using System;

using System.Globalization;

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        var dateTime = DateTime.Now;

        //current received, which crashes

        var timings =  "00:00 - 08:00";

        // Previous received datetime values, including am/pm 

        //var timings =  "00:00 am - 08:00 am";

        try{

        var split = timings.Split(new[] { '-' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

        if (split.Length == 2)

        {

            Console.WriteLine("StartTime" + CreateDateTime(dateTime, split[0].Trim().ToString()));

            Console.WriteLine("EndTime" +  CreateDateTime(dateTime, split[1].Trim()));

        }

        }catch(Exception e)

        {

            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Failed to create availablity for value [{0}]\n{1}", timings, e));  

        }

    }

    private static DateTime CreateDateTime(DateTime date, string time)

    {

        string datePrefix = date.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

        string dateTimeToParse = string.Format("{0} {1}", datePrefix, time);

        Console.WriteLine(dateTimeToParse);

        return DateTime.ParseExact(dateTimeToParse, "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

    }

}