Customers Constantly Late!

Hello, yes I've dealt with similar situations.

Make it very clear to people the time and date they are picking up and dropping off. Once you've agreed upon a time for pick up/drop off, keep checking in. Message them the day before or so to confirm this time. Don't be afraid to be pushy. It's your business. And make sure on your profile that your expectations are known. In my opinion, don't willingly suggest to dog owners that you are flexible, because they will take advantage of that knowledge and be less on-time because they think you won't really care. It's sad but the truth! Just my little input.

Hope that helps.

Are these regular customers that are always late? If it were me, I would politely but firmly tell them what the times will be and say that if the times are not honored you can no longer keep their dog. If they violate the time again, drop them as a client. Give them one more chance, then if it happens again, drop them. You don't need the headache, and that frees you up for more polite, courteous clients.

So many people nowadays seem to have no respect for other people's time. You have a right to be angry - I would be, if it's a consistent occurrence. They may perceive you as rude, but they are the ones being rude. You don't need those type of people in your life or business.

I haven't really encountered much of this kind of behavior. Perhaps it is because I establish from the beginning what are appropriate dropoff and pickup times. Many of my clients may be going out of town on early flights. Dropping off their dog on the way to the airport at, say, 5 am is not acceptable. Nor are very late pickup times. While I am a late night person, I draw the line at around 10:30pm. Anything after that is unreasonable. I live in a home, not a 24-hour Starbucks. When you make the original arrangements, find out when their flights depart and arrive and determine what is appropriate and reasonable. If they're coming in very late, suggest picking up the dog in the morning, especially if they're experiencing flight delays. I would rather keep the dog until morning than have people ringing my bell late at night. With early morning departures, I always suggest bringing the dog over the night before so they don't have to rush or worry. Everything can be managed, but you have to set parameters for what you will accept from the outset. Remember, hotels have strict check-in/check-out times. We sitters are generally not as stringent, but it is in everyone's best interest to establish practical guidelines/rules about your services.

Sorry to hear about these difficulties! Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with this too much, but I can imagine the frustration. We're in an interesting position of both running a business and living our lives. Yes, we need to be flexible for our clients, but we do have other things to do. I was also interested to know if these were regular clients, or just a general problem with all your clients?
I think both Lindsey's and Carol's ideas are good.

I have the same set up as Karen. One of the first questions I ask is drop off and pick up time. If they have to be on the road early, the customer usually ask me if they can drop their dog off the night before. It's something most people (at least in Chicago) will automatically do. Same thing for pick up time, if they know they won't be back until 9pm they ask me if they can pick them up early the next morning, in which I tell them 9pm is still a reasonable time to pick up their dog. Here is the thing, I worked at a kennel before and trust me, employees go home after 6pm which means they will not be able to pick up their dog until the next day. So we are quite flexible and accommodating when it comes to pick up and drop off times and that is what you need to tell the customer. I mean really...who picks up their dog at crazy hours of the night? Again I have not had that problem but if I did I would tell them "sorry you are running late but I have plans and I made them around your pick up time, you can pick up Fido tomorrow in the morning." Then charge them an extra night and trust me, they won't be late again. I am that strict because I run a business and I make it clear to them that I am not the teenager next door that takes care of dogs whenever you need them to, I am a professional. I hope this helps. I am really surprised you have this problem constantly. Some people can just be so insensitive.

I have some clients who are very thoughtful and always call if they are running late and they always apologize. Then there are the ones who show up hours late, they say they are sorry but it happens again and again. This is normal. When you are in the business of customer service, you just learn to deal with all types. The customer is the one paying you...do anything to keep them happy.

Maybe you're too accommodating. Most places charge a late fee and maybe you should too. That will help people to stop taking advantage of you and help encourage them to be on time and if not, at least you can earn a little more money in the process. While going over your new late fees you may want to ask them if there's a new time that may work out better for them so they won't incur these extra fees in the future.

I just had a client pick their dogs up 2 hours late last night, with only an hour's notice. Now that I know I can add late fees after the fact, I will be doing that in the future. If a flight is delayed, that's obviously out of their control, but this pet parent just left the beach later than they should have to come pick up their dogs. I think a late fee will deter that for future clients. Thanks for the idea.

I'm a bit on the other side of things. This is a job that solely relies on customer satisfaction. If you want to establish relationships with clients and grow your network, it's one of those things you just need to deal with. I understand how frustrating it can be, especially when they don't send you an update or let you know they're running late. Maybe in the future you can schedule pick-up/drop-off times with a bit of cushion, so if you have somewhere to be, there is room for the client to be late. Especially when owners are coming home from a trip, I am always prepared for delays in case a flight is canceled or pushed back.

At the end of the day, it's a job. It is up to you whether you think it is worth it to deal with the more difficult clients or you'd rather miss out on a paying stay because you can't deal with the frustration.