Recently I have had to explain and justify charging a fee for an appointment that was missed. I felt it was a great opportunity to write this blog.
Now many may understand the reason for the fee charged for missed appointments. This is directed to those who feel the fee is "not fair" or "is outrageous".
Firstly, please understand that this is a business and the business has overhead which includes payment of staff.
Now a business such as ours, which operates by appointment makes this time immensely valuable; it has a dollar amount. It literally is costing the business money if an appointment is missed.
We have the policy to give us 24 hour notice if an appointment can no longer be kept so that we can fill it if we can - we have a waiting list for this reason. We know life happens so we send reminders to assure that as a responsible person the appointment is not missed. This also is a cost to the business. I wonder if as a consumer you can remember when you just got an appointment card and that was it. No calls from a business as a courtesy to "remind " you of your upcoming appointment.
Your fee per pet doesn't even begin to cover the full business cost of the missed appointment. As of April 1, 2020 the fee is to reflect the full base price of the scheduled appointment.
Our hourly employees show up for their schedule shifts expecting to be paid. When appointments don't show we still have to pay this staff. We're all here to care for your pet and value each one.
When you look at it from your side the amount may not seem like such a hit. You think, "Well that's OK they can AFFORD to miss out on my appointment". The thing is you are not the only one thinking like that. In the course of a week if that occurs even twice a day the business has to make adjustments to survive.
We are not being unfair or unreasonable, we are wanting to be able to have quality employees who are compensated fairly for their skills and time. We want you continue to provide a reasonable living wage to them. We know you have choices and we want to continue providing the superior care and quality you are used to experiencing here at Pet-Agree, the elite pet service provider in Southern Indiana.
Sincerely,
Alicen Ingle, CEO