As a business owner, myself, keeping consistent posted business hours is of paramount importance. So is answering the phone during regular hours.
Not all independent businesses have multiple lines to be able to answer every call, so it's important to change outgoing messages, and to post in social media accounts to alert customers to early closures or gap days. It's also easy to adjust one's own website to reflect different hours if making a change on Yelp or Google is too much of an undertaking.
On Friday afternoon I drove thirty minutes to Henderson to buy some charcuterie for a small gathering that evening. I dialed their phone number, but got an outgoing message instead of an answer. The message indicates that they were busy and I could leave a callback number, so I checked google and yelp which both listed business hours as being open to 3. Their website still lists their hours as open until 4, but I figured best err on the side of caution --aiming to arrive an hour early (2pm). Traffic delayed me, but I still arrived half an hour before posted Yelp and Google hours and nearly 90 minutes sooner than the posted hours on the website.
The shop was closed at 2:35 even though the hours on the shop door stated a 3PM closing time, so I dialed the phone number on the door and finally got through to who I assume was the shop owner. They explained that they had closed early for a catering gig. This implies advance knowledge that they would be closed early on Friday, but there was no indication on their outgoing voicemail, no indication on their social media, and the hours on their website are different from the hours posted on their front door. Also note that there was no apology when I told them how far I had driven to patronize their business.
It takes about two minutes for a business owner to adjust single day hours on a Google listing. It's even faster to make an IG post saying, "Sorry but we'll be closing early on ______"
Suffice to say that this did not get adjusted by this business in this case.
Business owners can run their operation however they want, but not posting about early closures is simple to do --especially if you have insuffucient staff to answer your business phone line during posted hours. It is the lowest bar of professionalism. Maybe they're doing so well they can afford the bad feedback. I hope so, because this is definitely bad feedback.
Luckily I was able to drive over to Curds & Whey where the wonderful ladies there helped me assemble an assortment of meats and cheeses that were a big hit with my guests. No thanks, of course, to Board and Graze. read more