Holiday Tech Etiquette: Five Fixes Customers NoticeFinish Strong by being prepared: Holiday-Ready IT for the Pacific Northwest (Part 3 of 4)

Expectations spike in November. Customers are rushing, teams are juggling schedules, and small tech misses. wrong hours on Google, robotic out-of-office replies, messy voicemail, unclear shipping cutoffs, create avoidable frustration. Part 3 of the 10D Tech November series is your simple “manners guide” for offices in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Bend, Corvallis, Albany (and for our new friends in Seattle, Boise, Cheyenne, Phoenix, and Northern California). Don’t ruin somebodys day with missing or incorrect holiday information.

What You’ll Get In Part 3 of the November Series

  • A five-item checklist (with copy-and-paste examples)
  • How to align phones and voicemail with holiday hours
  • A short vignette from a professional services firm
  • Quick links if you want us to tune this for you

1) Update Your Hours Everywhere (Before The First Angry Call)

Where to update:

  • Google Business Profile (start here)
  • Your website banner/header
  • Facebook/Yelp/Instagram listings
  • Apple Maps

Copy you can use (banner):
“Holiday update: Closed Nov 28–Dec 1. Back Monday morning, coffee in hand and ready to help.”

Need a hand closing the loop across listings? Our IT Help Desk & Remote Support team can do a sweep for you. https://www.10dtech.com/services/it-help-desk-support

2) Write Friendly, Human Out-Of-Office Replies (Skip The Itinerary)

Share dates, response window, and an alternate contact, that’s it.

Copy you can use:
 “Thanks for reaching out! We’re closed Nov 28–Dec 1 and will reply Monday. Urgent? Call our support line at (XXX) XXX-XXXX. Wishing you a great holiday!”

Why this works: Clear expectations reduce repeat messages and keep customer sentiment steady.

3) Test Phones & Voicemail (Before They Test Your Patience)

Call your own number. Make sure menus match reality.

  • Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) schedules should reflect holiday hours
  • After-hours routing should reach the right on-call person
  • Voicemail greeting should match your posted hours

Copy to use (voicemail):
 “You’ve reached [ Your Company]. We’re closed for the holiday weekend. Please leave a message and we’ll return your call Monday morning. If this is urgent, press 1 to reach our on-call team.”

Want clean holiday routing and a simple Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu? See VoIP & Business Phone Systems. https://www.10dtech.com/services/voip-phone-systems

4) Communicate Shipping/Turnaround Deadlines (Early, Once)

Post “order-by” or “approve-by” dates in one banner, one email, and one social post. Missed expectations, not delays, break relationships.

Copy to use (site/email):
 “Order by Dec 14 for delivery by Dec 23. Rush options available, reply to this message for details.”

5) Keep Privacy In Mind (Less Detail, Less Risk)

Don’t share travel details or personal schedules in out-of-office messages or voicemails. Stick to dates, response windows, and alternate contacts.

Avoid giving your itinerary or personal info (“I’m in Phoenix at…”)

Short on time? Our Managed IT Services team can bundle hours, phones, and site banners into a 30-minute checklist your staff can run each season. https://www.10dtech.com/services/managed-it-services

Short on time? Our Managed IT Services team can bundle hours, phones, and site banners into a 30-minute checklist your staff can run each season. https://www.10dtech.com/services/managed-it-services

EXAMPLE: Sam’s “No Angry Tuesdays” Story 

Sam leads Clear As Mud Services, a 42-person firm with an Eugene HQ and clients in Boise and Phoenix. One Thanksgiving week, Google said the office was open, but the doors were locked. The next day brought three annoyed voicemails and two one-star reviews.
So, Sam built a 30-minute pre-holiday checklist: update hours across Google/website/social, post a friendly Out-Of-Office, test the phone tree and on-call routing, and publish “order-by” dates for project deliverables. The following season, complaint volume dropped, response times were clear, and two reviews called out “great communication” by name.

If your phones or listings are out of sync across locations (Portland, Corvallis, Albany, Seattle, Cheyenne), our Network Infrastructure Design & Upgrades team can standardize routing and site-to-site reliability.  https://www.10dtech.com/services/network-infrastructure

Quick Holiday Etiquette Checklist (Print-Friendly)

  • ✅ Google Business Profile + site banner updated
  • ✅ Warm, human OOO (dates, window, alternate contact)
  • ✅ Voicemail + IVR tested (urgent path verified)
  • ✅ “Order-by”/“approve-by” dates posted once, early
  • ✅ No personal travel details in Out of Office or voicemail

Ready To Act?

Keep expectations clear and customers happy while your team takes a real break. We’ll help you polish hours, Out of Office, phones, and shipping messages … fast.
 Book a Free IT Checkup

10D Tech is your Oregon-based IT & cybersecurity partner (offices in Corvallis and Portland), serving Oregon & SW Washington.
Corvallis/Albany/Eugene/Bend (541) 243-4103 • Portland/Salem (503) 971-9103

FAQs You Can Use

  • Q1: What should we update first for holiday hours?
  • Q2: What belongs in an out-of-office message?
  • Q3: How do we make phones match our holiday schedule?
  • Q4: How often should we remind customers about shipping cutoffs?
  • Q5: We have multiple offices—how do we keep messages consistent?