So this is my 6th tasting appt, and I have a question, are people ALWAYS late to your tastings? My first tasting I went to the brides house, so that one was on time, but other than that only one other bride was on time. One was 2.5 hrs late! This one is already 15 minutes late and still 10 minutes away! I want to show up late to their weddings. Why are people so inconsiderate? I realize people are coming from out of town, but don't you plan on traffic? For my first wedding, I was supposed to deliver between 3 and 4pm, and I live about an hour from the reception site, but I would be on I-95 most of the way there... ON A SUNDAY. I left my house at 1:30 to make sure I got there. I hate people...

Thanks for letting me vent... any ideas on how to correct this, let me know.

2.5 hours late? Geez. They'd be ordering somewhere else, if they were that late for a consultation.

I would have left the shop two hours ago, actually.

So many people think that if they call to say they are running late that it's the same as being on time.

One of my pet peeves is people who don't respect my time.

I really dislike it when somebody is not considerate enough to at least phone and tell you they'll be late. Doesn't everyone have a cell phone nowadays?

2.5 hrs late? Now that's ridiculous.....I wouldn't have been available to them at that point, that's just plain rude.

I always phone my couples the day before the tasting appt., just to remind them and to verify the time. I also ask them to let me know if they are running late as I have allotted a certain amount of time just for them.

I don't have too much of a problem with my "cake clients" being late, however at my Salon my policy is "If you are more then 15 minutes late for your appt., you may be asked to reschedule". It's not fair to the people who do come on time to have to wait because somebody made me late for all of my other appts.

Good luck, I hope they're on their way.

When I make an appt, I send them a pre-written email (stored in Word, then I cut-n-paste it into the email) that confirms the date and time. In this email, I ask them "If something comes up and you need to reschedule, or if you run into traffic and find yourself running late, please give me a call and let me know. 15 minutes past the designated appointment time, with no phone call, I consider you a no-show and I pack up and go home."

I never have a problem with late arrivals.

I confirm dates and times with everyone, and occassionally they get to me before I get to them to confirm, so that's not an issue. Unfortunately, I work out of my home, so "closing up shop" doesn't really apply (technically), plus I usually schedule my tastings when I know we don't have plans. Of course, if I did have something planned, I wouldn't hold off on doing that, just would hate to have to re-bake and re-prep everything for another day. I guess I need to start be more "business-minded" when comes to these things.

pinkpiggie, closing up shop at home is different, that's for sure! Perhaps if you even just word it in such as way in your confirming email ".....15 minutes past the appointment time, and we will have to reschedule..." It sends the message of professionalism.

It doesn't matter whether you have plans or not ... it's rude and inconsiderate. I'd like to see them try this at their doctor's office! They don't know that you aren't scheduling brides back to back in 1 hour time slots. Showing up 15 minutes late is inconsiderate to your other brides. (Again, it doesnt' matter if you really have another bride scheduled. It's the principle of the issue, and it shows you the type of bride she is going to be.)

2.5 hours is not late... it's friggin RUDE, and if that were my customer I wouldn't have been around when they got there. We would have gone to the park or something. And if she wanted to reschedule she would have to pay for the tasting. I have a policy that if you need to cancel I need 48 hours notice or you forfeit your free consult. If someone is more than 15 minutes late without notification I also consider it a missed consult and they will have to reschedule. I will leave the house after 30 minutes if I don't have another consult right after. I have no patience for that kind of behavior. They get an email 48 hours before their appointment and then it's up to them.

Not only are they late to tasting but pick-up!!!!!!! I have a horrible time with this, I swear one of these days I will finally get the guts to leave.

I actually have been having problems with delivery's. I do alot of delivery's an meetings. People are actually showing up late to those!!

Sorry to rant-

I was actually going to say that IndyDebi has a really good email that she sends to her customers to tell them about being late, child policy, and several other things. And of course it's a reminder as well.

I would think about doing something like that. I think it would definitely help you out.

I forget who said it, maybe it was Dr. Laura. Anywho, it stuck with me the first time I read it/heard it.

Tardiness is the ultimate display of selfishness. It is a loud clear message that no one else's time is important but your own. It's also a sign of neediness. "Oh I'm late, please wait on me and say it's ok, don't worry poor little thing!". Barf!

I definately need to be more stringent with my "policies". I have only been in business for a little over 3 months now, so I am trying to figure out what is working and what is not. Most things have been going well, including the consultations (100% booking rate thus far on weddings), it's just the tardiness.

Katie-Bug... I have a lot of late pick ups too. I usually don't care if they are late because I just do what I need to be doing until they arrive (since I work out of my home). If we do have plans, I make sure I let the customer know that they must be there before whatever o'clock because we have plans (and usually I make sure that time is an hour before we actually are going somewhere... just in case).

If someone shows up that late, you shouldn't see them at all. I work out of my home, too, and if someone was that late I'd tell them that I assumed they were no-shows, I have another client scheduled, they will have to call to reschedule because I don't have time to do it now, and I've already given their samples to my kids to eat so I don't have anything to give them to take home with them!