To have charged them full price?

[LollingGo]

I work as a PT and I am very overbooked, with a long waiting list. As such, I do charge a premium for my services, £40 per hour. I recently had a space become available and offered it to a client from my waiting list. They accepted and we booked several sessions in over July.

On what was meant to be our first session, lasting an hour an a half (£60), I received a phone call 15 minutes after the lesson was due to start. The client was very apologetic and informed me that she was having some personal issues and would therefore need to cancel. Since the cancellation, she has been reliable and has arrived at all booked in sessions.

I have just sent my invoices for July, and she queried the £60 charge for the cancelled session. I explained to her that, unfortunately, I need at least a few hours notice so I have an opportunity to find an alternative client for the session. As she had cancelled 15 minutes after the session time had started, she needed to be charged. She is now very upset. She has said she thinks it is quite harsh for me to charge the full amount and shows a lack of understanding. She has said she no longer wishes to have PT with me.

AIBU to think she should be paying full price and I have done nothing wrong? This is my livelihood and how I pay my bills and support my family.

Did you know your cancellation policy before she cancelled? If she did that's fair enough, if she didn't then that isn't really fair on her as not everyone has such a policy.
My physio for example will always note her cancellation policy at the time of booking and in a reminder text sent 48 hours before.

Nope, not unreasonable at all. Presuming her personal problems started before her PT session did, she could have cancelled before the session time.
She might be lying about the personal problem, and you've lost her as a client anyway so I hope you recoup the money 😁

@LollingGo

unless exceptional circumstances at my discretion

THIS is in your contract. She feels you don't believe her/value her. You're choosing to consider it/she/the situation/your relationship is not 'good enough'. & she feels hurt & disappointed.

you should have told her at the time that you weren't considering it exceptional circumstances and she'd have to pay for the full 1.5 hours.

you're currently over booked & charging a premium, but you may have just shot yourself in the foot with a good client. With the CoL you may find yourself wishing you had this good client.

your T&C need amending.

@LollingGo you’re definitely not unreasonable, but was this put into T&Cs when she signed up? It’s extremely obvious to me as a client that you don’t cancel, and it’s of course obvious to you, but these things do need to be spelled out.

Even if you were clear up front, would it be worth exercising discretion for the sake of your relationship and future sessions? You might get a better reputation if you come off stern as people know you mean business, but equally if you do think it will put her off booking future sessions in the future, tell her she’s had her strike?

definitely take money up front though and 24 hours cancellation fee

I think the issue is with the wording of your contract. The mention of exceptional circumstances at your discretion.
I would remove that term from the contract.
You should just mention that the full amount should be paid if the lesson is not cancelled within twenty four hours. You can then choose if and when to apply your discretion .
Your client obviously felt upset by the fact that you charged her as it suggests that you didn’t believe her.
I totally understand where you are coming from though.
When I was at university I worked as a private tutor in the evening. You wouldn’t believe the number of times I would turn up at the student’s home and the parents would cancel the lesson. They would then have the audacity to get upset when I insisted on half the fee.
I do think that in this particular situation that you should not have charged her since she has been attending regularly .

Fine to charge 100% of the normal amount. I disagree with anyone suggesting otherwise. Some services I wouldn't expect to pay 100% of the full price as a cancellation fee (for example if part of the service involved materials that would then not be used) but in this case your service is just your time and experience so there is no possibility of any "saving" that can be offered as a result of the service not actually having been enjoyed.

I would amend your T&Cs to remove the exceptional circumstances bit. It's very unclear what it means and as it's in your discretion only how is a client supposed to know if they will benefit or not? Just keep it simple and say 24 hours' notice in advance or a cancellation fee applies. You can always waive it on a case by case basis if needed (e.g. because you want to keep a certain client sweet).

She didn't mention any part of my policy when we spoke anyway, she just said she found it very unfair and uncaring

Unfortunately this is just what some produce when things don't quite suit, especially in the absence of any real cause for complaint, and I can't even agree that "exceptional circumstances at your discretion" should be a stumbling block

It sounds as if you may well have waived the charge if she'd cancelled just past the 24 hours or even on the actual day, but she's got to be joking with half way through what should have been the lesson

Put it out of your mind, OP, and if she leaves you've clearly got plenty to fill the gap

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all. However, my concern would be how much she currently owes you. If she owes you for five £60 sessions, is it worth the risk of her refusing to pay up? You could spend an awful lot of time and energy chasing that money, when offering to cut the cancellation fee to 50% of the session cost might keep her on side - and ensure she pays the bill.

You would absolutely be within your rights to stand firm and say the full fee is payable. You have a waiting list, so it’s not like you need this client from that perspective. But if she’s run up quite the tab, it might be worth trying to compromise rather than forcing the issue.

Also, given that you have a waiting list, her threat to go elsewhere might be an empty one. If you offered some kind of concession, she might suddenly become less ‘upset’, decide she does want to keep working with you after all, and pay up.

Of course, once you’ve got what you’re owed, there’s nothing to stop you suddenly becoming too busy to fit her in for any more sessions…

There are always piss taking clients in all areas of business. No need to change your policies, just learn to identify them out and don’t work with them. Maybe from now on you might be “too busy” to have any more sessions with clients who don’t show up for the first session.

I also work in an industry where I'm selling my services and within 48 hours a full cancellation fee applies. I'm unlikely to be able to pick up other work at that stage, so either the client is out of pocket or I am.

I would take the 'at your discretion' clause out of your contract. I have waived my cancellation fee if I felt it appropriate in the circumstances, although very rarely. It depends what the reason is. I've occasionally reduced it to 50%. However I've never said that it's a possibility, I've chosen to do so.

If you don't have a tight cancellation policy in my experience clients will take the piss. You're not in the wrong.

Certainly would be 100% of the appointment if she didn't call until 15 mins in. That's not a cancellation, it's a no-show. Full price.

You're overbooked and she cancelled after her class was supposed to have started. She should pay and if she goes elsewhere that is up to her. You have plenty of other clients.

Amazon, Netflix, kids sports, my gym. I pay whether or not I use it. Wouldn't expect otherwise.