Welcome to ECCIE - Sign up today!

brooke_banks69 · 01-29-2011, 01:06 PM

Ok, last weekend I had a guy call and schedule an appointment for 1:30 on Saturday afternoon. I said it was fine and to call me to confirm once it was closer to the appt time. Ok, he sends a txt, and unfortunately I had an emergency to take care of (for all of you who dont know, my left hand is in a cast due to an accident i had) and that could we reschedule for 4:30 instead.

he said that was fine. Once it came time for the appointment, I was unable to return his calls, or txts because my emergency ran over the time i thought it would take to handle the situation.

Now this guy is PMing me saying that he wasted alot of time because he still made the trip to my side of town DESPITE no response from me to confirm the appointment and that i should givee him a 'discount'....(i knew that was coming..lol)

What i want to know is if you guys/girls think i am responsible for his 'wasted' time even though he didnt get in contact with me and STILL DECIDED to come on his own free will??

Guest062912 · 01-29-2011, 01:29 PM

Tough one. Personally, I would offer him something. Perhaps an extra half hour on his reschedule. It may not have necessarily been your fault, you may not have wasted his time on purpose, and jeezus knows shit happens. But for the sake of my own conscience and respect for his time and effort, that is what I would do, as long as he isn't being abusive about his disappointment.

Just my opinion. Hope it works out, girl. And sorry about your hand!

steverino50 · 01-29-2011, 01:50 PM

Just my opinion and worth what you are paying for it

. He agreed to the reschedule at a specified later time, and you didn't respond to his attempts at confirming the later time. I know you said you had an emergency and were unable but in his mind he may think he had a firm time slot and was a NC/NS victim.

To put it in perspective, sometimes the way things appear matter more than the way things are. If you have enough doubt to ask the question in a public forum, you already know the answer even if it is not the one you would prefer. Weigh that against how badly you want to have this fella as a client.
Either way, I hope it works out.

michaeljohnson1970 · 01-29-2011, 01:55 PM

I think we all know unexpected things come up every now and then. Family emergencies, traffic jams, meetings run late. As long as there is some type of communication between the provider and I, then I'm ok with rescheduling when the time permits for both.

I use to see a girl a few years ago on a regular basis and she always did outcalls to my office. She was always on time and we never had any problem scheduling. One time she called me about 30 minutes before she was suppose to come and see me and she said something had come up. She was very apologetic about it and said she would make up the time and there would be no charge. I called her the next week to schedule and she met me at my office. After our wonderful session, she said it was on her for canceling the week before. She was insistent on not letting me pay. When she went to clean up, I slipped some money in her purse. I thought it was an awesome gesture on her part, but I just couldn't let her leave without giving her anything.

Maybe you can find a way of working something out with the guy that can be beneficial for both of you.

hotlips_houlihan · 01-29-2011, 02:16 PM

I'm not sure what kind emergency came up with your hand in a cast that you could not answer a call and say you were still at the doctor's office or reply to a text but.......

Being a good provider, I'm sure you will do the right thing. To "me" that right thing would be to offer him either additional time or a small discount for the inconvenience. JMO of course.

Meg

RoDunn · 01-29-2011, 02:39 PM

I think he's being a little aggressive in demanding a discount, but I will say this: if I had done that to a lady, I would feel bad about it and would want to compensate her in some way.

I personally wouldn't ask the lady for a discount, but I probably wouldn't try to see her again either.

PoppyToyota · 01-29-2011, 02:52 PM

I have drove to Dallas on more than one occasion only to turn back around and drive home because of ncns or the unexpected emergency. I don't ask for anything in return. If they are nice about it I don't say anything to anyone about it. The lady runs her business how she see's fit. Some will be nice enough to offer you a small discount upon reschedule others prefer to offer time. The OP might be able to run her business without giving anything. It should be done by your gut. If you think you were wrong and made a guy wait you should take care of your business.

ofcoursenot · 01-29-2011, 03:39 PM

Seems like good business to offer a reduced rate session, or extra time at least.

wolfeman · 01-29-2011, 03:44 PM

Just think about what you would expect from him if the roles were reversed and he ncns on you. There are some providers that demand to be compensated the whole amount of the session if the guy even cancels at the last minute, not to mention ncns. Just saying a"what's good for the goose ...." That being said, I have never understood why everyone gets so upset with cancelled and ncns events. Those of us in the real business world have this happen to us all the time. What insurance salesman, or accountant doesn't have to contend with this on a weekly basis?Something comes up and a client has to change his schedule. Do we call him and make a big deal? Not if we ever want his business again. Unless the client has a habit of doing this, we don't even think about it. Things like this happen in the real business world all the time. When providers start treating this as a business, and when hobbyist quit taking a drive across town for play so seriously, they will both start accepting this as "stuff happens" and move on.

Guest030617 · 01-29-2011, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotlips_houlihan

I'm not sure what kind emergency came up with your hand in a cast that you could not answer a call and say you were still at the doctor's office or reply to a text but.......

Meg

+1

elgato111 · 01-29-2011, 03:50 PM

Things do happen on both sides not just the provider not answering or showing up. He sounds like he is pretty pissed off that you did not answer his calls when he thought all was ok for the scheduled time.

Could offer him extra time at no charge, but that would be up to you. In my experience when this has happened to me, not often, the provider has let me stay longer without an additional fee. I like that much more than discounting her rate especially if I have seen her before or really liked the meeting.

Could be neither solution would really satisfy him. He just might not show up at all even if you offer discount or extra time. His way of getting back at you which means he is a real AH and not worth your time anyway.

lisa.lisa0302 · 01-29-2011, 03:52 PM

Just my opinion.

You should have canceled the appt. When accidents and emergency happen, they just don't stop, had it happen to me yesterday, I just said screw it and canceled all my appts before 6:30pm

You do not owe him a discount, why do people think a discount solves everything. Offer him more time, because his time was wasted.

Im sorry your arm is in cast, that sucks really bad. I hope it heals quickly honey.

LovingKayla · 01-29-2011, 03:59 PM

I'm posting this with the idea that you truly want honest input.

You are an Independent contractor. You have put yourself here on display as a commodity to be sold and traded. How good is your product? By that I mean, how well do you take care of your clients? Every single one is unique and special and most of them are used to a business mind. One that takes care of the client above all... it seems to me, based on the scenario you have presented that you are in fact at fault and the very least you can do is offer him an additional 30-45 min for his lost time.

(If this were me, I would give him an additional 30 min for the next 3 sessions. There are 2 reasons.

A. You will appease the hurt part that feels screwed over.

B. You just bought yourself 3 sessions to make him a believer and follow you forever. If you can't pull it off in 3 sessions, you don't deserve to have him... well one session but there's a reason for the three that I don't have time to explain.)

He put effort into you because he thought you were worth the effort and fee it takes to see you. He was even willing to stay flexible to see you even though it may have been easier or cheaper to just go with plan B-Z.

You have an opportunity here. It's a choice on how important this one client is to you (and through this thread, every other guy here that had you on his list, or may place you there.) Is he just one with a million behind him or is he the only chance you will have to land his business and possibly more through him. You never ever know who it is you are seeing. Is he disposable or worth your effort.

It's not his fault you had shit happen. You are the business, he is the client... you work to please him (or this is seriously the wrong job for you baby.) Looking at this as a business you really have no choice but to compensate him for the loss of his entire day to what looks like "just another provider's BS." <- I did not say it WAS, but from the outside with only your word, that's exactly what it looks like. I believe that is what meg was thinking from her post. I'm not nearly as kind when it comes to business.

Baby please see this as instruction. I had to learn this from the sub-terrain up. Don't be upset at being called on this. This is a perfect chance for growth. Use it.

Guest062912 · 01-29-2011, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoftPlaceToLand

I'm posting this with the idea that you truly want honest input.

You are an Independent contractor. You have put yourself here on display as a commodity to be sold and traded. How good is your product? By that I mean, how well do you take care of your clients? Every single one is unique and special and most of them are used to a business mind. One that takes care of the client above all... it seems to me, based on the scenario you have presented that you are in fact at fault and the very least you can do is offer him an additional 30-45 min for his lost time.

(If this were me, I would give him an additional 30 min for the next 3 sessions. There are 2 reasons.

A. You will appease the hurt part that feels screwed over.

B. You just bought yourself 3 sessions to make him a believer and follow you forever. If you can't pull it off in 3 sessions, you don't deserve to have him... well one session but there's a reason for the three that I don't have time to explain.)

He put effort into you because he thought you were worth the effort and fee it takes to see you. He was even willing to stay flexible to see you even though it may have been easier or cheaper to just go with plan B-Z.

You have an opportunity here. It's a choice on how important this one client is to you (and through this thread, every other guy here that had you on his list, or may place you there.) Is he just one with a million behind him or is he the only chance you will have to land his business and possibly more through him. You never ever know who it is you are seeing. Is he disposable or worth your effort.

It's not his fault you had shit happen. You are the business, he is the client... you work to please him (or this is seriously the wrong job for you baby.) Looking at this as a business you really have no choice but to compensate him for the loss of his entire day to what looks like "just another provider's BS." <- I did not say it WAS, but from the outside with only your word, that's exactly what it looks like. I believe that is what meg was thinking from her post. I'm not nearly as kind when it comes to business.

Baby please see this as instruction. I had to learn this from the sub-terrain up. Don't be upset at being called on this. This is a perfect chance for growth. Use it.

This seems like very solid advice to me. Maybe not the way I would do it, but these are definitely smart, sound ideas. Good post, love.

bigdog0311 · 01-29-2011, 05:59 PM

you should have texted him an hour before the appointed time, telling him that you were still dealing with your emergency situation and it did not look like it was going to end anytime soon. And then, for canceling on him twice in the same day, you SHOULD OFFER a makeup/discounted/more time session, not because he made the trip on his own free will without confirmation, that is his problem.