[Chrisjo]

Does anyone take a small depostit at the time of booking to hold the appointment ?

Any thoughts ( sensible ones) ?

we don tget let down very often but today I went to collect keys from someone ( this was arranged beforehand) and the "customer" was nowhere tobe found..in the meantime I'd turned work away for this morning and now Im left out of mpocket for fuel and I have a morning of hanging around.

I know its rough with smooth and all that malarky but has anyone asked for deposits is there customer resistance or does it show a professional approach?

Chris
Peterborough Cleaning

[AshWhite]

The only person I know who does this is Russ Chadd. He swears by it.

He's a 'Status Quo' fan, mind...

[Chrisjo]

does he la la la like it then ?

[vince viola]

I'm thinking about it too.
Just about to leave the house when I get a call to say daughter is not well (18 year old) and customer cancelled.
I know in this case it is difficult to charge but like you I have no work this a.m as it was a £190-00 job.
Someone was telling me they charge a deposit and even if it is only £10-15, you'll be surprised how they don't want to lose that!

[Mike Halliday]

this really pees me off, when some one cancels at the last moment so I don't have the chance to fill the space its like the reach into my wallet and steal the money

I booked a holiday last week, I joked with my wife that the cost of the holiday was less than the amount of last minute cancellations I had so far this year

[vince viola]

Last year was my worst for no shows, 11 in total.
The amount of cancellations the day before were high too.
The thing is, when you explain to them how it's messed your day up they sound all defensive as if it's normal.
I take it you have a fair few do this to you as well Mike?

[Russ Chadd]

Thanks Ash... got to admit though... you cant beat a bit of Quo
Yes its true... i will take a deposit via PayaTrader... its so easy and it works on many levels.

I used to get idiots calling me "panic booking", they book me and straight away look for a cheaper alternative - once they find someone else who can do the job for less they call and cancel...

Now i simply ask for a £10.00 booking fee which is deducted from the balance on the day of the job, this will determine whether they are a messer or a genuine customer, if they refuse to pay then i would rather they find someone else, all i can say is i have NEVER had a customer cancel a job on me once they have paid the £10.00.

There are several other payment by card services out the such as IZettle, payatrader however will work on your smart phone, tablet and on your office PC,when you take a payment you can input all the customers details including email address and this helps to build a data base of card paying customers.
The customer receives an email receipt once payment goes through with a reference you can input such as "carpet clean 01/01/13"

It works for me... just go to the Payatrader website and quote this ID 106122701... it will discount you £15 on your one off set up fee of £103.00... each transaction is about 3%

[Ian101]

I used to be a sales manager in a toyota dealer and when i first took over the sales lads never took deposits but always moaned when they had a cancelled order so intoroduced £500 deposit and the cancellations dropped by 99%.

If customer didnt want to leave deposit then no order ..... old motor trade saying "the deposit is the glue that seals the deal"

£500 of approx £10000 average order is 5% ... if it was a £50000 landcruiser then it was £2000 deposit min

Moving into pressure washing this month and planning to take a 10% deposit on booking.

[Paul W Jones]

Seems like the week for cancellations; I had one on Monday morning, by text, less than one hour before I was due to be there.  £170.00 down the drain and booked in since January 9th!  I've never asked for a deposit but I'm very often asked by customers if they need to leave one.  Maybe the answer should be yes?

[Mark_Jubb]

Had 2 short notice postponements this week, first one early in the week as the customer had developed the dreaded winter bug over the weekend (quite happy not to be going there then) and second one today for tomorrow  >:. Looks like I'll be able to catch up with a few odd jobs that I've been meaning to do.
(both have been rebooked, and I managed to fill the early week space so not too bad).
Still not planning on taking deposits at this point in time though.

[derek west]

what happens if you take a deposit and the person rings the morning of the job and says we are not ready (usual one is the decorator has over run) do you rebook without any problems or do you charge extra?

just asking

[Russ Chadd]

I tell the customer that they can re schedule but only the once... if they cancel because of some rubbish excuse and refuse to book another date then they lose... but this has never happened.

[wynne jones]

I do this with certain types. People who are flippant and disorganised. If they say no I'm not that bothered.

[JandS]

I tried it once.
The customer said she was not prepared to pay
a deposit and would look elsewhere if I insisted.
I didn't, it was for £160, and I did it and I've
scrapped that idea now.
Russ, do you charge deposit for repeats and
referrals too?

[Russ Chadd]

I tried it once.
The customer said she was not prepared to pay
a deposit and would look elsewhere if I insisted.
I didn't, it was for £160, and I did it and I've
scrapped that idea now.
Russ, do you charge deposit for repeats and
referrals too?

If i get a call from someone who has used me before or a friend of a friend then there is no point as you know they are probably going to be ok, from experience i would say that a genuine and honest customer who really wants to use my services doesnt batter an eyelid when asked for a £10.00 booking fee.
Remember that the customer also benefits from knowing that the booking fee secures your services and you will be there on time to carry out the work.

Too many price shoppers about now for me to simply accept a call the night before to tell me that the "carpets are going to be replaced now so we wont be needing you" 

[bennymon]

But times have changed we need to have a crack at the price shoppers because that's the majority of people out there now whether we like it or not.

[JandS]

They've always been a majority we all are price shoppers.

[bennymon]

Correct John