Would you expect an immediate response out of business hours?

[Daytimetellysucks]

DH and I run a small business

We have a Facebook page which we get quite a lot of enquiries through and DH and I both have the app on our phones. We also have the email apps on our phones

I leave work at 5:30pm and that’s generally it until 8:30am the following day.

DH will sit and reply to FB messages and emails in the evenings and weekends.

Personally, I don’t think that people actually expect a response straight away when sending messages/email out of working hours, it’s more that they message when they think of it/have a quiet 5 minutes - I know I do.

DH is adamant that he must reply straight away but then moans continually he’s working at 9pm/weekends/whatever and can never get away from work

If you messaged a company at 9pm on a Sunday night would you expect a reply straight away or would you be happy to wait until the next working day?

Thanks!

Most businesses that are on FB seem to reply quite quickly to messages, often within a few hours. It also depends what it is, I don’t want to wait48 hours for you to get back to me if I want my washing machine repaired.

I recently messaged Snag tights at about 9.00pm ( about a missing order) and got a response about 10.30pm. I was pretty shocked. Maybe it was a damage limitation exercise since something was obviously wrong with the dispatch of my order. I don’t expect businesses to respond at those hours but I was pretty impressed that they did. I think overall I’m not demanding about these things but I probably expect a response a bit later than 5.30pm - I work later hours than that myself. I wouldn’t expect anything on a Sunday evening though that being said.

No I wouldn't, I do like it when companies have an auto reply as you do, just to make sure that it has been received (especially with emails where there's a chance I've made an error in the address somewhere). I tend to message just when I remember sometimes, not expecting a reply straight away. It's healthy to have boundaries really, and unless something is absolutely time critical, I definitely wouldn't think badly of not getting anything until office hours.

No I wouldn't expect a response immediately, I work shifts so may message/email at times when the business isn't open, but I don't expect an instant response, the next working day, or even the one after that is fine for me. I only message then because it's when I remember if I'm honest! I certainly don't expect instant response and would probably be surprised to get one straight back.

I have experienced people who do expect instant response though, I cover reception and can deal with certain queries out of reception hours, and do basic functions like room/table bookings and cancellations which of course can be time sensitive, but I do get people demanding full quotes for functions months in advance or for dates not yet released etc (which needs a meeting) at 2am and get pissed off when I say they'd need to speak with event management who aren't back until 8am in the morning...... So I can see where your husband is coming from with wanting to give a fast response, unfortunately I think it's probably just making a rod for his own (and your) back.

Thanks!

I think he’s definitely making a rod for his own back

We’ve got all good reviews on our FB page, pretty much all of them mention fast responses, going the extra mile, amazing customer service, etc, etc. It’s lovely and we love receiving them but I think we have to have some boundaries here

I’ve got to do some invoicing tonight, if there are emails/messages when I log in to the PC I’ll reply to them, but I don’t sit on my phone all evening replying to messages - then moan about it

Thanks all! He’s definitely the problem, I’ll talk to him again and point out all the responses on here.

I definitely don’t expect a reply straight away, even if business hours aren’t mentioned or there’s no auto reply.. we’ve all got home life’s and family. Its obviously a nice touch if you get a quick reply especially when it’s a more urgent message than a (do you do x, do you have a shop, I could’ve googled this but I didn’t thing).

Definitely set a time to answer if he’s going to, don’t let it suck you in. Friend who owns her own business had to stop after realising she was up to 3 in the morning doing all the admin and booking then back up at 6 to open shop, you end up drained and lose the will.

MrsMaisieisMuff - so you are feeding into this hideous "everything needs to happen right now" culture then? I hope your living never relies on you being at everybody's beck and call 24/7.

No I wouldn't expect, but I would be extra impressed by a quick response and it would be more likely to make me use you in the future.

I have a business like this and to be really truthful I reply to customers because I enjoy it and it makes me feel important. 'Oh look how much I am in demand'.
It drive my dh mad and I've HAD to put some boundaries in place because otherwise you live in this weird twilight zone where it's not work time and it's not family time.

I just have a auto response now but I do admit to just replying straight away sometimes too.
I have to be careful with that though because sometimes I read them and think I've replied and then realise I haven't later on

I think it's also a reflection of modern society where lots of people don't work Mon-Fri 9-5 so people's idea of working hours can be very different these days. Lots of creative people I know start late and work late. They work weekends and have days off during the week. Plus there are shift workers and people who work all sorts of random hours. So you may lose some business if you stick to rigid hours and your competitors don't. But that's your call. You might not want that sort of business. Your business, you do what works best for you.

If I messaged outside of normal working hours, then I wouldn’t expect a reply until the next working day at the earliest.

And if I do message outside normal working hours, it’s generally because that’s when I’ve had enough uninterrupted time in the day to think about what I need. Not because I want it now now now.

Most businesses I know of/ have contacted on Facebook has an automated message saying something along the lines of 'thank you for your message, we usually reply to messages 8.30 - 5.30 Monday to friday.' then there's no ambiguity.

I certainly wouldn't expect a reply at 9pm

Would he have enough time to reply to emails the next day on top of what he normally has to do in the working day?

When I used to answer emails in the evenings/weekends, it was because I wanted them out of the way so I could concentrate on doing the work I knew I had to do the next working day.

Now I've started to wind down and have fewer clients, I don't have the same urge to deal with emails out of hours as I know I have enough time in my working day to do my work and answer emails.

I would not expect a response unless it was something such as an emergency plumber.