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.

I see both sides.

When I was pregnant, I cancelled a regular appointment with about an hour’s notice as I was admitted to hospital with complications. I’d understand but be rather grumpy if they had charged me. I’d have considered trying a new service provider, and probably would have found someone closer to home. But I wasn’t charged and they even called me a week or so later to see how I was doing and if I wanted to reschedule. I’m still a loyal customer.

DH, on the other hand, used to frequently run late for one of his appointments or change times at the last minute due to work demands. His medical practitioner understandably got sick of this and finally enforced her cancellation policy. DH had a hissy fit and never went back. I think the mistake was that she had let DH get away with it for far too long.

On a family holiday when I was 15, my father collapsed in the hotel lobby and died in the ambulance. On returning from the hospital, we packed our suitcases, thanked the staff for their assistance and left as planned.

We were 2hrs late on checking out, noon instead of 10am- and they charged my mum another whole nights accommodation. This is when some compassion/discretion could have been applied, or a half charge- especially as the room might have been rebooked that night. It was in their T&C's though but I will never forget it.

Crosspost. I understand it was an emergency but I completely understand why they would charge you with such a short notice, it’s unfortunate but it’s just one of them things. I think you’re cutting your nose off not going back if they’re a good masseur. Most places will have a policy like this.

I wouldn’t feel comfortable with them charging my card or that they had kept my car details on file either. I agree a business should show you some goodwill if you’d been going there for months, life happens.

A lot of massage places near me will just post on their social media that they’ve had a last minute cancellation and someone will grab it.

It is not discriminatory and please do not bother your local councillor or CAB about something so trivial. Think of the incident as good practice for parenthood, which for most people involves changing plans at short notice, the occasional trip to A and E and paying out quite a lot of money over the years.

What kind of appt is it?

£30 sounds like perhaps beauty/ hair /massage etc.

It's at their discretion.

I charge clients if they don't give me enough notice (48 hours in my case) for a professional service, but I have waived it for example when a client (long term) had to take her daughter to A&E.

For future reference, just cancel the credit card! Then you won’t be charged because the payment won’t go through.

Just seen your update and it was massage.

TBH they still have overheads whether you turn up or not and the therapist could have used that slot I guess for another client.

You need to sort out the card issue. if it's stored they should say that in the T&Cs.

Just let it go.

Are they legally allowed to keep your credit card details- including the CVV number? 🤔

@Buttercupdaisies
if u was my client that and was a regular and that far pregnant and had an accident I wouldn’t have charged you this was a genuine reason not to attend and u did give her 3 hours notice , personally I wouldn’t go back again x

I'd request a chargeback on your card. For small amounts sometimes the bank just automatically gives you the money. I'm not even sure if they pass on the cost to the business.

@kingtamponthefurred not sure there's a need to be that patronising and in addition, losing a client through not having sympathy for an emergency would probably cost the business more.

Oh my gosh, I am so sorry.
That is horrific of them, how traumatic for you all.

I work on an appointment basis, when people let me down at short notice I lose that money if I don’t charge. I have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Yabu

I totally agree with businesses charging for no-shows or late cancellations, as several of my accountancy clients lose huge amounts of money because people don't show up.

However, in your circumstances, if you explain why you weren't there and couldn't give more notice, then I think they should refund the money if you are a regular customer who doesn't usually mess them around.

That would be kind and show goodwill and also retain your ongoing custom.

If thats the T&C's which you agree to when making a booking, then so be it.

Obviously nobody wants to lose money do they so yes it's annoying but goodwill is quite literally discretionary, and that discretion is theirs to decide on and not the customer or presumably everyone would get their money back every 5 minutes because they feel they deserve it or their circumstance is a special on.

It would surely be a lot easier to just say to them that you feel a bit disappointed, and had hoped that the nature of the cancellation might mean they waive the cancellation charge as you're a repeat customer, than get into it on here. If you're refusing to go back either way then I'd just find somewhere else, I'm sure in reality they will have other clients and it won't be much of a spite to them.

Well you cancelling means a loss of income as someone else would have used that appointments, so YABU

OP maybe they thought you won’t be needing back massage for long as you’re about to have your baby, and so don’t mind losing you as a client. More likely, though, it was just a routine reaction for them.

@CC4712 I’m so sorry for your loss, although I bet some on here would still say it was in the T & Cs?

I am not sure about the law re cards but I really don’t feel very comfortable with them just using it. Anyone can put anything in the T & C, it doesn’t make it legal.

Oh for goodness sake
You're not the business owner and you aren't in a position to say what you'd have done.

I appreciate that the OP couldn't help what happened but 3 hours is very short notice and it doesn't seem fair that the business owner should stand the cost of an appointment if it couldn't be filled

Most business do this now, OP. I get it was outside of your control but many say AT LEAST 24hours notice so they can try and fill the appointment.

many businesses never recovered fully from COVID they can’t afford to just give £30 here and there.

Oh I hate people like this. This is the reason so many places are now wanting you to pay upfront, cancelling a week before fine. Day before, no.

I think the fact that you go there regularly and this wasn't a one off appointment they have really shot themselves in the foot. I know that would be my last appointment with them.

I get that they can do this but I think an exception should have been made in your case.

In fairness they still have costs to cover in terms of running the business so unfortunately it's just one of those things. Sorry you had to go to hospital 😔

She's only been going for several .oaths, not years so hardly a regular. They probably wanted to ensure she won't think she can do it all the time