Charging student for missed tuition session

[RangeTesKopeks]

Hi everyone,

This is a bit of a WWYD situation, so I'd be really grateful for any advice you might have please

I work as a tutor, and have been teaching French to a girl for a couple of months now, but fairly infrequently (we manage to fit in around a session a month).

At the start of May, the girl's parents had provisionally arranged for her to have a tuition session with me this morning.

I travel to the family's house for the tuition, and when I got there I rang the doorbell a couple of times but got no answer. I waited for a few more minutes and realised their car wasn't in the drive, so I rang the house phone. I could hear it ringing but no one answered. I also tried a mobile number for the family, and again got no answer so I left a message on the landline and mobile.

The family got in touch a couple of hours ago to say they were really sorry but were out at the time of the lesson. They said they'd tried to send me a text earlier this week to cancel today's lesson but that they've only just realised that the text didn't send.

I have a 24 hour cancellation policy, so if my students cancel without 24 hours' notice or don't turn up to my lessons, I charge them for the lesson.

Considering the family tried to send me a text message to cancel the lesson today, WIBU to charge them for the lesson?

Yes I think next time the message to confirm would be the thing to do but the last message you sent was perfect. You're obviously not going to get any money out of them so an argument is futile but the niceness of your text will hopefully make them at least feel bad (if they have any decency at all). I know if it was me in their position I'd feel dreadful to receive such a nice reasonable reply back and it would probably bother my conscience for some time.

You do sound very sweet in your messages and so perhaps try to sound more businesslike to protect yourself from people who will take advantage of your good nature.

I think getting payment in advance in future as others have suggested might be a good idea?

Good luck :)

If you ask people to pay up front, they will just go to someone else

I am a tutor and I just let things like this go. If a lesson is missed I have learnt not to charge. This is because I advertise on a website where customers have the right to leave feedback. It is not worth the chance I get damning feedback as that could affect my chance of getting other clients.
I will hopefully be doing teacher training in September and would rather move to full time employment than doing this for a living.

Cheeky beggars. If it was provisional then why did they need to cancel it.

Rotten twats.