No-Shows in the New Year

[Jeannie Grassi]

Zen,
    I have found that if I call and remind the customer the night before, I
have cut down on that sort of thing happening. As a matter of fact, if it
happens now, I don't make an effort to do work for that person in the
future.  It's extra time on the phone for me, but a task that pays off.
Many people thank me and admit that they might have forgotten unless I had
called.  When I have to schedule 3 or 4 weeks out, it is extra insurance
that they will be there.
Jeannie Grassi
Registered Piano Technician
Bainbridge Island, WA
jgrassi@silverlink.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Zen Reinhardt <diskladame@provide.net>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Monday, January 05, 1998 7:49 PM
Subject: No-Shows in the New Year


>Yep -- first appointment of the New Year and the customer was a no-show.
>Now I'm curious -- what do people do about the no-shows?  (Or should I ask,
>what Resolutions have some of you made concerning the handling of
>no-shows?)
>
>When you face a potentially no-show situation, how long do you wait, hoping
>that the customer will return?
>
>Do you charge for the missed appointment?  Your full tuning fee or some
>fraction thereof?
>
>Do you make an effort to reschedule or do you wait for the customer to take
>the initiative?
>
>If the customer does call wanting to reschedule, do you try to squeeze them
>in or do you politely tell them to "take their turn at the end of the line"
>and schedule them accordingly?
>
>Today marks the first no-show I've had since striking out on my own after
>leaving a full-time job with a dealer, in which the customer didn't call
>right away to explain or to apologize.  I've had only 3 other no-shows, all
>of which were the results of medical emergencies.
>
>Just curious --
>ZR!  RPT
>Ann Arbor  MI
>diskladame@provide.net
>