A customer calls 5 minutes until closing time....

[Bubba]

A customer calls us 5 minutes before closing time needing a unit tonight. (First red flag.) We did have some units available. Their kid is moving that night. I explain to her the rental process, collect her data, etc. Two things left to do. Send me her ID and sign the lease. For the life of her she could not sign the lease. (Second, Third red flag). I told her without her signing the lease she's not moving in tonight and I've stayed 30 minutes past close to try to help her. At this point I have to go. Long story short I fill my wife in on her and I told her try to refund her the money we probably don't want them as a tenant. Of course she was mad the next morning and demanded a refund which we were happy to do. Our new policy is if they call us after 530 pm they may not get in until the next business day. Each time I try to go above and beyond lately I seem to get bit. Does anyone else feel the same way?

[RHS_TX]

Yes, offer an idiot a lolipop, and he'll take the whole bag

[Bubba]

Yes, offer an idiot a lolipop, and he'll take the whole bag

Did someone say lollipops?!?! LOL.

[BusyProperties]

Not worth it, you made the right call!

[KimLam]

I believe everyone has done that. I can't tell you how many times I sat waiting for someone who needed a unit but couldn't get to my office until after 5 or I would feel sorry for someone and make arrangements to meet on Saturday (we are closed on weekends btw) and then they never call or show. I finally stopped it and don't have a problem telling someone that I only rent units during regular business hours. Those that expect us to be on their time, usually turn out to be the problem tenants.

[Bubba]

I believe everyone has done that. I can't tell you how many times I sat waiting for someone who needed a unit but couldn't get to my office until after 5 or I would feel sorry for someone and make arrangements to meet on Saturday (we are closed on weekends btw) and then they never call or show. I finally stopped it and don't have a problem telling someone that I only rent units during regular business hours. Those that expect us to be on their time, usually turn out to be the problem tenants.

We often make new policies based off certain accidents. No new rentals after 5 pm now.

[Bella_Lindemann]

A customer calls us 5 minutes before closing time needing a unit tonight. (First red flag.) We did have some units available. Their kid is moving that night. I explain to her the rental process, collect her data, etc. Two things left to do. Send me her ID and sign the lease. For the life of her she could not sign the lease. (Second, Third red flag). I told her without her signing the lease she's not moving in tonight and I've stayed 30 minutes past close to try to help her. At this point I have to go. Long story short I fill my wife in on her and I told her try to refund her the money we probably don't want them as a tenant. Of course she was mad the next morning and demanded a refund which we were happy to do. Our new policy is if they call us after 530 pm they may not get in until the next business day. Each time I try to go above and beyond lately I seem to get bit. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Yes I feel the same way as well! For me, customers who come in 5-10 minutes to close, right at close, or 5-10 minutes after close, usually tend to be a problem if we rent to them. It really grates me if they called earlier in the day and had plenty of time to come down to rent. For whatever reason, they chose to come down last minute and at times will try to rush me to get the rental done. As someone else pointed out, their expectation for us to be on their time and accommodate them usually foreshadows trouble in the future. So I have a policy as well that we do not do rentals after 5pm or on non-business days. They must come down during business hours.

[KrisinCali]

Our theft ring began as an online rental, and the very last minute coming in to finish, get code, lock etc. I'm immediately suspicious too.

[DUGBURGER]

I don't do rentals in the last 15 minutes of the business day. I will explain that the rental process takes 20-30 minutes and that they will need to take care of it on the next business day.

[U Rent It Ohio]

If someone sounds like a pain, I just tell them we're full!

[bratt01]

I have found that most people that come in or call after 5 pm are going to be trouble one way or the other. I have a policy that if they can't make it by 5 pm then they need to come the next day to rent, and before 5 pm. If they call close to 5 pm I tell them they need to bring a lock because we don't sell locks, and it takes close to an hour to do the rental by the time they look at the unit, fill out the application, and we go over, and they sign the agreement. Usually, they forgot to bring a lock that I told them to bring, so then they have to go get one because we won't rent if you don't have a lock to put on. No lock, no rental. At that point I tell them to come back tomorrow to do the rental. Most won't show back up. I had one the other night that called at 4:45 pm I told them they had to bring a lock and be here by 5 pm. Said they were on their way, but they never showed up. I find out a lot of times the ones that come in after 5 have been evicted from their living quarters for being a problem and need a place to store their stuff right now. I have ended up auctioning a lot of them or they skip out owing us money before we can legally overlock the unit.
It took me a while to wise up and get stern with the policy but once I did it has stopped a lot of headaches.

[SimplySpace]

We just had this happen last night too. Customer called at 4pm and said they were on their way. Shows up at 5:26pm and wants to get into something tonight. Sorry, ma'am, I have to leave at 5:30 and we don't have time to do your rental, you'll have to come back in the morning. "I'll be here first thing in the morning!"

Long story short, you think I have seen them yet today? I bet once again they show up right after 5pm to rent the space.