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People Who Make an Appointment and Fail to Show

By
Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

My friend in Denver, Joan Cox, wrote a blog about waiting for people. Interesting, I thought, about how long some people will wait and how impatient others are. We all have our own set tolerances. What I find irritating, though, is when people make an appointment and then don't show up or call. However, I have actually done that myself. Glass houses and all.

I can recall a specific (and reoccuring) instance. Ask my manicurist.

I see my manicurist every two weeks, just like clockwork. However, it's the alterating schedule that can throw me for a loop. If I am sucked into my computer, which is how my husband phrases it when I'm completely focused on work, I can forget. Fortuntately, I have trained my manicurist to call me if she looks up and I'm not there. Because I am always on time or early. I live less than a mile from the salon in Land Park (Sacramento). If I am not there at 2:59, it means I wasn't watching the time.

However, I also set alarms to remind me of appointments. Because putting an appointment into my calendar -- and I keep both digital and paper calendars -- is no guarantee. I have never spaced out an appointment with a client, thank goodness.

Yesterday I had an appointment with a contractor in Hawaii. Waited 20 minutes and called him. Oh, he had a big job in Hawi that blew up. No apology. Would he have called me or was I supposed to figure out he had something else to do when he didn't show? Can't help but wonder if he can't keep an appointment to get the business, what does he do with the business once he gets it?

You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: How Long Should You Wait for Tardy People to Show Up?

 

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Elizabeth Weintraub is co-partner of Weintraub & Wallace Team of Top Producing Realtors, an author, home buying expert at The Balance, a Land Park resident, and a veteran real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown, Carmichael and East Sacramento, as well as tract homes in Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville and Lincoln. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put our combined 80 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold. DRE License # 00697006.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of RE/MAX Gold. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice; it could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

Comments(15)

Will Hamm
Hamm Homes - Aurora, CO
"Where There's a Will, There's a Way!"

I try always to be early for all my appointment and set my phone to remember where I should be.

 

Jun 16, 2018 09:54 AM
June Piper-Brandon
Coldwell Banker Realty - Columbia, MD
Creating Generational Wealth Through Homeownership

I try to be early for all my appointments but if I'm running late I call and text the party so they know ahead I'm running late.  I usually give people 15 minutes and I call them giving them the benefit of the doubt, maybe an emergency or something.  I had a buyer and buyer's agent fail to show for closing this week, then 1 minute before the appointed time I got an email saying they had an emergency but nothing since except false promises.  I sent them a release this morning forfeiting their deposit.  

 

Jun 16, 2018 10:10 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

June Piper-Brandon I once had a no-show seller. This was 1991, and I was buying a home for myself. Their agent said the sellers had a change of heart and was unsure they wanted to go through with the seller financing I had arranged. You know what I did? Pretty ballsy now that recall this. I removed the keys from the lockbox and moved into the house, because I had nowhere else to go. Sent a message demanding they either show up the following day and sign docs or I'd see them in court. They signed.

Jun 16, 2018 10:25 AM
Nina Hollander, Broker
Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC
Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

People who don't show up or show up late without notice is one of my biggest peeves in life, Elizabeth (must be my Prussian blood and my Dutch husband's rabid attention to time). I have clients who joke that they somehow are always 10 minutes late for me and always arrive asking if I'm going to fire them. Of course, I won't... I've worked with them for years and know how they are. Besides, they are always good about texting me in advance if they are running behind.

Jun 16, 2018 11:19 AM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Hi Elizabeth- it depends but if someone "no shows" they'd better have a doctor's excuse. If I'm running late, I'll text. For friends, we rarely have to wait more than 15 minutes but even then, we text each other. My manicurist texts me when she's running late. 

Jun 16, 2018 02:23 PM
Khash Saghafi NMLS
Liberty Home Mortgage Corporation - Cleveland, OH
Mortgage Loan Officer, Cleveland OH NMLS 1114762

Sadly, I simply think that our industries have taught people that our time is not worth anything.

Jun 16, 2018 05:15 PM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

I rarely fire clients, but I canned a buyer this summer, and it was exactly for not showing up, and then not answering texts/calls until about 1.5 hours later.  He knew we were supposed to meet, then claimed he didn't get my texts or calls.  Sorry, when it smells like rotten fish, I'm not working with it.  I'll find someone else that is more respectful.  Bill

Jun 16, 2018 06:41 PM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

I have a pretty good tolerance for folks who are a little late.  But, like you a contractor who is really late, and has to be called to find out they aren't coming would send me up the wall.

Jun 17, 2018 05:06 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Nina Hollander The favorite excuse nowadays seems to be "family emergency." Like I told my seller yesterday, some people consider it to be an emergency when they run out of Cheetos.

Jun 17, 2018 08:41 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Kathy Streib My husband is a tardy person at times. Unless he is under an extreme deadline, he has difficulty being on time but he's been improving.

Jun 17, 2018 08:44 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Khash Saghafi Only if we allow them to get away with wasting our time.

Jun 17, 2018 08:45 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Liz and Bill Spear How about the people who constantly reschedule right before your appointment?

Jun 17, 2018 08:46 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

I haven't really had an issue with that.  People being a few minutes late, sure.  But canx at the last second hasn't been a problem.

Jun 17, 2018 09:35 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Myrl Jeffcoat You may be surprised to hear this but I never confirm my appointment times. I have learned that if I do, the sellers might ask to reschedule. I'm simply asking them to remember to be on time, and they seize that communication as a way to ponder whether it is actually convenient or if they would prefer some other time. You know, they wonder do I want to commit or not? No, that option is not on the table, LOL.

Jun 17, 2018 08:49 AM
Nina Hollander, Broker
Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC
Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

Hi Elizabeth... as I never buy Cheetos, it's hard for me to think running out of them is an emergency! 

Jun 17, 2018 09:10 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Nina Hollander I do not buy Cheetos, either; hence the point, LOL.

Jun 17, 2018 11:36 AM