Parents not paying for tutoring, getting beyond a joke now

My husband was a self employed sports coach some years ago, payment was always taken up front for a block of lessons or if it was an ad-hoc thing it was cash up front before the lesson. No payment, no lesson. You need to have people pay up front for a block of tuition, rather than paying after each session, also if the person can't make it you aren't losing income. All clubs etc my children attend are done like this, a dd each month up front, if we can't make it that week we still pay.

Sorry if this has been suggested already, but for all future clients, can you ask them to pre-pay monthly?

I can’t think of anything I pay weekly like that for my children. Tutorials I pay in a single invoice in advance per half term.

I think you’ve assumed it’s either normal or convenient to bill immediately after each tutorial whereas parents might actually prefer to pay for a block of tutorials in advance. I’d personally find it annoying to have to pay each week.

Ask for payment upfront if not, no lessons. They are taking the piss.

Initially I would have maybe thought they were just used to paying for getting work done. You say they "wouldn't do this with another paid service", but I have never had work done in/on the house where the person who gave the invoice cared much as long as it was paid within a week or so. Just an invoice, pay when you get the chance, and gone.

But if you really want it to be so strict for some reason, now you have told them they should be doing it.

There was a total CF thread on here recently where it was the parent moaning about the tutor charging a month in advance.

Have a read.

I used to pay in cash when I collected after the lesson.
As it sounds like you go to them, why can't they just pay you via their banking App before you leave?

Sashavelour65
They either pay in advance
Or
You don't tutor their liddle darling anymore.
He'll survive.
Some people mistake niceness for gullibility
And then will ride roughshot won't they??

Tbh I wouldn't see this as unusual. Very few services I use require payment within 24 hrs and it sounds as though you weren't clear up front that yours did. From the title of your post I expected they were weeks behind in paying. As long as it's paid by the next lesson is have thought that would be ok. Now you've communicated your terms it's fair to expect them to meet them but are you making yourself easy to pay? Using Monzo or similar? Bank transfers are a pain.

Pre payment. No payment no lesson. Simple.

You need written T&Cs indicating that you need payment on the same day as the lesson. Pre-payment would be reasonable if you had a lot of issues like this. You also need to state that you need 24 hours notice for cancellation or even 48 hours because people like this are going to argue the toss with you if their child becomes ill or there is some other family drama. Have a look at a few websites for similar or related services as often the T&Cs are on there. I would always give a print out by hand at the outset. Make good eye contact and say politely and confidently, "These are my T&Cs and I do recommend that you read them".

Exactly this, they definitely wouldn't do this if they didn't think they could get away with it and it's totally unacceptable. They should be ashamed.

I'm an occupational therapist not a tutor, but I charge for sessions in blocks of 4 a few weeks prior to the start of the block. I also let parents pay in installments but everything is agreed by email beforehand and I have T&C covering everything.

Get rid of them. Users and time wasters.
U are being unreasonable if u dance to their tune.

I pay my cleaner and gardener cash on the day they do the work. I suppose they are not 'professionals' in your world.
How about my solicitor? She wants paying by card on the day the work is completed. She did give me terms of business at our first meeting.

Hairdresser, cash or card on the day my hair is cut. Nails, a deposit when booking the rest when nails are completed.
Petrol, cash or card as soon as I've filled my tank.
Vet, another professional, payment by cash or card before I leave the surgery. Their terms of business are on a rolling screen in the waiting room, together with other options, prescription charges and prices for standard treatments.

TBF, those are different because you can tap with your card. If you offered a contactless payment option I guarantee they'd be fine with using it at drop off/collection. For places where I have to pay cash only or transfer only I can easily forget and be late with payments because I have to sit down with a pen and paper to do it and it's not something I always have with me or time or internet to do in the moment.

I have about 20 students a week. Only 3 pay in cash.

It's all online, they pay via bank transfer. All declared to Inland revenue in my tax return at the end of the financial year.

Not that your condesention means anything to me. A pity you are being so judgemental.

Ask for payment in half term blocks. My mum tutored and did this after people messed her about, didn't pay, or years ago paid with cheques that bounced.

I also pay for my child's lesson in blocks like that. If they are serious about tuition they'll pay it.

I don't carry much cash these days at all. Many people don't. The idea of having to ask for cash is IMO a bit antiquated and it doesn't feel professional.
Parents are usually paid monthly and most people work on a monthly basis for their outgoings.
I retired from tutoring 10 years ago but even then no one I knew was paying tutors in cash.

Why is it any different compared to booking other lessons like swimming, dance, drama or any of the millions of other activities children do after school?
You don't pay the instructor/ teacher on the day putting money in their hands.
You'll pay termly on receipt of an invoice.

Just because a tutor is home-based doesn't mean they are not running their teaching as a business although it's clear that some don't and still take the archaic cash in hand approach.

I bring cash when I drop off my child. I wouldn’t expect to do it any other way?

It's up to the individual how they deal with their self assessment. That's got nothing to do with it. I offer my students the option to pay in a block via transfer, individual lesson but transfer it by cash. I have very few cash payments these days but there are some. The majority are transfer. But i fully understand that not everyone can pay in a block. I do what works for them. But if I had to chase payments constantly I'd just get rid.

It really does help to have a clear contract up front @Doone22if only to have some leverage. Most of my customers pay up front which helps with late cancels or no-shows but the ones I get through health insurance don’t pay upfront and the health insurers will only pay for sessions that actually happen, so it’s up to me to enforce my terms and extract payment for my time they’ve wasted if they didn’t show up or cancelled a few hours before. It’s much easier if they’ve already signed something. I have taken someone through the small claims process once which was easy but only because I could prove they’d signed a contract and my terms had been abundantly clear.

I worked out that if I “made an exception just this once” as I’m frequently asked to do for every person who cancels last minute or doesn’t turn up then over the year I’d end up with c.£12k in lost earnings which I can’t afford. The best way is to be very clear from the outset and then the difficult conversations about payment are easier. Some people (sadly) use any ambiguity or vagueness on the part of the “provider” to deliberately avoid paying.

I think it's unprofessional to be dealing with money at the end of a session if that's what you're doing.
(Not clear what you say you do, to be honest.)

It's also a pain for parents to have cash, write cheques or do BACS every single week. And it makes it harder for you to keep on top of your earnings for self assessment.