Charging for No Shows

[Guest guest]

I have a question for you all (I dont post much, but I do read all

the posts)...

How do you manage no shows for consults? I am in a small private

practice (myself and one other IBCLC), I do all of the office and

paperwork and 95% of the consults and pump rentals as she has a

hospital job and I am availiable much more often. We do home visit

consults as well as consults here in the office. Our business has

been up and running about 1 year now and I was certified in 2006,

been a LLL Leader for 8 years...so still fairly new at this!!

So far when I have had a mom call to make an appointment I have just

taken down her info (name, phone, address) and set up a time to see

her. Moms who request a home visit and then change thier minds call

me as they obviously dont want me showing up on thier doorstep. But

the office consults are becoming a problem as many of these moms

never show up. It is a pain for me for a variety of reasons as I

have blocked out that time and therefore have lost business by not

accepting any other appointments and rentals during that time, and of

course I am upset that I have also lost that persons business as well.

So, my question is: do any of you take a deposit or ask for a credit

card number to hold the appointment? Do you call the mom (if they

miss the appointment) and reschedule and tack on a fee for missing

the first one? I am not sure how to manage this problem, and niether

is my partner. I know Dr's offices and dentists will charge for

missed appointments, but they also generally already have the clients

info on file and just add it to the fess they charge anyway. We are

talking about moms who have just called to make an appointment and

then dont show. I have had 3 no shows this week alone (things happen

in 3's, maybe that'll be it?). I dont want to lose the mom's

business by putting them off by asking for a deposit, but I cant keep

losing business by them not showing up and me not taking other

clients during thier schedules appointment time, YKWIM??

Any ideas or insights are appreciaeted!

Robyn Roche-l

LLLL, BS:MCH, IBCLC, RLC

Tidewater Lactation Group, Inc

Virginia Beach, VA