As illustrative examples, I'd like to share the specifics of my recent pre-booking experiences. Please do not take this to be an indictment of certain agencies or their methods, rather an illustration of different priorities in regards to pre-booking out-of-towners and using e-mail.
Superb:
MSC --Schedules are available up to two weeks in advance. E-mail communication is fast and efficient. None of that non-answer stuff and then wait four hours for another reply. Was able to book a meeting in ten minutes time. In relation to another meeting, I was notified several hours in advance of the Lady having to cancel. Was contacted both by e-mail (since that is how we had communicated up to that point), and by phone when I didn't reply back fast enough. Great effort to avoid mis-understandings and offer other options.
Decent:
Satin Dreamz -- Schedules are available up to almost a week in advance. Was able to pre-book via e-mail the week before. Then I noticed the Lady's schedule was suddenly cleared on the website. I began to suspect she was no longer available. Thought, I should have received an e-mail over the weekend. When I e-mailed to confirm the appointment and share my room number, I soon got a call saying the Lady was unavailable. This was the night before (at east 14-16 hours notice). Phone call was nice and other options were offered. Good that they communicated when they did-- but in a perfect world I should have been notified earlier by e-mail.
Eleganza-- No reply to e-mails sent the week before. However, a new e-mail sent after the Monday schedule update yielded a very quick and confirmed appointment for Wednesday. So, not very helpful before Monday, but after the Monday schedule release, very, very good.
Not So good:
MTLGFE -- Several e-mails asking if pre--booking for three hours were possible. A couple of replies with no specifics offered. On the day in question, the lady was advertised on MERB as available for the exact time I had asked for at least 4 times over the previous 8 days. In a perfect customer service world, the agency would have sent me an e-mail before they announced her schedule that day. Turns out the lady was available for most of nights I was visiting, but I passed out of spite toward the agency. What is the point of having an e-mail address if it is not used to communicate and setup meeting times with customers looking for three hour bookings? Clearly not a priority versus the day-of scheduling. I can accept that.
Superb:
MSC --Schedules are available up to two weeks in advance. E-mail communication is fast and efficient. None of that non-answer stuff and then wait four hours for another reply. Was able to book a meeting in ten minutes time. In relation to another meeting, I was notified several hours in advance of the Lady having to cancel. Was contacted both by e-mail (since that is how we had communicated up to that point), and by phone when I didn't reply back fast enough. Great effort to avoid mis-understandings and offer other options.
Decent:
Satin Dreamz -- Schedules are available up to almost a week in advance. Was able to pre-book via e-mail the week before. Then I noticed the Lady's schedule was suddenly cleared on the website. I began to suspect she was no longer available. Thought, I should have received an e-mail over the weekend. When I e-mailed to confirm the appointment and share my room number, I soon got a call saying the Lady was unavailable. This was the night before (at east 14-16 hours notice). Phone call was nice and other options were offered. Good that they communicated when they did-- but in a perfect world I should have been notified earlier by e-mail.
Eleganza-- No reply to e-mails sent the week before. However, a new e-mail sent after the Monday schedule update yielded a very quick and confirmed appointment for Wednesday. So, not very helpful before Monday, but after the Monday schedule release, very, very good.
Not So good:
MTLGFE -- Several e-mails asking if pre--booking for three hours were possible. A couple of replies with no specifics offered. On the day in question, the lady was advertised on MERB as available for the exact time I had asked for at least 4 times over the previous 8 days. In a perfect customer service world, the agency would have sent me an e-mail before they announced her schedule that day. Turns out the lady was available for most of nights I was visiting, but I passed out of spite toward the agency. What is the point of having an e-mail address if it is not used to communicate and setup meeting times with customers looking for three hour bookings? Clearly not a priority versus the day-of scheduling. I can accept that.
