Hi
Need some help please, after a few emails I had enquirers confirm that they want to go ahead and book but were having problems opening the booking form that was attached to the email. Sent it again and also said it was downloadable from my website, I have also put a copy in the post.
Now nearly 2 weeks later, no form and no deposit, its a 2 week booking and dont want to lose it but am getting a bad feeling about them if it takes this long to pay a deposit am I going to have the same problem getting the balance?
What do those of you with plenty of experience think? Any suggestions for a polite email (I can only come up with some that sound a bit a***y)
Thanks
Liz
Chasing Deposit
Hi Liz Ive had this happen to me 
.
Have you a phone number??
Do not mark those dates as booked because they arent [and might not be] if others enquire say they are available but you have had an enquiry.
Could just be a bit of tardiness, but also could be theyre stringing you along.....
Either way as the booking Form and the deposit hasnt got to you yet.They cant moan if someone elses pips them to the post.[well at least thats what they ought to worry about
2 weeks is a long time]
Where is the booking coming from??
Id email/[phone if poss!!] again, ask if theyve sent booking form and deposit and say youve had another enquiry for those dates.
Do you give a time limit when they enquire??
.
Have you a phone number??
Do not mark those dates as booked because they arent
[and might not be] if others enquire say they are available but you have had an enquiry.Could just be a bit of tardiness, but also could be theyre stringing you along.....
Either way as the booking Form and the deposit hasnt got to you yet.They cant moan if someone elses pips them to the post.[well at least thats what they ought to worry about
2 weeks is a long time]Where is the booking coming from??
Id email/[phone if poss!!] again, ask if theyve sent booking form and deposit and say youve had another enquiry for those dates.
Do you give a time limit when they enquire??
Well there you go.........The terms and conditions say I will provisionally book and hold for 7 days while waiting for form/deposit.
If another booking comes in, youre well within your rights to take it[but I would chivvy them up a bit first
]If it doesnt, youve lost nothing by waiting have you??[apart from patience of course]
I used to wait for ages when I first started and always believed the lost in the post/dog ate it stuff
...but now if it doesnt come in a timely fashion they havent booked.
Hope it works out
-
Christine Kenyon
- Posts: 623
- Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:58 am
- Location: Glenridding, Ullswater Valley, Lake District, UK
- Contact:
I agree with Big Sis. Some folk do genuinely forget to send off the deposit (and are then often early with the balance payment ), but there is only so many times you can remind them.
Send them one more email and be quite clear that if you don't receive the cheque within ** days you will take other bookings.
Good luck lollybeth.
), but there is only so many times you can remind them.Send them one more email and be quite clear that if you don't receive the cheque within ** days you will take other bookings.
Good luck lollybeth.
Christine
holiday cottages in Glenridding, Ullswater
http://www.stybarrowcottage.co.uk
http://www.grisedalelodge.co.uk
http://www.grisedalecottage.co.uk
holiday cottages in Glenridding, Ullswater
http://www.stybarrowcottage.co.uk
http://www.grisedalelodge.co.uk
http://www.grisedalecottage.co.uk
How about
Hello!
You contacted me recently regarding booking our XXXXX for the week of XXXX
I have been holding the period for you, but I am getting several other inquiries for that time. I would be grateful if you could you let me know if you have decided to come, and if so, please let me know and send me the £XXX booking deposit.
If I do not hear from you within xxxxx, I will assume you are not coming'
Not mine, I pinched it from someone else on LMH but it has worked for me!
Hello!
You contacted me recently regarding booking our XXXXX for the week of XXXX
I have been holding the period for you, but I am getting several other inquiries for that time. I would be grateful if you could you let me know if you have decided to come, and if so, please let me know and send me the £XXX booking deposit.
If I do not hear from you within xxxxx, I will assume you are not coming'
Not mine, I pinched it from someone else on LMH but it has worked for me!
Non-receipt of deposits have been an issue for us in the past but I think we now have it licked with a (perhaps rather elaborate) system.
We NEVER mark weeks down as booked on our webste until we have a booking form. The best I ever do (eg. for those who contact us and ask us to "hold" weeks while they sort out ferries etc. ) is to put "contact us" on the week instead of the price (you can see our table from the link below - go to "prices and availability"). That mean that other interested parties will contact us about the weeks and we'll expalin the situation. We put the rules about the "contact us" on our availability page so people can see clearly what it means. We even put a star by those bookings who have sent us a form but have not yet paid their deposit. We often get PGs emailing us about the starred weeks asking if we can contact them if the other people don't pay their deposit !
We actually saved a two week booking this week by the "contact us" method. On Monday someone asked us to hold the weeks and that they'd submit a booking form that evening, once they'd sorted out ferries. The promised form didn't arrive and they didn't answer the email I sent a couple of days later. The next day I received another enquiry asking whether the fortnight was actually available and I emailed back at tea time to say that I'd let them know for sure by the following morning. I sent a final email to the original party asking them to submit a booking form that night if they still wnted the weeks. They didn't and I gave the fortnight to the second party who submitted a form directly and already has a cheque in the post ! If we'd marked those weeks as "booked" on the promise of an imminent form, we'd still have two empty weeks.
Once we have a booking form then they have 7 days to get the deposit to us. After 7 days they get a reminder email. After another 2 days, if we still haven't heard back we call them (as emails do sometimes get lost). If we can't get hold of them and they don't reply to a final email within 24hrs then the booking is cancelled. We do send a courtesy email to them to say that the week(s) have now been released back to the general public due to non-payment of deposit.
Obviously if the PG gets back to us with a good reason why the deposit has not been forthcoming we do grant an extension, but we ALWAYS have our deposit within 2 weeks max.
We had several "contact us" markers up on our availability table last week and happily they all turned into firm bookings. They nearly aways do, but we've found it's best to play safe and encourage other people to contact you if you don't have the money in the bank !
Also we never change the availability tables on listing sites until we have the deposit in the bank either !
We NEVER mark weeks down as booked on our webste until we have a booking form. The best I ever do (eg. for those who contact us and ask us to "hold" weeks while they sort out ferries etc. ) is to put "contact us" on the week instead of the price (you can see our table from the link below - go to "prices and availability"). That mean that other interested parties will contact us about the weeks and we'll expalin the situation. We put the rules about the "contact us" on our availability page so people can see clearly what it means. We even put a star by those bookings who have sent us a form but have not yet paid their deposit. We often get PGs emailing us about the starred weeks asking if we can contact them if the other people don't pay their deposit !
We actually saved a two week booking this week by the "contact us" method. On Monday someone asked us to hold the weeks and that they'd submit a booking form that evening, once they'd sorted out ferries. The promised form didn't arrive and they didn't answer the email I sent a couple of days later. The next day I received another enquiry asking whether the fortnight was actually available and I emailed back at tea time to say that I'd let them know for sure by the following morning. I sent a final email to the original party asking them to submit a booking form that night if they still wnted the weeks. They didn't and I gave the fortnight to the second party who submitted a form directly and already has a cheque in the post ! If we'd marked those weeks as "booked" on the promise of an imminent form, we'd still have two empty weeks.
Once we have a booking form then they have 7 days to get the deposit to us. After 7 days they get a reminder email. After another 2 days, if we still haven't heard back we call them (as emails do sometimes get lost). If we can't get hold of them and they don't reply to a final email within 24hrs then the booking is cancelled. We do send a courtesy email to them to say that the week(s) have now been released back to the general public due to non-payment of deposit.
Obviously if the PG gets back to us with a good reason why the deposit has not been forthcoming we do grant an extension, but we ALWAYS have our deposit within 2 weeks max.
We had several "contact us" markers up on our availability table last week and happily they all turned into firm bookings. They nearly aways do, but we've found it's best to play safe and encourage other people to contact you if you don't have the money in the bank !
Also we never change the availability tables on listing sites until we have the deposit in the bank either !
Oh dear Liz, unfortunately it sounds to me as if they are just time wasters 
Your address and phone number are on your advert so there is no real excuse for them not contacting you again if they really wanted to book. It could be that they have found something else but haven't told you, or maybe just changed their minds? That does happen from time to time, but don't lose any sleep over it.
When I get an enquiry I make it clear that they only have a few days to get the Booking Form and deposit back to me. I put the date that the deposit has to be paid by on the Booking Form, so there is no misunderstanding. (Having a smaller property it is easier for me to do this as there are no large groups to organise deposits from). I never change my availability calendar until the deposit is in my bank. If anyone enquires after the deadline I have set for the deposit to be paid, I will take that booking and just email the first set of guests to say that their dates have now gone.
Your address and phone number are on your advert so there is no real excuse for them not contacting you again if they really wanted to book. It could be that they have found something else but haven't told you, or maybe just changed their minds? That does happen from time to time, but don't lose any sleep over it. When I get an enquiry I make it clear that they only have a few days to get the Booking Form and deposit back to me. I put the date that the deposit has to be paid by on the Booking Form, so there is no misunderstanding. (Having a smaller property it is easier for me to do this as there are no large groups to organise deposits from). I never change my availability calendar until the deposit is in my bank. If anyone enquires after the deadline I have set for the deposit to be paid, I will take that booking and just email the first set of guests to say that their dates have now gone.
Hi
Update - Sent them an email on Tues saying I do need the booking form/deposit before I can confirm your booking. Total silence wrtten them off as a waste of time.
If they do come back I'm going to say its been re-let as I suspect will have the same problem getting payment/security deposit out of them.
If last July's anything to go by shouldnt be an issue anyway
Thanks for the advice
Liz
Update - Sent them an email on Tues saying I do need the booking form/deposit before I can confirm your booking. Total silence wrtten them off as a waste of time.
If they do come back I'm going to say its been re-let as I suspect will have the same problem getting payment/security deposit out of them.
If last July's anything to go by shouldnt be an issue anyway
Thanks for the advice
Liz
-
Christine Kenyon
- Posts: 623
- Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:58 am
- Location: Glenridding, Ullswater Valley, Lake District, UK
- Contact:
Hi Liz. Hope you get some lovely punters to replace your time wasters. We've no doubt all had to deal with time wasters at some time or other. Just learn and move on !!
Have a good season.
Have a good season.
Christine
holiday cottages in Glenridding, Ullswater
http://www.stybarrowcottage.co.uk
http://www.grisedalelodge.co.uk
http://www.grisedalecottage.co.uk
holiday cottages in Glenridding, Ullswater
http://www.stybarrowcottage.co.uk
http://www.grisedalelodge.co.uk
http://www.grisedalecottage.co.uk
Good for you. I make it clear in my T&C that the deposit must be sent within 3 working days of confirmation and the guest is asked to advise me of the day of transaction completed. Silence on his half will result in the apartment being made available to other punters without prior notice. However, I have had occasion, just the once, to remind a guest for the deposit after a week which he then sent immediately.
I do not mark the apartment as booked until my bank confirms arrival of deposit, when I email to acknowledge receipt and confirm booking etc.
Unfortunately I think we've all had to deal with time wasters.
(On average I've had one a year!)
I do not mark the apartment as booked until my bank confirms arrival of deposit, when I email to acknowledge receipt and confirm booking etc.
Unfortunately I think we've all had to deal with time wasters.
(On average I've had one a year!)
Hi
Thanks for all the reassurances!
Just taken a 2 week booking that covers this week!
Changed the terms and conditions and booking form (suspect no one reads the Ts & Cs other than me and thats only because I'm a buyer by day so its ingrained in me) to drive home the fact that I will hold dates for one week only and that I wont be liable for any expenditure you've made such as flights etc
Liz
Thanks for all the reassurances!
Just taken a 2 week booking that covers this week!
Changed the terms and conditions and booking form (suspect no one reads the Ts & Cs other than me and thats only because I'm a buyer by day so its ingrained in me) to drive home the fact that I will hold dates for one week only and that I wont be liable for any expenditure you've made such as flights etc
Liz