit does come up. If the appointment is made on short notice inside the 3 days let them know when they make the appointment the deposit is non-refundable. If they bitch out a $50 deposit tell them to go somewhere else your time is money. In my opinion most people are ok with a deposit and alot of places take them

Until the new shop down the road doesn't require it.

[c7fx]

If its scheduled I would have no problem leaving a deposit to reserve a spot. To me thats just business.

[Todd#43]

Until the new shop down the road doesn't require it.

Then let the new shop down the road deal with the no-shows. Why do you want to deal with customers that take time and money OUT of your pocket? I'd like ALL of those "customers" deal with my competition.

[C-bus]

Then let the new shop down the road deal with the no-shows. Why do you want to deal with customers that take time and money OUT of your pocket? I'd like ALL of those "customers" deal with my competition.

Because if you lost ten customers to the "up-front" policy, 9 of them would have shown up and paid you.

[twisted12]

Until the new shop down the road doesn't require it.

Then let em have it, again the reason to get the deposit. If you dont get the deposit you might as well go piss in the wind!!!!!!!!

[Todd#43]

Because if you lost ten customers to the "up-front" policy, 9 of them would have shown up and paid you.

Have anything to back that statement up?

My personal, professional experience shows otherwise. People who seriously want work done have no problem paying a deposit. Those who arent sure they want the work done usually won't pay the deposit. They're also the ones that you have to hound to get paid.

Its really not worth it. You can spend that kind of time working with people that pay.

[twisted12]

Have anything to back that statement up?

My personal, professional experience shows otherwise. People who seriously want work done have no problem paying a deposit. Those who arent sure they want the work done usually won't pay the deposit. They're also the ones that you have to hound to get paid.

Its really not worth it. You can spend that kind of time working with people that pay.

I agree

[KillJoy]

Full Cash Payment UP FRONT if you no call / no show.

Just MY opinion Brian.

KillJoy

PS - Good seein' you today.

[C-bus]

Have anything to back that statement up?

My personal, professional experience shows otherwise. People who seriously want work done have no problem paying a deposit. Those who arent sure they want the work done usually won't pay the deposit. They're also the ones that you have to hound to get paid.

Its really not worth it. You can spend that kind of time working with people that pay.

If only 100% serious business paid all of the bills. Are there that many die-hards out there, or is a percentage of the business based on the young, the curious, the inexperienced? I'm interested in the OPs opinion. I run a business and I can tell you that you have to suck it up for customer service. It would be glorious if everyone paid up-front, in cash, and met their obligations.

[KillJoy]

It would be glorious if everyone paid up-front, in cash, and met their obligations.

You mean: Do what they say, when they say, how they say?

If that were the case, this Country would not be in the current financial situation it is in.

KillJoy

[Todd#43]

If only 100% serious business paid all of the bills. Are there that many die-hards out there, or is a percentage of the business based on the young, the curious, the inexperienced? I'm interested in the OPs opinion. I run a business and I can tell you that you have to suck it up for customer service. It would be glorious if everyone paid up-front, in cash, and met their obligations.

If your curious do it on someone else's dime - not mine. Every minute I waste working on something for a customer that's slow to pay costs me time that I could be using working on something for a customer that pays on time. Since time = money shitty paying customers cost me money.

I've got a situation right now where a customer in Trinidad wants some custom parts built for a machine. My standard terms are 50% up front with the order, and the balance prior to shipping. They don't want to pay the deposit because "its against company policy". I've had to chase these guys down before to pay the balance on their account several times before I shipped them their parts. Its not worth the time to me - they can find someone else to build the parts for them.

Bottom line is all business is not "good business". Certainly good cash flow is important to any business, but if you lose money just keeping the cash flowing there's no sense in being in the business. Actually, if you do things that way you wont be in business very long.

Here's another news flash for ya - the customer ISN'T always right.

[C-bus]

This has gotten way off track. Please read my first post. If a customer who has burned him wants a Dyno, then he should pay a deposit. Making things too restrictive up-front scares away potential business. I want him to be successful. We wear the same colors my friend, carry the same cards, and would likely enjoy the same drinks.