late pick up

[petpalswi]

okay. I was just reading another post about late drop offs and no shows. how do some of you handle late pick up. I usually call when dogs are done and most clients pick up pretty quick, but there are some that just mosy in when they want. I do not offer day care, and I mostly let the dogs run around the shop when they are not being groomed. I am by appointment, one at a time, I do not let dogs from different families co mingle. so if someone is late to pick up someones dogs is caged. now obviously this is usually the one not picked up on time, but what if that is also the dog the wines, cries, barks,etc when hes caged. sometimes I feel like my head is gonna explode.

[Doubledogdare]

Last week I had a fellow pick up his dog over an hour late. The dog was the last one that day and I had to wait until he finally showed up.

I was royally annoyed, but when the fellow finally walked in, I took one look at his face and could see something verging on fear in it - he clearly thought I was going to rip his head off and hand it to him.

I immediately did exactly the opposite. I was friendly, asked him if he'd had a nice Christmas, told him the dog was blowing his coat like crazy and would probably keep shedding regardless of how much effort I put into stripping out the dead hair. I thanked him for his business and told him I hoped he had a nice evening.

Why did I do that? Well, I didn't know why he was late, he never had been late before and if I had gotten snippy with him he may not have come back. And he was a regular. So, I balanced the amount of money he brought in over the course of a year and decided it was worth it to keep him as a customer than lose him.

I kept my mouth shut and my opinions to myself. It was simply good business to do so.

I always cage dogs when I am done with him. After working for years in a boarding kennel that could house over 200 dogs, one fussy pup I can tune out with no trouble.

[odette]

Doubledog is right, the person isn't habitualy late be as nice as possible, the chronic late ones need to be told YOU missed an appointment,sigh and say it's okay,I will reschedule. Gotta get to people in a way that works for them, same as dogs. Just remember the clients are needed to pay the bills, as for whiny dogs, you decided to be mostly cage free,so live with it, or put a towel over the crate.

[ferretlov]

ugh I do this too . almost nightly
we are a daycare too so noone is ever on time to pick up;I close at 6 ive have been home before 7:30 in months. I have even offered to meet one habitually late client at her job or half way to bring her her dog-whats the deal ?

[Pixie]

Heck, sometimes I'm late too.
Somethings just can't be helped.
Just go with the flow

But yes, sometimes it can get annoying, especially if it's the last one of the day, and your tired and just want to home and take a nice hot shower. But they do pay our bills and where would we be without them, without a career. Just bite your tongue and be happy that they showed up.

[4Sibes]

Slightly OT. I had a gal call 2 weeks back and leave a vague message about picking up late. She was due at 4, and it was already SEVEN pm...time for me to be in my jammies and slippers. (I am home-based.)
So I call her back and ask how late she's running...and she says 8:30 to 9 PM.
Since that was OUT OF THE QUESTION...I laughingly said "that is SO out of my hour time frame...what's it worth to you"?
She said 50 bucks. I said "I'll see you between 8:30 and 9".
Paid me that 50 buckaroos too. Indeed she did.
Sometimes cold, hard cash trumps client training.

I was singing a little song I made up while I was feeding my dogs dinner that had a line in it that said "I'm getting paid to feed you guys, scoop the litter box, and smash 2 flies".
I think I typed something to someone that night too...and figured I was making .50 cents a minute to just sit here and type. It was way cool.

[DoggyDogGrooming]

What we do we tell all clients once they drop off it will be 2 to 3 hours once we call you, you have two hours to get here or it will be a 10 dollar charge for each hour. And that we are not a boarding facility

[SwissNChow]

If you allow your clients to think your hours are a suggestion rather than a rule, well, they are going to treat them exactly that way.

A friend of mine worked out in a children's daycare. Every day she was able to lock the door and leave at exactly closing time, and often early. Why? Well, the daycare charged $10 for every minute a parent was late. And they actually charged it. No parent was late more than once.

My point...charge people for their lateness and normally that will solve your problem. Dog daycares should indeed have a late pick up fee.

[Moonpiepoodlz]

If it's a client who's normally on time I'll let it go and maybe say something like "we were worried about you"

If it's a client who's NEVER on time, they get charged a late pick up fee if they aren't here when we're ready to go home. $10.00 extra after the first 15 minutes