Well, I just finished posting my grooming happiness for the day, now I am going to rant.
Not that it is going to change anything, or do any good. :/
No shows!...late cancellations!...late reschedules!
That's it!
That is my rant.
It has gotten out of control.
The month of May was unbelievable.
I know that all groomers deal with this.
New customers don't surprise me that much when they no show, because unfortunately I book so far out, and these people make an appointment with me instead of saying never mind, then they keep calling around and get an appointment sooner someplace else.
I understand if they don't want to wait a month or two for an appointment, but if you plan on continuing to call around, then DON'T make an appointment!!
If they do call around and find something sooner, how hard is it to call back and cancel?
Grrrrrr.
What has bothered me more than anything lately is that it is my regulars that are no showing, or canceling when we call to see where they are, or call 10 minutes before their appointment to reschedule.
My regulars!
They know how we book up.
They know that we ask that they give 48 hours notice if they can't make an appointment.
I understand that things come up at the last minute.
Those are not the ones that I am complaining about.
It is the customer that knew they couldn't keep the appointment for a while.
"Oh, I am so sorry, I meant to call you last week."
"I tried to call you several times.".... When? I didn't see you on my caller ID. I am here from 8am to 4pm 5 days a week. When did you try to call, at 11pm?
To top it all off, I have a waiting list, and you would think 'okay just call someone off of the waiting list to cover that appointment.'
Every single time we called someone off that list, they could not come on such short notice (even though they are told it will be short notice if we call them off of the list), or this wasn't the day they were looking for, or "we already had him groomed."
I know that some groomers charge for missed appointments, but most of the groomers that I have asked if this works tell me that they rarely collect, and the customer just goes someplace else.
It is driving me crazy.
Especially when they call after missing an appointment, and get upset because we can't get them right back in.
You scr*wed me over and you are mad because I can't groom your dog tomorrow?.....Grrrrr.
Grooming is so personalized.
You get to know your customers, their dogs, their family.
It makes it very hard to give them a hard time about screwing up your day and your income.
You try to explain how important it is that they give you plenty of notice so that you can replace the appointment, but they just don't get it....or they don't want to get it.
I had a large dog cancel today because of a thunder storm.
We tried to get her to still bring the dog.
We told her that the dogs can't hear the thunder in our shop.
She was due in at 10am.
The storm blew through at 9am, was over by 9:30.
The skies were clear by 9:45am.
The second wave of storms didn't come through till 4pm.
She could have kept her appointment.
Her dog could have been in before the first storm, and would have been home well before the second storm.
I guarantee that this customer will call tomorrow wanting to know when we can get her dog back in. :/
I have been grooming this customers dogs for almost as long as I have been grooming.
Ugh......(banging head against the wall)
Rant over.
I am going to facebook now to read some happy stories to make myself feel better. :)
✂ Happy Grooming, MFF ✂
Ditto!! I love the one I had today...no show for 10 am....calls at 11:30....Can I get in later today? Something came up........#$@&+/%z!!!!!!!!! I said politely NO! Grrr....
ReplyDeleteHi big dog mom,
DeleteThey just have know concept of how we work....or they don't want to. :/
Lisa, MFF
I know it's a drag to do, but at our shop we do reminder calls in the early afternoon on the day prior to appointments. We say, "this is a courtesy reminder call about your appt tomorrow." Or maybe since you have a 48 hour policy your assistant could call 2 days prior. It helps a lot and we can tell when someone forgets to make the reminder calls, because we'll end up with a ton of no shows. It's so frustrating!
ReplyDeleteHi Marge,
DeleteWe do the same thing. We call all of our appointments for the next day. May was just a strange month. So many customers waited till we called them to remind them of their appointment to tell us they needed to reschedule. It drives you crazy.
Lisa, MFF
I am sitting here reading your blog because of a no show this morning. It was a new person who had made the appt a couple of weeks ago. They either forgot or went somewhere else-like you said. I have started a list of people who repeatedly do this. Once they are on that list-I will no longer book them an appt without a credit card in advance. They will be charged regardless if they show up or not-that way I will be paid for my time and their thoughtlessness. It has worked-at least for those who done it a few times in a row. They seem to make their appts now! The newbies-well they still are a crap shoot-lol!
ReplyDeleteHi Kristin,
ReplyDeleteI agree, the newbies are the ones that I have the worst time with. I hate giving them an appointment 3 or 4 weeks out. They always say that they will wait, and some do, but most seem to keep calling around and find something sooner then don't bother to call back and cancel. Grrrr.
Lisa, MFF