To tell clients to just leave

[selfemployedwwyd]

I"m self employed with clients who pay monthly. I work 12 months of the year and take 4 weeks a year holiday which are unpaid - this is all explained upfront.

This year I've had an unprecedented number of clients who've informed me that they're not prepared to pay for my services over the summer as they're 'going on fancy holidays' and won't get the use of my services.

But they want me to take them back on in September once the summer holidays are over and the children are back in school.

AIBU to tell them they're free to go in June but I won't be giving them their space back in September?

I simply cannot afford to not be paid for 2 months. When I go on holiday (unpaid and only UK) I still pay all of my monthly bills (swimming, nursery etc)

I realise the cost of living affects even the wealthy, but it's the wealthiest clients who are doing this to me! For context, last year I earned £15k if that matters. I can't afford to take my children abroad (not that that's their fault I might add, but it does irk!)

AIBU to feel really pissed off and a little bit used/undervalued?

You might want to read the posts by the OP.

@forrestgreen

I think posters are missing that this is a new thing

the op says never happened before and now “unprecedented”

which indicates that this is due to cost of living crisis and a general concern about the economy. Many other sectors are experiencing the same.

If the Op take them “they’re cheeky”, word will get around.

If the OP changes her contract to mean this flexibility is no longer possible, she will put off new clients

Times are a-changing

To send you away and say they will take you back in September is absolutely disgusting and cheeky fuckery of the highest order.

Really? If I don't want tutoring in the holidays, I wouldn't expect to pay a for a service I'm not using. I'd be happy to take my chances with restarting in September.

I don't think that makes me a CF or disgusting and I'm sure plenty of people feel the same way.

Nope, bin em. Tell them to check back in Sep to see if there is a space there for their kids but you cannot guarantee it. Take on more kids in the meantime. Do what is best for YOU and YOUR business. Holding places without being pain is fucking ridiculous, you are a small business and it would be career suicide not to fill these places during the summer.If they come back seeking your services in Sep and you have no room...tough titty, it's the chance they took.

Op you say you pay termly for gymnastics and dancing

Presumably if you knew that you couldn’t make a term due to holidays… you would simply not pay that terms fee

and yet for your own clients…

Read the bloody thread.

I do. I pay for my kids swimming, gymnastics, tutor, nursery and tennis when I go on holiday. Granted, individually they cost less (aside from the tutor) but I simply inform them that my child won't be there

Yes but why on earth would she pay for a terms fee if she knows that she won’t attend

3 terms a year.

I don’t pay for my gymnastic summer term because know that won’t be able to come to many of the sessions

And then I pay for the September fees terms because I know we will be around and able to attend!

Aren't you lucky they keep a place for you!

They don’t “keep a place” for me. At the end of each term, you are asked whether you want to sign up for the next term or not.

OP doesn’t give her client this opportunity. Once they are in her clutches… she wants them all year with no break.

The clients are simply reacting to the fact that rather than giving them any choice over the year - it’s stick with me or you’re out!

And when I don’t want to sign up for the summer term but do for the September term…. They don’t get pissed off with me and tell me I’m being cheeky and that I can’t even though they have space.

if they don’t have space, then I 🤷‍♀️, they don’t have space!

Do u give yr holiday dates in advance so they can try to book the same as u?

Good grief.

would you book your family holiday around an hour a week tutor?

There's nothing wrong with your T&Cs as they are.

You can give notice of a cancellation of the current terms and reissue at new prices of you're on a rolling contract. You can reply to their messages thanking them for giving four week notice of termination, and that you will add them to your waiting list for September at the price for new customers.

It is entirely within their court to withdraw their termination (you might then still wish to reissue the contract at a higher fee).

You don't need a clause to define every situation. Don't panic about that. Your existing contract defines the situation perfectly well. You don't want to tie yourself in knots with an over-defined contract, so long as you don't grant them rights to the contrary in you existing contract.

"would you book your family holiday around an hour a week tutor?"

The OP is not asking people to do this, but since almost all families with children have the same six/seven weeks of summer holiday, if the question of paying for the service during the holidays is becoming an issue, then one way to resolve it is to tell everyone that for a period in the summer, they will be closed for holidays.

If she does this, the OP doesn't charge (because there are no sessions during that period) but of course makes sure that she increases the price during the rest of the year to cover her overall costs and to secure her income for the year. If she doesn't do this, then ultimately it becomes uneconomic for her to offer the service, she gets a job doing something else and nobody gets any sessions.

I was responding to a Pp suggestion 😐

She has them in her clutches.....ahhh you are a mad scone.

Appropriate given today! With cream and jam 🤤

Absolutely! One mad scone eating a scone eating with jam and cream while madly waving a flag at the telly!

This^ ! Precisely why I moved from weekly payment to monthly payment.

I particularly remember one client I drove to, half an hour journey (traffic rather than mileage), to find out the house was empty. Rang her and she was on holiday in the Bahamas and forgotten to tell me. Wasted an hour of travelling and the lesson planning time. Also numerous clients who would cancel with 5 mins notice - booked a hair cut, child is going to a party now, we've had tea late just don't fancy it etc etc.

To be fair the vast majority have been great with monthly upfront. It gives consistency and actually teaching over the holidays ensures that the child doesn't have summer slump!

With a brilliant tutor who arranges her sessions and finances as any other tutor on this thread seems to do with the op being the outlier

You are sitting with a tutor eating scones? Curiouser and curiouser... crack on!!!

Just make clear you can’t hold places and if the slot is filled then it’s filled.
Other way is to really push the need for continuous study so they don’t regress - if not September is catching them back up etc.
Or look for different clients for summer only.

Even if they are abroad do you offer zoom style sessions? Their choice to lose continuity of learning and potentially tutor.