When someone says they’ll turn up “about 10”…

[SadlyNotATroll]

What time would you expect them to arrive? I was expecting someone to clean my oven this morning at “about 10”. It’s now half 11 and he’s not arrived yet. I reckon he’s forgotten, DH says he never gave a firm time so he might still show up. I’ve messaged him but had no reply. I don’t want to sit in all day waiting for him but not sure if going out would BU?

Have you rung them yet to rearrange or get the deposit back?

That's a good point. I've never paid a deposit for anything like that. It's normal to pay after the job is done.

I hope the deposit wasn't too much.

Well he’s not arrived and has just messaged to say his car has broken down. I did book him through FB and paid a £20 deposit, argh! He had tonnes of 5 star reviews though so I felt comforted by that. Will write it off as a life lesson.

2 hours after 10? Yeah right.

@SadlyNotATroll ask for the £20 to be returned

I hope you've asked for your deposit back

Half an hour each way is the limit I'd put up with. If he's going to be earlier or later than that, he should have called you to agree it was OK or change the date/time.

I'm utterly fed up of tradesmen taking the piss and simply won't put up with it anymore, but then again, I've had 30 years of living in our own house having to deal with them, so my patience has long since run out.

But it's not just tradies. I've found others like estate agents, solicitors, GPs and dentists, etc to be just as unreliable with timings and won't put up with that either. Not so long ago, I was kept waiting at the opticians for over 30 minutes and just told the receptionist I was leaving, I've done it at the dentist too but that was more in response to one time when I was 5 minutes late due to the city being grid locked after a car accident (I did phone them to tell them!) and her refusing to see me - pay back time!

Even in my own small accountancy practice, if a client arrives more than half an hour late for a pre-arranged meeting, I will turn them away, or will just go out if it's close to lunch time or finishing time or I've somewhere else to go.

Being unreliable with time-keeping, appointments, etc is something I simply won't tolerate anymore. But that's me speaking as a grumpy 60 year old who's had a lifetime of being messed around by people who don't give a shit about others.

Ah - the old ‘car broken down’ excuse. I can’t tell you how many times tradespeople have used that one on me. They honestly think we’re stupid.

If someone told me they were coming at 10 and didn't show up on time or call to tell me they were running late they wouldn’t be doing the job. I would have waited until 10.30 and then left a message telling them not to bother coming.

If your husband said they didn’t give a fixed time though then that’s a different story. In future I wouldn’t book anyone unless they could give a fixed time

Not to mention the mother, dog, gerbil, auntie, etc who suddenly died (several times usually), or that the "wholesalers" were unexpectedly closed (which they weren't), or an "emergency" - not sure how there can be an emergency oven clean. The reality is that they usually just had a night out and got up late or were lucky to benefit from a morning shag, or whatever.

Well, you've been done, I'd say. Fake reviews probably. If he had broken down he'd have contacted you straight away, wouldn't he? Facebook seems to be full of these chancers. Britain 2026.

Oh and the windowo for someone coming "around 10" is 9:55 to 10:20. After that, go out.

Did he give you your £20 back?

Just message saying "thanks for letting me know" and ask him to return your £20 back to your account.

Unfortunately Facebook and the like are full of fake reviews, word of mouth is always better.

He forgot and had made up the broken down car excuse. Personally I would have messaged at 10:30 to check if he was still coming, so at least you don’t waste your morning

Car broken down 🙄 yeah right. Why didn’t he let you know then.

Ask for your deposit back.

So how do you handle it when someone doing a job for you walks out part way through because they are going to be late for their next fixed appointment?

It’s fairly standard to offer rough times for this kind of work as any job can take more or less time than the average. What is not standard is to let it run 90 minutes past the estimated arrival time without calling.

@SadlyNotATroll
i would think it means between 9.45 and 10.30 after which i would expect a “we re delayed i ll be another 20mins, hour. …” or an apology one.
i would def text and ask if they were still planning on coming and if so when.
then i ll go about my day

The only trades people I’ve ever had are my dad and brothers so it’s kind of different but I always just assume they’re going to be around half an hour late for anything.

Most people - 10-10.30.
Tradesmen / services - any time from 9am to 5pm. One of them I recently had kept booking in for 9am and arriving at 2pm. I’d never work with him again.

ask for your deposit back,
and tell him next time that you expect him to tall you within 30 minutes of "about 10 - which is up to 10 30) that he isn't coming

If you aren't going to use him now, you can leave a review about that, and you could bill him for your time (my hourly rate is higher than most tradies, so that would wake him up a bit)

I'd think between 9:50 and 10:10. 10:30 is the latest I would wait for someone who said around 10.

In an accident on the way to you . . . Had that twice.

"Had to take the truck for an MOT first, and it failed." That one actually made me laugh out loud.

Tradesperson here, we give 'about' times when we're coming straight from another job because you can't give a precise time. If we were going to be more than 20 mins either way I'd message though, because that's polite.

OP you booked a guy who doesn't give a shit about his side of the bargain. It's the bare minimum to explain and apologise without being prompted. You paid his deposit and booked him in and he didn't value that enough to send a text. He doesn't deserve your money.