About being charged for missed appointment?

[Buttercupdaisies]

For several months I’ve had a weekly appointment somewhere. This week, I had to go into hospital as am 33 weeks pregnant and had an injury (all was fine.) I rang up and explained and apologised.

They have just charged my card the full amount. I suspect a lot or people will say I am BU but I don’t feel great about it, tbh. Just wondered what the consensus was.

@ISeeMisledPeople

I've never signed anything with Amazon, but they have my card details stored...

She booked online. The card details will be stored securely on the booking system that will have all these things covered.

If an online store has your details saved, you would at some point have clicked 'yes' to saving those details - either on the retailer's website, or you have previously opted to save the card on your device/pc. Card details shouldn't be accessible anywhere online or in store unless you expressly opt to do so.
If the OP hasn't done either of these things and definitely hasn't signed a document in the premises, GDPR/PCI requirements are being breached. If you haven't given a retailer consent to store your card details, basic card info (but not the CVV code) may be stored but it must be appropriately encrypted to prevent fraudulent access.

@Feraldogmum why would they do that? If it’s stated at the time of booking that there’s cancellation fees etc. why would a business waste more time to phone up a client who cancels last min (no matter the reason)? Don’t be so ridiculous.

Although I agree that good customer service is lacking in some areas, I think the move away from “the customer is always right” is a good thing. Businesses need to protect themselves and their workers, far too many people (like you seemingly) have a superiority complex just because they’re a customer. So what? Doesn’t make you better than anyone else.

Like I’ve said, the OP can’t even be bothered to try and actually speak to someone to see if she could get a goodwill gesture - which I’m sure she would get.

Op voluntarily input her card details in order to make this specific appointment.

Are you suggesting that if a business takes card details for a specific purpose, it's against gdpr to use them in that way?

The business won't have access to the card number etc. It will be stored securely where they can be used only for the purposes that op input them for.

Where is your goodwill then? You expect somebody to be £30 down because of you.

I work in a profession where we usually charge for missed appointments if we don't get 24 hours notice. HOWEVER, there are always exceptions and as you are pregnant and needed to go to hospital I personally wouldn't have charged you

3 hours notice us not enough to fill the appointment with someone else so it’s not surprising you’ve been charged the full amount. However if you explain the situation, and say you are normally a good regular client of theirs, they may be willing to discount some of the £30 for goodwill but it would be understandable if they have to stick to their policy too. I know it’s rubbish but you will just need to suck this one up.

To quote Paul Newman in the 1950s: “Goodwill. Ain’t nothing in the world like it.”

The salon have shot themselves in the foot.

Op voluntarily input her card details in order to make this specific appointment.

Are you suggesting that if a business takes card details for a specific purpose, it's against gdpr to use them in that way?

The business won't have access to the card number etc. It will be stored securely where they can be used only for the purposes that op input them for.

Yes, exactly that. If the OP had given her express permission for her card to be used for any future purchases (aside from the one initial purchase it was intended for), then the business has acted accordingly and correctly. If not, although her card details may have been stored automatically, this should be in an encrypted form to prevent future unauthorised purchases, and the cardholder would have to enter her CVV to enable this card to be charged again. The OP has already said she isn't happy that the company have her CHARGEABLE card details stored, so unless she has completed a form with them (in person or ticked a box online) then the company have fraudulently either noted and stored her CVV and she needs to be asking how and when they have done this. The exception being if she gave her entire card details in full again when booking this particular appointment on that particular date, but as it is a regular weekly appointment that she attends, I'm assuming she doesn't phone every week ahead of the appointment to pay?

It wouldn't have hurt you to read at least the OP's comments which would have dealt with your first question. Did it not occur to you that, within 15 pages, someone might have made the Ts and Cs point already?

In that extremely unlikely scenario, they have to think about whether they can still make ends meet if they piss off every customer enough to make them go elsewhere.

OP: AIBU?
MN: Yep
OP: No I’m not, you’re all wrong!

That's not what the transaction is about, is it? When I go to someone offering a relatively common skill, what I value is the service they offer. If they stop offering that service at a satisfactory price or standard, I have plenty of other choices. They in turn, I hope, value the fact that I bring business to them and pay them money. Those two factors need to be balanced against each other. If they have so any customers that they don't care if they lose my custom, or that of people I recommend, then they can crack on. If that is not the case, they have to think about whether failing to build a degree of compassion into their business model will leave them with rather more time on their hands than they really want.

God, these posts are so tedious, especially when anyone can see that the "MN" line isn't borne out by the evidence of their own eyes.

You are being unreasonable. It’s a booked appointment and they can’t just replace you at the last minute.

As others have said, the business has recouped their £30 for the missed appointment but they have lost far more in the long run, both in monetary terms and loss of goodwill. Whilst I accept that the business was within their rights to charge, assuming that it was indeed within their T&Cs, a simple phone call to the OP explaining that they had to charge her as it was too late to fill her slot would have made a big difference. They could also have showed that they valued her as a regular client by wishing her and her unborn child well at the same time.

You sound petty, not going back because you cancelled 3 hours before an appointment! I’m guessing this is a small business, that relies on their customers, so instead of feeling so entitled why not give them your ‘good Will’ but I wouldn’t worry I am sure they will fill your spot!

Na that's just being a petty tosser and cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Yeah you can take your business elsewhere but you can't guarantee you'll get the service you were otherwise happy with...

That attack on @WombatChocolate is unwarranted. You have no idea whether she's lonely or not and your patronising faux concern is really unpleasant. There are ways of disagreeing with someone or challenging their posts without resorting to that.

I did. And she admitted she hadn’t read them AND that just because it’s in the T&C doesn’t make it legal. Hence I made the point that it IS legal.

Is there some mumsnet law that if one person makes a point no other can? No. Didn’t think so.

Or there’s the flip side.

as a loyal customer who values a service I would EXPECT to pay if I cancelled so late they cannot fill the slot.

Of course not. But it's SO tedious when 20 people make the same point as if no-one else has thought of it.

As a human being and someone with basic business sense, I would expect to waive the charge in these circumstances.

More fool you for reading all the comments AND replying to them.

Which she will never no because she refuses to contact them and ask the question.