After-Hours Fee and No-Slot Call Scripts

Two moments decide a lot of night calls: saying the fee, and saying you don’t have a slot. Here are the exact lines. Fill the blanks from your shop’s written rules before the night starts — don’t make up policy on the call.

Fill these in first

After-hours / emergency fee: exact amount or formula, and when it applies.
One named person who can authorize a book tonight.
Where real capacity lives tonight (board, sheet, calendar).
Escalate list: triggers (gas smell, no heat with medical risk, electrical fire risk, active flooding) and who gets the handoff.

If the fee or the booker is blank, don’t promise a truck. Take the details and escalate.

1. Stating the fee — before any truck promise

“Because this is after hours, our dispatch fee is [fee]. That covers getting a tech out for this visit under our after-hours rules. Are you okay with that fee if we can get you a real slot?”

Yes: log fee stated and acknowledged. Move on to checking capacity.
No, or they hesitate: don’t argue. “Understood. Our regular-hours option is [next daytime option]. Want me to put you down for a call first thing?” If nothing books, log declined_after_fee and reason E_fee_declined.
They want a repair price: “I can’t give an honest repair price without a tech seeing it. What I can tell you is the visit fee: [fee].” If they won’t go ahead, the reason is F_wanted_price_first.
You already talked about a truck and forgot the fee: stop. “Before we go further, I should have said this first: the after-hours fee is [fee]. Still want the visit?” Never leave the fee for the tech at the door.

2. Saying there’s no slot — honestly

Only confirm a window after you (or the named booker) check real capacity. Stale, missing, or conflicting capacity means no verified slot.

If there’s a real slot:

“I have a real window of [window the shop can keep]. I’ll put you in for that. You’ll get [callback / text] confirming. What’s the best number if the tech needs anything?”

If there isn’t:

“I don’t have a verified open slot I can promise right now, and I won’t fake a hold. Here’s what I can do: [next real option / first-thing callback / on-call lead]. I’m logging this so dispatch sees it first thing.”

Log booked = N, no_verified_slot, reason G_no_slot_that_worked. G is usually a capacity decision, so it’s the owner’s to look at on Friday, not the phone person’s fault.

If they’d rather wait for regular hours and nothing gets booked: reason H_calling_back, note “wants regular hours.” If a morning slot does go on the board, it’s booked and gets no code.

3. Escalating

“This needs a named person on our side right away. I’m contacting [name/role] now with your address, the problem, the fee, and what we’ve agreed. You’ll hear from [them / us] at [callback number].”

Hand off the full packet: address, issue, fee status, what the caller agreed to, callback number. The caller should know someone is on it, and who.

Short closes

Booked: “You’re set for [window]. Fee noted. We’ll use [number] if anything changes.”
Not booked: “Logged. No fake hold. Next step is [X].”
Escalated: “Handed to [name]. Stay by [number].”

Never promise on the call

A truck, ETA, or “hold” without a checked capacity row.
A diagnosis, parts availability, or a final repair price.
Anything outside your written fee and escalate rules.