No- shows..... again + digressions

[Mark Purney]

For appointments made over a week in advance, or for longer distance 
appointments, I call to confirm ahead of time. This tends to prevent 
most no-shows from happening in the first place.

In the "Services Performed" section of my invoice form, I have a line 
for "Failed Appointment Service Charge" for no-shows or no-access. 
Depending on the circumstances, I may choose not to bill the customer, 
but I will make sure they understand my policy is to charge a nominal 
fee for no-shows, so they know for next time.

It costs money to drive to an appointment and back, but more 
importantly, we lose the opportunity to earn money during that time slot 
when we are stood up. Many professional services charge for no-shows, 
even if they don't have to travel to the customer's location. My opinion 
is that piano technicians deserve the same courtesy and respect.



I had one rather bad experience, involving a maid that made me wait 25 
minutes before letting me in to tune.  It didn't get much better after 
that, and I felt like I was treated rather poorly throughout the whole 
job. I did charge for the 25 minutes at my hourly rate, and they paid 
the invoice without questioning it. I did not expect (or want) to deal 
with this client ever again, and I assumed they would not be calling me 
again, anyway. Oddly enough, this client recommended my services to a 
friend, and this friend turned out to be a wonderful client. In 
hindsight, I think the first client was just having a really bad day, 
and probably was not intending to make things so unpleasant for me - I 
was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.