Is it normal for vendors to take a week to respond?
Hair and makeup artists, florists, and bands frequently take a week or more to reply to initial requests. Because clients are paying out thousands of dollars, they assume anyone who fails to respond within 48 hours will be stressful to deal with down the line. This lack of proactivity causes intense frustration and makes people afraid to hire even their most preferred vendors.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Moving on to other vendors who respond promptly within 48 hoursDid this help you?
- 2Only waiting for non-responsive vendors if they are a dream vendorDid this help you?
- 3taking the lack of response as a sign and refocusing attention elsewhereDid this help you?
- 4talking to another artist insteadDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I encountered this too when vendor shopping. HMUAs and florists were the worst offenders for some reason.”source ↗
“there’s been a small few, 2 makeup, 1 hair and one band (albeit, the ones I really want) that have not responded and it’s been a week. Is this a red flag or a normal wait time?”source ↗
“Maybe this is unpopular but I assumed anyone who didn’t get back to me within 48 hours was not someone I would feel relaxed dealing with later.”source ↗
“I’m going to paying out 1000’s to these guys and if they’re not proactive enough to reply to an initial request then I’m afraid of what I’d be dealing with down the line.”source ↗
“I am just coming on here to vent because I am so frustrated with the experiences I have had with having vendors respond to me.”source ↗
“I found most hair and makeup artists took forever to respond.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Getting bounced between support reps after a delayed delivery
- 7What to do when an online seller stops responding after purchase
- 29Vendor tech support takes months to respond to tickets
- 2What to do when an influencer replies two weeks late for PR
- 2Why does my car act like it's in neutral after sitting?
- 16Why hasn't my online order shipped yet?