[Baz]

Me personally, I don't keep my cell phone on me but I do keep it in the truck. I don't give the number out to customers except on rare occasions. I have a landline and an answering machine plus email and i always get back to messages within 1 day or less.

If you are in the service business or have (as in Mike's case above) family concerns, you should keep your cell phone on you and be able to take calls as much as possible.

In your case, Fred....that customer probably should have realized that a message to you after 5pm was "after hours" and a response from you the next morning should be considered within' reason, IMHO.

I think every situation is different and you and i both have certain customers we treat differently, depending on their personalities and our relationship with them.