If someone asked to provisionally book your service, would you take it as a given?

[IHopeYouStepOnALegPiece]

If someone asked 3/4m ago “Can I provisionally book you on X date”. And that person said yes but it hasn’t been discussed further since.

would you say the person booked should be available on that date and assumed it was happening

I would check with person to confirm booking, nearer the date.

No I wouldn’t assume, but I’d also get in touch with them to ask them to confirm

No. It's not.
I'd follow up with them saying you can hold it until X date.
And in future, given people wanting to sort of book a date after which the booking will not be held and tell them clearly that the onus is on them to confirm by that date.

Not if I hadn't confirmed with them - tbh I'd generally expect to pay some kind of retainer/down-payment if I wanted to be able to 'provisionally' book someone to do something on a specific date and have them turn down other work to stay available.

Not without confirmation nearer the time, but I would expect that they would ask before taking another booking for the same date?

The person who was providing the service should have said “yes of course, please get back to me to confirm by XX otherwise I will release the booking”

No a provisional booking means pencil me in there are still things I need to check and I'll get back to you with a confirmation ASAP. It's possible the person didn't understand what 'provisional' meant.
A provisional booking then silence for 3/4 months is taking the piss.

This.

If I was the person who was provisionally booked I would be pencilling it into my diary and then as and when something else came up that clashed, I would get in touch with the original "provisional" booker and say that they needed to either commit to the date as a firm invoiceable booking or if they were still uncertain then they would need to choose another date. I wouldn't keep a provisional booking indefinitely if it clashed with a genuine firm booking that would generate actual income! If you want a firm and committed booking you make it a firm and committed booking not a provisional booking.

I wouldn’t assume anything in those circumstances and would definitely follow up nearer the time.

It means they could easily cancel on you. Or some people just not turn up.

So, next time put a limit on it or a non refundable deposit.

Nope.

..but I'd check, no matter whether I was the customer or provider. Well before the due date.

The person providing the service should be available, yes. If they want to confirm then they could do.

It's possible the person didn't understand what 'provisional' meant.

Well neither do I.

Is the OP expected to turn down other business to keep this provisional booking? Or book over it if she has a firm booking?

Does she have any recourse financially if the provisional booking gets cancelled? Do you even need to cancel a provisional booking?

So many questions....

Client: “Can I provisionally book you on X date?”

Service provider: ”Absolutely. I’ll pencil you in and will need a deposit by X date if you want to go ahead.”

Thanks all.

I am the service provider but I think I’ve messed up here.

I was asked in December
“who knows what will happen with covid etc but can I provisionally book you for (5 months later)”

I said at the time “that should be ok I think”

and then neither of us ever mentioned it again and tbh it completely slipped my mind

I've now double booked myself (but didn’t realise I was…) and they have said “confirming (Date in 3w) with you”

so unfortunately I think I’ve fucked up

I do realise I explained none of this in the OP…

In my eyes, it's a bit of both. You should have put it in your diary and then checked with the provisional person before accepting the other booking, but also they have not contacted you for months so nothing was concrete.

If I had provisionally booked you without paying a deposit and didn't confirm the booking with you, then you came to me and said you'd taken on another client on that date, I would just be annoyed at myself for not confirming.

Whoops.

Is there any way you can do both?

If not, you will need to decide which to cancel. Has the second booking paid a deposit and signed a contract? If so, the provisional will probably need to be cancelled.

Probably need to tighten up your procedures to avoid the situation occurring again otherwise you will damage your reputation.

Provisional means pencil in, then you should've confirmed nearer the time. You've mucked up. You should now cancel your 2nd booking. And honour the first.

You should have pencilled it in, and then when you had another request for the dates, should have messaged the original person and said something like:

Hi - I just need to check whether you need me on (dates). Please could you let me know either way within (x hours) otherwise I will assume you're not interested and release the time slot to other customers".

This is what I do as a dog walker/pet sitter :)

Oops yes.

The specific wording implies that this wasn't a "we aren't sure whether we want you" sort of "provisional" but a "we want you on this date but understand that covid means nothing is certain" - In this situation you should have treated it like a firm booking but with clear Ts&Cs as to what happens if either you or they have covid when the day comes.

You have to let down one or other customer. Pragmatically I don't think the "first come first served" principle applies here. You need to work out which option will lose you the most if you piss them off, so it totally depends on the size, loyalty and lucrativity of each customer and also depending on the industry which is more likely to spread the damage by telling more potential customers that you let them down.