Cancellations - do you charge?

[~ Floridian``]

Hi I have recently started my own business where I rent a room full time in which I have set up my salon. I am finding that people are sometimes cancelling their appointments at short notice (less than 24 hours) with the worst case being 30 minutes before the treatment time! Because I am just starting these people may be visiting for their first treatment with me or their second, so although I inform them in writing when I confirm the booking with them that they should give me 24 hours notice, I don't know whether I should be charging them for the late cancellation or not.

What do you do and how do your clients react/feel about it?

I am a lone parent, so I can only work during school hours which means that my work time is very limited, so losing a slot because someone doesn't show up has a big financial impact on me - and I still have the bills going out as well as the energy I have put into preparing for the treatment.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated!

Thanks
Eagle

 

[sk8er dude]

My local health clinic makes a courtesy phone call the day before appointments - I believe this has reduced their cancellations and those that just don't turn up considerably.

I personally am a nightmare at remembering appointments so that phone call the day before really makes a difference.

I was on a course recently and cancellations were discussed in detail! Tutor's view was that the way we 'are' sends very strong signals to our clients. So if we send off signals that we are a push over and easy going, then thats how our clients will treat us - increased cancellations and no shows. If we 'are' professional, firm and have 'expectations' and there are penalties for cancellations then cancellations and no shows will be reduced as clients just won't feel that they can do this.

I guess rules and sticking to them are essential. IF you had a client that booked4 hrs of treatments and didnt show -that would be a HUGE loss of income... Add up all the non shows and late cancellations - its no difference, it still adds up to a HUGE loss of income!

I personally would make every client aware of a charging policy for late cancellations. After they are aware of the policy, the first time they breached it I would give them a warning and tell them that next time they will be charged. If they did it again I would charge - or send an invoice. It's a tough business that no one wants to do.

Ok you may lose clients - but they werent turning up so are they really a big loss???

 

[Sam Fisher]

Hi Emma

Thanks for your reply. I think you are right - it is about what we put out as our boundaries of what is and isn't acceptable. I know that if I were faced with a £45 bill for something I hadn't had, I wouldn't be too pleased, and this is meaning I am finding it easier to sympathise with the client than with my own business needs.

I think I will make my cancellation policy clearer and more comprehensive and then there won't be any confusion.

I have called people to confirm their appointments and on one occasion confirmed the Friday appointment on Tuesday and then on Thursday evening the person left a message cancelling. It turned out that she cancelled because she couldn't afford the treatment - surely she knew this on Tuesday!!! I guess I just need to persevere with the phone calls!

Blessings
Eagle

 

[Danielle Blain]

ORIGINAL: Eagle

I am finding it easier to sympathise with the client than with my own business needs.

Tell me about it LOL...

I have the cancellation policy here of the clinic i go to... it says.

If you need to cancel or rearrange an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible, preferably the day before. Regrettably the full fee will be charged when less than 2 hour's notice is given.

Now that to me sounds nice but firm.... It says its ok to cancel and rearrange but call or else you will be charged.

If I got billed for treatment i didnt have I would be none too happy - I probably wouldnt pay the bill but then again I would be too embarassed to go back to the salon/clinic as well.

I dont think the aim of the policy is to get money for treatment not given, but to prevent the cancellations in the first place. I think you would find it difficult to get the money but its making a statement and getting your clients to view you differently.

 

[mrjinx64]

Thanks for sending me this wording - it's a lot friendlier than I was just working on!!

 

[slugger]

I do, but then again I advise all my clients at consultation of this, and I also ring the day before the appointment to make sure that they are still planning to come.

If you have the financial overhead of having to pay for a therapy room, you have to make sure that you at least cover the cost of the room even if you do not charge for your wasted time.

 

[nataliejamison572]

Hi Lizzie

Have you ever had to charge someone because they didn't show up? If so, what was your experience/their reaction? Did they come back?

I guess I am trying to work out the balance between bending over backwards to help the client and maintaining my own boundaries. Obviously different people will react in different ways and when I talked about the issue with one of my case studies (where it hadn't been a problem and I just wanted to get her opinion) she couldn't see why she should pay for something that she hadn't received until I started talking to her about costs, overheads, limited working hours etc etc. Once I had had a 15 minute conversation with her she was more understanding and still wasn't sure how she would feel if she was asked to pay for an appointment she hadn't turned up to.

Thanks
Kitti

 

[JND]

I don't work in a clinic at the moment, but only from home, so I don't charge for missed appointments, as although it can be a nuisance and sometimes means that I could have booked someone else in that time slot, it doesn't actually cost me anything and I can be getting on with other things.

When I was in clinic, I only paid rental per hour, for the clientswho came for a treatment. If a client missed a treatment, I would weigh up whether I had more to lose by attempting to charge them (and possibly embarrassing or upsetting them enough not to book again). Often I would ring them up and give them a chance to book another appointment and they usually did.

Those that I didn't hear from, I would send an invoice to, with a letter explaining that as well as needing to cover costs, they were stopping other clients having the opportunity of an appointment, but in the end there is no way to enforce them to pay.

Lesley