Am I Being Unreasonable? Or Is She?
Decorating By Bubbl3h3ad Updated 29 Apr 2013 , 7:10pm by Sassyzan
Our business was by appt only so we had no set hours, and the only time we were completely unavailable was during production time at the commercial kitchen (8-12 hours/week). If the only available times we had every week were Saturday and part of Sunday we would have had more scheduling conflicts.
Based on what the OP has said this sounds like a regular back-and-forth involved in scheduling an appt, not that the customer is demanding an exception.
Exactly...it makes sense to give the customer at least 3 or 4 scheduling options instead of just rejecting the customer outright because they are busy on 2 dates. Even in this case, your strategy of letting the customer know that the Sunday afternoon time was the only available tasting date before the wedding (although that would be hard to believe) could have resulted in the tasting going ahead.
As for the entourage, that can be controlled with pricing. When we did in-person consults, it was $30 for 2 people and $15 for each additional person (not applied to the final order), so if a customer showed up with 5 other people and was willing to pay $90 for the tasting that's fine with us.
The point with the entourage was that they "couldn't come" then when that was the only time available everyone suddenly could. That says to me that it wasn't that they COULDN'T come at the time that was offered, they just didn't want to. Maybe they would be missing their favorite tv show or something. The point is that there are a lot of people who, because they know you're a home-based business, think that you should be available whenever they want, because you work from home. If you don't put limits on it you'll never be off work.
The OP said that the client had several reasons for not being able to come, but they contradicted each other, so it seemed to me that there was more of an "I don't want to come then" than an "I really can't come then" situation going on. In any case, she cut the person loose, so that's good.
A
Original message sent by costumeczar
The OP said that the client had several reasons for not being able to come, but they contradicted each other, so it seemed to me that there was more of an "I don't want to come then" than an "I really can't come then" situation going on.
I'm not sure I see contradictory statements, except that she thought she was available after 5 on Saturday but turned out not to be. From the standpoint of the vendor it's not really relevant or necessary for the customer to provide a specific reason that can stand up to scrutiny for not being available at a specific time.
One interpretation of the exchange is as follows (with a little artistic license):
OP: Are you available on date X? Customer: Yes. Customer (shortly after): Oops, I'm not available on date X after all. OP: Are you available on date Y? Customer: No. How about date Z? OP: I'm sorry, you are too demanding. Find another baker.
I'm not sure I see contradictory statements, except that she thought she was available after 5 on Saturday but turned out not to be.
This: She said she can only do after 5 on saturday because her daughter works until 5 so I said that was fine. Then she emailed back and said she couldn't because her daughter had a friend's shower to go to at 4. (Although she works until 5).
AYes, she thought she was available but turned out not to be...presumably since her daughter is the one getting married it would be important for her to be there.
There are enough crazy and unreasonable customers to go around! Don't worry if you sent this one on, another one is just around the corner! I'm sure the OP has more information on the manner of her communications with this woman, and why they led to her interpretation of the situation.
Liz
A
Original message sent by jason_kraft
One interpretation of the exchange is as follows (with a little artistic license):
OP: Are you available on date X? Customer: Yes. Customer (shortly after): Oops, I'm not available on date X after all. OP: Are you available on date Y? Customer: No. How about date Z? OP: I'm sorry, you are too demanding. Find another baker.
This is how I interpreted the situation too.
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