scoobyboy

as the garages and mechanics are always getting a good flaming on here, isn't it about time the customers did as well?
i mean when you book a service for say 8:30am why are you never there at that time. we find that so many of you turn up at least a half hour late and by then the next customer who was booked in at 9:00 and who could be bothered to turn up on time is then having to wait longer than they expected.
do you all also do this when you book a dentist or doctors appointment ? somehow i dont think so, your always there at least 15 mins before your appointment in plenty of time.
so why not turn up on time to get the car serviced, then we get the usual questions like
"how long is it going to take i'm in a rush"
"while it's in just have a look at this and that but i'm in a rush so hurry up"

so by then mr 9:00 is getting angry and so are you because it's our fault your late for an appointment and when you do get where you are going you blame the garage.
customers just don't understand that garages also run to tight schedules like dentists and doctors and when we slip you in we are actually doing you a favour. but you don't see that.
so hands up who thinks or knows of any garages that charge for turning up late or missed appointments and do you think it's fair and would it make you the customer try to turn up on time more often.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Charge them (unless they ring up with a good excuse )

Tony

*Sonic*

If a garage charged me for being late etc etc, I would counter charge them for the time that gets wasted , when that happens !

john banks

Yes they do They turn up late, make inappropriate demands in just the same way. I audited the reasons why I run late, in order they were (most frequent first):

1. Earlier patient arrived late (often completely after their whole appointment slot - ie after the end of it).
2. Patient turns up without an appointment and demands to be seen (under 10% of these were appropriate demands).
...
These were the vast majority of reasons for being late.

3. (under 10%) Someone is so ill that you have to leave the appointments and go out and visit them, or you spend a lot of time with them sorting them out.

I think it is the same in any service industry. Mechanic or Doctor, it is no different I assure you.

[Edited by john banks - 8/8/2003 6:56:21 PM]

Dazza012

How may times do u ACTUALLY get to see the DENTIST / DOCTOR on the time given to you ? A. Never, because they are always running late as appointments take longer than they think, ie norm is about 10 min per patient they say, so if ur appt is 8.30am how many get in there at that time,not bloody many i bet.
And u start charging customers for being late, my guess is they will tell u to **** off.

When i have booked my motor in for a service they tell me 9am, when i turn up, what do they say,"leave it with us be done for 3pm this afternoon"
So doesn't matter is Mr 8.30 arrives at 9 anyway cos if he were on time u wouldn't start it till u had finished ur tea and ***.

DocJock

Have to agree with JohnBanks.
I know how long a job will take.....>95% of the time, if I run late it is because a patient turns up late. It reached the point where I now leave it up to my receptionist as to whether or not they get seen. If they turn up with the "I'm only 5 minutes late" attitude they are on the bus.........

Scoobyboy, just the same for me matey. Patient booked in for a check-up..."Can you just do this while I am here ?"
You would be amazed how many fillings fall out the day before a check-up appointment.

Don't get me started on broken appointments either........

john banks

Dazza, a fair few of my patients arrive early and get seen before their appointment times. People expect to be seen late so turn up late - they are usually the cause of the problem at least in my surgery.

TON3

I turn up @ 9.00am exactly when i said i would! The garage tells me it will be done by 3.00pm, great i'll be there. Garage phones me up and says sorry sir but its taking a little longer than we thought, 4,5pm passes! I phone up garage and ask is my car ready, they reply sorry sir its not quite ready u can take it with the seats missing or u can come back tomorrow!

I wish they would stick 2 there times!

FERRARINUTTER

Group Hug?

BigRed

I've sat waiting in a dentist's for an hour and a half before, so if i'm 5 min's late when taking my car in for a service so be it!!

To add insult to injury if you miss your dental appointment at our dentist , you still get charged for the 'check up' that you never recieved, and to cancel they need 24 hours. So if you wake up feeling rough and miss you appointment you STILL have to pay for it, thats just not on.

[Edited by BigRed - 8/8/2003 9:08:01 PM]

DocJock

To add insult to injury if you miss your dental appointment at our dentist , you still get charged for the 'check up' that you never recieved, and to cancel they need 24 hours. So if you wake up feeling rough and miss you appointment you STILL have to pay for it, thats just not on.


BigRed, I agree entirely.
I never charge for missed appointments.
A) It just causes bad feeling
B) Do it 3 times and I tell 'em to **** off and not come back

Dazza012

Understand what ur saying JB, i live less than 200 yards from my Doctor's and still never get to see him at the time stated, and im always early. But life is never straight fwd otherwise it would be boring.

TON3....LOL heard that 1 a few times.

scoobyboy

lol some good posts there it's good to hear that we aint the only ones who get messed about!

EvilBevel

Somehow I knew I would see JohnB and DJ on this thread LOL

It's called respect. We don't have that anymore, it's an old fashioned concept.

Maybe it'll come back one day

PS: my dealer is a 170 km drive, and you can *bet* I'm on time for an 8:00 am appointment unless something has gone terribly wrong with traffic (which never happened in 4 years, thus me being 15 minutes early most days... oh well, which means I get my coffee earlier).

blame government, blame dealers, blame traffic, blame tantra or aura, but let's never blame ourselves (Confusius LOL)

BOB.T

I'm soo glad I don't work in garages anymore

Me: Hello, Rhydding Hyundai...

Customer: Hi, I'd like to book my car in for service

M: Certainly, when would you like it doing?

C: Erm, well I go to work in it every day....erm

10 min pause

M: Do you want to ring me back when you've had a think about it?

Then there's the old, can you look at the rattles on my car...I'll go into to town whilst you do it. You spend feckin hours looking for rattles, there's no hint of one whatsoever and then the customer comes back, you tell them you can't find owt, they just say "oh well, never mind" and trundle off home...odd that when the garage was right in the centre of Harrogate and parking was fookin expensive

Then there's

"It didn't do that / have that mark on it before I brought it in"

"I'm going to France 2moro, can you fit 4 tyres, do a major service and respray it before I go"

"Thanks for rebuilding my engine at no notice, can I pay you at the end of the month"

Me, bitter, nah!!!

Silver Knight

And if we don't send out reminders its our fault that you have blown your warranty on time.
Or if we do we are harrasing you.

scoobydooooo

i like this thread cos all of it is true !!everyone on the planet is useless , and i mean everyone , if you have to deal with the general public in any way you find out how moronic people are but the same goes for services as well , especially thoes who serve you candy floss , so basically everyone is a moron !!

Leslie

Going by what has been said, it is initially down to the customer turning up late. Sure it is just good manners to arrive in time for an appointment. Can't blame the garage,doctor,or dentist etc when they have to cope with late customers. Maybe they should just go to the back of the queue. Just takes a little bit of thought I reckon.

Les

AllanB

I had the same thing recently and cancleld a trip to Bournemouth to see my gf on Friday so I could go to a dealer at the dealers request to swap back some wheels they were repairing.

When i got there the chap wasn;t there , nobody knew anyhting about it and said he wasn't contactable. Not happy . I then went to Bournemouth which took me 5 hours tather than 2.

No call on Monday to say sorry infact I only got an appology when I sent a stroppy email.

In the chaps absence I arrnaged with the service desk to do this Saturday (yesterday) but I could not make it so I made the effort to let him know Thursday night. its not a hard thing to do.

I think everyone expects great service but most people don't deliver it themselves. Lack of respect really and no exccuse for it. If I'm runnign late I will always try and call to let people know, its just good manners.


AllanB

scoobyboy

remember this is a thread about customers not turning up on time it seems a lot of you are still trying to turn it around so the dealers still look bad

DAC

i think the saying 'customer is No.1' should be remembered
remember without them - you wouldn't have a job

I work as customer service type manager - and the service most garages/shops/ restaurants give is absolutely disgusting - so it makes me try to offer better to my customers.

'treat people as you'd like to be treated'

none of us are perfect.

except me of course LOL

brickboy

With reference to JB and other members of the medical profession -- I bet they've had the odd late (as in dead) customer too

Which doesn't happen too often at the car dealership ...

tonybooth

When I'm paying £75.00/hour for servicing I excpect an element of flexibility.

TONY

scoobyvirgin

Doing us a favour? It usually you lot that send us a reminder to get it serviced. It's only in your own interests as it will earn you money.

Monkey boy



[Edited by scoobyvirgin - 8/10/2003 12:00:43 AM]

john banks

Guess what, I am in the middle of a surgery. Why am I typing this - because someone turned up after the end of their appointment and I thought I would be behind, in fact the person two after them has not yet appeared, so I sit here wondering how to twiddle my thumbs and wondering whether in 10 minutes time I will suddenly be 20 minutes late when they all turn up. Absolutely infuriating! I am seeing them all in the wrong order and getting all their notes and names on prescriptions all mixed up. Absolute chaos!

Edit: Just calling in someone who has arrived 20 minutes early

[Edited by john banks - 8/11/2003 2:57:36 PM]