Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Respect for an appointment.

What do you think of an appointment time that you make with someone?

Do you respect that time?

Do you respect and value the time of the person you made the appointment with?

I've found over the years that people are less and less respectful of the fact that I made an appointment to come over to their house or to their location. They think nothing of canceling last minute and they think nothing of planning something else over top of my scheduled appointment like someone that shows up "today" to work on their roof or windows, without an appointment which interferes with my ability to hear and therefore, my ability to do a nice job. This is extremely frustrating to me and very disrespectful of someone that YOU made an appointment with....

Didn't you know that there's an online database of all of our appointments that the lawn people check before scheduling their days? Maybe all the other service people have access to that database too!!

Worst I ever experienced was a crew with a jackhammer in the basement... After all, if they are going to take a day off from work, it makes sense to get everything done at the same time...

Seriously, I really don't have much trouble with my clients. Most even 'shush' the kids, or send them somewhere else to play. I'm pretty good with working with external noise, so I usually just smile and keep on 'plinkin'. I did walk away from the jackhammer, though.

Ron Koval

This is why I have a cancellation/no-show policy, which I disclose at the time of scheduling. 1/2 the expected fee for no-shows or <24 hours cancellation. Fairly generous, IMO... I know techs who charge the full fee. So far, I've not had this happen.

Had a 9am appointment this morning at a church just a few blocks from me. The lady that was supposed to let me in didn't show up.

Found out later she had rushed her dad to the doctor and didn't have my number handy. This I can understand, and since it was local and I know the folks, I know it's legit.

I really don't like driving 40 miles one way only to find out no one showed up at a church out in the country. Or no one was home after all. I send them a bill when that happens.

But I don't usually have a problem with people keeping their appointments. Sometimes it can get a bit noisy if the kids are home, but if it gets too loud, I ask them if they can quieten the kids. Think I would draw the line if a jack hammer was present too.

I hate to be late, and if my wife goes along, I tell her an hour earlier than when I really want to leave so she will be ready. If she surprises me and is ready to go that hour early, we head out anyway. Can't have her figuring out my secret.

Jerry, I think there may be something in the water there in Michigan. Have you seen unusual numbers of people walking the streets in a daze lately?

Seriously, I wonder if the pace of life has picked up to the point that a lot of people are getting scatterbrained and a little oblivious to the niceties of social interaction. 'The FaceBook and texting phenomenon perhaps?

I feel very fortunate that in 17 years I've had scheduling mess ups maybe 20 times or so. Maybe you're just gettin' old and grumpy Jerry

Oh, by the way, I can say that 'cause I'm old and grumpy

Yesterday I was at a church. When I make the appointment, all of my appointments are made online now, it sends the client information about what is and what is not necessary. 24 hours prior to our appointment time, they get an auto email reminder with a lot more information such as "I do not usually need to move the piano away from the wall. Please remove all of the items from your piano prior to my arrival as I will need to open it up. I do need it relatively quiet to do a nice job of tuning on your piano etc."

At this church yesterday, I arrive to find "workers" scattered all over the church. In the auditorium, on the roof, sawing and hammering, in the back of the church, in the front of the church and all of them were drilling, sawing and making noise working on pews etc. Now, the fact of the matter is this.

I made an appointment with the church for this day and for this time. I am positive knowing how most construction companies are, that they more than likely just showed up on this day or, someone called them and scheduled them right over top of me with no regard that I infact, made this appoinment 2 months ago already. If that be the case, that someone, needs to look at the calendar to see who and what is there and someone else needs to approve it. It is not our responsibility to make sure that our appointment time is going to be available upon arrival.

I have NO tolerance for that sort of thing. It really ticks me off. The older I get, the more it ticks me off. What is an appointment for anyway?

Yes, I am less tolerable of that in my older age. But, I still see no excuse for it.

Last week - first time customer who disappeared upstairs as soon as I arrived. Cleaning ladies were working in the kitchen with some clinking of dishes - no problem. Then one starts with the vacuum working closer and closer. Yep, I was a bit irritated but just stuck my head further in under the lid. The vacuuming one enters the area with the piano and I asked if she could find another area to work for just 5 minutes. No, she said, and continued to vacuum the floor next to me. I worked on a couple quick repairs while I waited. The rug under the piano was filthy, dusty, dog hair - the cleaning lady looked at me and asked if I could move for her to vacuum the rug.

I refused. They left without finishing the job and I finished the tuning in peace.

I've been pretty lucky and maybe get 1 no show a year, a visible policy to deal with this is not really needed for me. I do make a courtesy call the day or evening before just to confirm the appointment and have had to make some changes in schedule because of this occasionally. Not so bad if your not scheduled up morning to night but it can get frustrating during busy periods.

Welcome pnolady - Vacuums are the worst, especially the ultra noisy commercial units. There have been a couple of times that I had to close up the piano and leave a note for nursing home, or restaurant management to schedule an appointment time when it's relatively quiet.

Jerry, I had to stop using email for scheduling. It seems that people tend not to read them, or forget what they read. Now if I get an initial appointment by email, I make sure I get a phone number and call them. 'Had too many forgotten appointments with email only. It doesn't take many no-shows to constitute a problem.

[quote=David Jenson]Welcome pnolady - Vacuums are the worst, especially the ultra noisy commercial units. There have been a couple of times that I had to close up the piano and leave a note for nursing home, or restaurant management to schedule an appointment time when it's relatively quiet.

Thanks David, I've been lurking here for a long time! I decided that unless there are extreme, extenuating circumstances, I won't reschedule. Time lost is money lost, too. In this specific instance the customer was hosting an open house the following day...

Okay, you got me. That's incredible!

I love the mom's that keep telling the kids to be quiet and then they're running the disposal in the sink.

I see churches as a bit of a special case; be mindful of the fact that most of the work completed in and around churches is volunteer work by members for the most part and the volunteers offer their time when available.

Many will just come to the church and start working with little in the way of regard for what may or may not be scheduled by the actual administration. You have to be a bit patient with these folks; they all mean well, however misguided, at times. I usually give way as there are other instruments in the church to tune or repair.

If its client caused noise, I would sooned give them a heavily ETD reliant tuning rather than cancel or reschedule the appointment. Most of the time small periods of calm in the noise can be used for verification eftfectively. I think most of the ETDs can listen through the noise and work fairly well, RCT does from my experience.

I think Jurgen has those noise cancelling headphones, and could tell us if they are effective.

I don't have time to leave and return. I rarely walk away and leave unless I get POED. I'm booked solid to February at the moment so if I leave, the piano doesn't get tuned and I'm screwed out of money. An appointment regardless of the cause of disruption, vacuums, hammering, sound checks, etc., is still an appointment and should be considered as such.

In most cases, people are respectful of my appointment because I have explained to them all 1,000 times or more. But it is those cases where they are not respectful of that appointment time that eventually leads to a complaint.

As I stated in the other thread, quiet is a prerequisite for piano tuners. Whether anyone likes it or not, we need quiet to do the job correctly. Otherwise, it is going to turn out to be a so so or crappy job and everyone pays for that in the long run. Us, the audience, the players but, especially us because who gets the complaints if it isn't right? Us....

I tell people that they need to check the calendar prior to pounding hammers. I mean, after all, we only need an hour of quiet time. Is that really asking to much? As I said, it is a requirement of our job.

Maybe they think you have a device like "Car MD" where you just plug it into the piano
and it tells you what it needs..figuring you don't need to "hear" what your doing?

Well, "respect for an appointment" works both ways round.

Before I started to tune my own pianos, I scheduled appointments with three different tuner-techs on three different occasions.

All three appointments were during working hours, so I took time off work and saw to it that I was at home (or the seller's place) well-in-time. Of the three tuner-techs, two were late. At least one of them had the decency to let me know.

One-and-a-half out of three? Not a very good tally, if you ask me... The tuner isn't the only person whose time costs money.