If you arrived half an hour late for an appointment

[RadgePacket]

Would you still expect to have it?

Radge do you know for sure the person before you was 30 mins late?

I changed my hairdresser because he could never run to time. I work FT and have a long commute so if he was running half an hour late - which he often was - then it threw out my schedule. 5/10 mins maybe but no longer.

Depends.
If it was something like a solicitor whose client may all kinds of reasons to be late and might be in distress then that would be different from an appointment where you're just getting your nails done.

OP same thing happened to me when I had a treatment booked at Champneys. They were falling over themselves to apologise and, even though I said it was fine, gave me a bag of freebies.

I was very happy to sit in a nice calm waiting area for half an hour, sipping fruit tea and listening to plinky plonky music with no kids wanting to play lego with me.

No.

DH would.

FreeSpirit do you ever think they have been seeing someone who's just had bad news or had to tell someone they have cancer or a hundred other things which don't fit neatly into a 10 minute appt? They don't intentionally try to keep you waiting! If you want to blame anyone, blame the government who have consistently underfunded the NHS so appointment times are cut and staff are overworked and stretched

What kind of treatment do solicitors offer?

I would be irritated, but would be more tolerant/patient if the lateness was acknowledged and there was a genuine apology. If I was just left there to wait, I'd be unhappy.

Also, this becomes much more of a dilemma if you are on a tight schedule, and don't have the luxury of open-ended waiting.

Finally, you have to discern if this was an unusual one-off, or if it is typical of how this office handles their appointments.

I'm a beauty therapist and I only treat clients that are late if I have time. I would not keep another client waiting after because of someone's lateness. I would suggest cutting the late clients time down and having some of the appointment depending on what was booked. Very frustrating all round though, because a missed appointment/ cut down appointment is lost income.

Op this happened to me twice at a beauticians I used to go to, was left waiting 45 minutes. I didn't go back. Imo the beautician should have told them they couldn't have their appointment so I was more annoyed at them than the late person.

After ten minted it's cancelled at my gp, I'm in the habit of telling them even when I'm going to be a few minutes late lol

absolutely not. I have heard clients being told they could be seen but for the remainder of the time as they are paying anyway. Sounds fair.

GP, I would hope to be squeezed in but not very hopeful. If I am bringing a very sick child and have a good reason, they would try to squeeze me in to be fair.

No but people do expect this. (Dentist)

When I have clients coming, if they are late, I will see them but they will have only the time remaining for their appointment.
They have the choice to having that and paying for the full hour or just paying me because they in effect did not attend.
I think solicitors (and other professions) might have a different way of working where carrying on for longer if need be is the norm. Thus people waiting.

I also agree that it's an issue iwth the professional/therapist for not managing their time properly.

Medical treatment or beauty treatment?
I have occasionally been late for a beauty treatment but I always offer to pay the full amount but cut down on the treatment length. I'd be mortified if they made the next person late because of me.
As a GP I often run late. 10 minutes just isn't long enough for most some problems and most some patients bring several problems to each appointment. I never refuse to see a late patient but if why're more than 15 minutes late I do make them wait until the end or they can rebook if they prefer. I don't think it's fair on those who came on time otherwise.

Yes our dentist doesn't even manage to start in time for the first appointment of the day!!

If it's a treatment e.g haircut, beauty spot, massage etc I would expect the person who was late to forfeit their time not mine e.g 30 min massage not 60 minutes, cut but no blow dry etc.

The person doing the treatment shouldn't have kept you waiting by accepting the latecomer.

I do believe that arriving late for an appointment should force you to swap slots with the person behind you, but I suppose that would only work if both of you were already there...

I've been sat at the hairdressers once for over 30 minutes, and when I questioned the delay, was told her last client had been over 50 minutes late and was having a colour and cut. I was fuming, and walked out. Never went back either. You adapt the latecomers treatment accordingly so that you don't have a backlog all day. Why should I pay for extra parking because someone else can't read the time!

I had an appointment booked for 10am today .. invasive, was really scared. Didn't get seen until 3.30pm. Caused me all manner of childcare issues. Had to sit in my backless gown with a conveyor belt of people coming and getting seen before me. Wish I was bloody late!

I HATE being kept late but even more than that, I hate not being kept informed about it. I understand that it may be unavoidable e.g. Doctors etc but wish people would let you know when you arrive that you will be kept waiting.
(I was once in waiting room at GP and the receptionist announced that the other GP would be running late with appointments due to an emergency, and sure enough an ambulance arrived shortly after. I could not believe the moaning from other patients, several of whom also thought that the GP could/ should immediately start seeing patients once paramedics were there.)

At the orthodontist this afternoon a mother and son turned up 10-15 mins late and they were refused .

The mum claimed they had trouble parking but had clearly been there before (boy had braces already) so should know that.

To those who are asking why accepting late comers?
Because if you don't, yu have lost a customer and valuable time and money. So you try to make it fit but rushing the late customer a bit and fitting the next one the best you can.
Therapists can and will charge you if you cancel at the last minute (because actually a hell of a lot of eople also forget to turn up or arrive late on a regular basis...) but in trade such as a hairdresser, they don't and probably can't sonthey are trying to make the best of a very crap attitude.

Fwiw, I have been working with clients for more than 10 years. In that time, things have changed a lot an digit much worse.
You can send confirmation emails, text messages etc etc and people still don't turn up or arrive late.
So, from the other side, a good way to solve the issue is to ensure that everyone, as a customer, never arrives late.....

I was late for my last GP visit but rang to say I was stuck in traffic (much worse traffic for that time of day so unexpected). They allowed my see the GP although I was 15 mins late but she did say on the phone that it might not be possible (which I thought was fair enough).