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Just had an infuriating experience with a wedding car hire chap. I'd wanted to sort it out in plenty of time, so I contacted the guy at the end of December and he said he'd "pencil me in", and email a booking form etc. He did, and I filled it out, wrote the cheque etc. but as I've been super-busy this January, it sat there for a few weeks before I got it off last week. I even spoke to him a week ago and apologised for the delay, confirming that I still wanted the car.

Just had an email to say that due to the delay, they've booked the car out to someone else Which now means not only am I without the car I wanted, but struggling to find a comparable one because over the last month everyone else has got themselves in gear and booked them up. I have at last found a pretty good deal... I hope, although after this last experience I'm not going to rest easy until I know the cheque is sitting in their hands.

Now, I may not get much sympathy here with people who are pros taking bookings and I'm sure getting messed about a lot, but still! To me, "pencilling in" means the service/item will be held until the booking is confirmed with a deposit, or another potential booking forces an ultimatum. I'd have had no problem with him saying, "we've got someone else interested, I need your cheque by the end of the week", but simply to allow someone else in with no warning...

Hmph... not impressed at all. What are your guys thoughts on the matter? Am I being unreasonable?!

Farlsborough wrote:To me, "pencilling in" means the service/item will be held until the booking is confirmed with a deposit, or another potential booking forces an ultimatum.

Sorry to hear you're having problems.
To answer your question with no bias to your issues, I'd say that pencilling in means "I'll put your name down but I'm not committing to anything until the money turns up." As your money didn't turn up before someone else wanted the car he hired it out. This seems reasonable to me. But I still feel sympathy for your situation.

Isn't Pencilling those little tablets that you take for a headache?

I have to say that I'd be pretty cross too as it sounded as if you had a verbal contract, despite the deposit being late.

If it were me, I would have phoned you and informed you that I had another person wanted to book and I'd have asked if you were in a position to confirm and I would have said that I didn't have your deposit.

i'd see it as pencilling you in meant you're kinda booking me, and i'd hold that spot for a week or two - if i dont hear from you - you're out...

Ah well, you live and learn. I see what you're saying Ted, but at the same time, why bother with it at all if that's the case? If it's simply a matter of the first person who gets the money down gets the booking, there's no place for any sort of holding/pencilling/reserving system anyway. I think for the stress it can cause, if you've gone to the bother of actually holding a booking for someone, all it takes is a call to say "we've got more interest, deposit by (whenever) or you're out" to prevent an infuriating situation for someone.

Anyhoo, I've got what's probably a slightly nicer car for £25 less, and the company I'm now using sound a lot more friendly anyway. No harm done.

"pencilling in" meens i'll hold the booking unless someone else comes along with a deposit.
"pre booking" meens you'll have a week to get my deposit or it'll be open again.

Agh, magicdiscoman, no! Can't you see how infuriating that is?! Put yourself in the situation of punter! If someone else can snatch it from you just by sending in a deposit, why the **** have a thing called "pencilling in" - it achieves and means nothing!

Your "pre-booking" thing is a lot more reasonable, and I'd have been happy with that treatment; I'll hold your reservation (as in, I won't accept other deposits for that date) for X weeks, after which it's anyone elses. Fine. But this "your name is in my book but it doesn't make a blind bit of difference if someone lures me with sweet filthy cash" thing just seems undignified and liable to infuriate...

I agree with farlsy

Whats the point of having "pencilling it in" if it makes no difference

What difference it should make I dont know...but then again, I dont use that phrase!

just to clarify, I never pencil people in only prebook, however having worked in a music shop many people would say they wanted a certain instrument and would be pencilled in but only thoughs that pre booked would have there instrument reserved prior to a deposit for a set time.
I'm asuming you fell into this catergory with regards the car hire, there being more than one car, which is diferent to booking a show which in itself is a single entity.

Pencilling in, to me, is "I will keep the date for you for 2 weeks, but if you havent confirmed by then, after my weekly chases, then the date is available again." Thats based on an expereince of people taking forever to confirm, and me losing some good work because of it.

yeah, its not thinking about the punter, its the punter getting their @rse in gear and paying up to a certain extent...

and its for the punter to keep in contact with you, rather than the business chasing the punter around....its a business afterall...

i'd do away with pencilling in altogether though, get your money together, decide what you want to do, then go and book it..

From the oed
"c. to pencil in: (a) to note, register, or arrange (a date, meeting, etc.) provisionally

[= 1. a. Of, belonging to, or of the nature of a temporary provision or arrangement; provided or adopted for the time being; supplying the place of something regular, permanent, or final. Also: accepted or used in default of something better; tentative.]

or tentatively; to make a provisional arrangement with (a person); (b) to write down or fill in with a pencil.
1898 in J. R. Ware Passing Eng. (1909) 194/1 Mr Charles Warner, who..is, as the phrase goes ‘pencilling in dates’ as fast as a manager can. 1926 Billboard 11 Sept. 36/4 Benjamin David..indicated he had a number of other acts under his direction ‘penciled in’. 1959 Times 22 June 4/2 He is a name to pencil in for the future. 1965 A. S. BYATT Shadow of Sun xvi. 307 He began..to pencil in comments, corrections, alternative phrases in the blank pages he left opposite his text. 1991 A. CARTER Wise Children (1992) i. 27 She always pencilled in a big, black beauty spot below the left-hand corner of her mouth. 2003 Guardian (Nexis) 19 Nov. (Sport section) 34 Ferguson had been pencilled in to return after flu in last night's reserve fixture with Aston Villa, but was absent from Bellefield yesterday."

you could try the small claims court for your loss.

Isn't pencilling in a nifty little trick for when you need a key card?

As a pro when someone asks me to pencil them in for a gig I will hold the spot for a week or so. Then it is gone. Though this was not the case with you, most people who ask a performer to pencil them in, then don't confirm, have changed their mind because they are cutting on budget or got someone cheaper or have changed their plans. So we have to free up the day again.
Sometimes, if the person seemed very keen, I will phone them back, but generally I don't, as I have found from experience that penciled-in gigs that have not been confirmed rapidly are gone.
There are two people in my diary at the moment in that position. I have a feeling one is slow, and the other has changed her mind. At most I will get one of those gigs. So why keep both slots away from people who genuinely want to book me?
I am sorry about your situation, but now that it has happened to you once it will never happen again.

I'm with Tony on this one. I used to think a pencilled in booking was a "pretty sure" booking, just waiting for the paperwork to arrive, but having had a few pencilled bookings disappear, Im becoming more wary.

I had a potential client on the phone recently sounding v keen, and I was bending over backwards trying to rearrange things so I could make her booking, (because it sounded like a really fun gig) which she then pencilled in. When I hadnt heard anything and had a conflicting booking I rang her to check, because she had sounded so sure, and she told me she had decided to book someone else! (but hadnt bothered to let me know!)