Late payments

[A-two]

Enid,
If I'm not busy, I don't mind spending an hour on the phone talking to someone because maybe they will remember me for next time or recommend us to friends. However, we have finally started to say no to people who call from Manhattan wanting a house tour before booking. Most of them are just looking for something to do with their kids for the day and almost always it's proved to be a complete waste of our time. Now I just give them drive by directions, and rarely hear from them again.

[enid]

If I'm not busy, I don't mind spending an hour on the phone talking to someone because maybe they will remember me for next time or recommend us to friends

I know you're right - you never know how time invested will be repaid. I used to get cross when I felt Kevin was giving consultancy away for free - but he used to say that's a free taster and if they come back to pay for more they'll be better clients - and he's been proved right so far!!

Still keeping my fingers crossed for you with your client.

[Teresa]

I have found that e-mails do bounce or at least disapear into some black hole somewhere which is a tad worrying when so much business is now conducted by that medium . I've signed up to a tracker now just to make sure, I use readnotify and it's great and gives me piece of mind knowing that even if they don't book at least they did get the info and don't believe I've ignored them. However that of course doesn't cover incoming e-mails and I know I don't receive some as a friend regulary tries to send me e-mails and has them returned (any ideas why that might happen?) and I had guests coming from Italy who finally sent me a letter with a copy of an e-mail I hadn't received. I have no idea how to rectify that situation and my webmaster has looked into it but hasn't come up with any answers. I don't even want to think about how much lost business may be lurking in the void out there .

[paolo]

However that of course doesn't cover incoming e-mails and I know I don't receive some as a friend regulary tries to send me e-mails and has them returned (any ideas why that might happen?)

If they are using Wanadoo that may be why it happens - Wanadoo emails get rejected by some ISPs because Wanadoo is readily available for spammers to use and abuse (see the various Wanadoo gripe threads for explanation of this).

If they are not using Wanadoo, perhaps their ISP is similarly unpopular with yours.

[Alan Knighting]

I have said it before and I will say it again. Using Gmail can get round this problem. If anyone wants an invitation to Gmail all they have to do is PM me with their e-mail address and an invitation to Gmail will be on it's way. After that it's up to you.

Alan

[canda]

I agree with Alan - by the way, thanks for the invitation Alan. Sorry I haven't acknowledged your generosity sooner - and I also have invites if anybody wants one. So far I haven't had any problems either.

Canda