to not refund customer?

[smallbiznav]

I run a small business. I’m worried I’ll be identifiable so I’m changing some of the points and product to disguise, so it may not make complete sense but that’s because I’m being careful!

My business is my only income, so I have to be tough which doesn’t come naturally. I run, let’s say, ballet classes. There’s 6 a year and as my reputation has grown, are in demand. As such, I’ve increased the size of the space I rent to accommodate. When I first put out the dates, I want to guarantee I’ll have a set amount of bookings to cover my cost and drive traffic. I offer the classes at a very reduced rate if the package is bought.

A woman bought them, 6 months ahead, and all was well. That meant the number of discounted packages sold out and the price went up.

Now, the woman has found out she got into some classes at an expensive and prestigious ballet school, so doesn’t need my little fun classes anymore. She asked for a refund. I pointed to the terms and conditions which say no refunds after the initial 14 day cooling off period that she agreed to.

She then decided, due to the time of when she tried to cancel, that she’d come to the first class. After that, she emailed to say how amazing it was but since she’s going to the prestigious classes, she doesn’t need mine. I reminded her of the refund policy and she said that it was fair, but could she sell her place on.

Whilst not transferable, I understood the dilemma and felt bad so agreed, provided I did not facilitate finding someone new at all. Instead, she can just tell me the name of the new person I should expect.

I run a small Facebook group which is where most my customers come from but some go to other competitors classes and that’s fine, it’s mainly to talk about ballet and share videos of ballet moves / recitals etc. I am the only lead of it and there are definitely many people in the group who haven’t yet booked my class but may potentially, closer to the time, on a class by class basis.

She has asked to post advertising her sale of my classes on there. I feel this may deprive me of a future customer. I am fine if she has a friend or someone in another group (plenty of dance groups out there) to sell to, but in a community I put many hours to and how I built my business, feels like I’d be taking money from myself.

This was longwinded, sorry. So, what would you do? Allow her to post in my group or not?

YANBU - don’t let her post in your group but she can find someone elsewhere
YABU - just let her post

Good point.

In which case just tell her no.

I wouldn't let her advertise on your page, you could do this and tell her that IF you get someone else to fill her place, you may be able to refund partial/all money to her but you will only be able to confirm this if and when you find another pupil.

Not relevant. Policy is policy, and she got a discount because of the non-refundable nature. OP, she is a CF. You probably should have stuck to your guns and told her to eat the cost, but as you did not, do the next best thing and refuse to let her use your FB group as a way to fill the spot. If you do that, you'll be leaving the door wide open for people to do the same and you will have so much extra work. Don't do it.

This seems the fairest way taking in the additional comments about the admin

Speaking as someone who used to run dance and drama classes with a husband who teaches voice classes I would say do not let her advertise in your group. The reduced rate was offered for a reason. It's the risk you take when you book. The only exception would be if she had previously attended your classes and you wanted to capitalise on her getting prestigious school (hey look at our ex student who got into prestigious school after attending our classes!).

I imagine that something like art or sculpture or any other kind of class would run on similar lines.

Don’t let her post, it’s her problem and it’s up to her to solve. I’m curious about why you even feel like you should maybe do this for her? Is she a friend or just very pushy?

Also very intrigued about what you do - I’m wondering about something like antenatal classes or childminding but they wouldn’t be outing!

I fully expect someone to take a place at full price, we get bookings for the individual classes daily. This is more common due to the date commitment (because it’s not actually a dance class!) but we do the bulk order discount just to ensure basic costs are covered in case of a bad year

Nope, no friends. Some customers I’ve built relationships with over the years but they also would never do this.

nothing like that, I’ve completely skewed this by calling it a class, but it’s not too dissimilar. Premise is the same, difference is the work that goes into it. For ballet, my assumption here as I’m not a dancer, is that you know what you’ll teach and that doesn’t matter too much whether the class has 1 or 10, this is somewhat personalised or it can’t run smoothly, lots of help given and capacity is 100

Have I got this right... if you book in a block and pay in advance you receive a discount. So the upside is the discount? And the downside is it's not transferable or refundable?
If this is the case then no I would stick to the terms and conditions or what's the point of having them?

You are essentially letting her “scalp” the service: booking a cheap rate and sell it to someone now the price has gone up. I don’t think that is a good precedent to set. You don’t want to create a secondary market in speculative buyers.

I think you've muddied the waters by saying she can sell it on. However that's by the by now, I wouldn't allow her to post on your FB page but she can give/sell it to someone else.
In future stick to your T&C.

Is your class going to sell out?

If it is, you could say that if you can fill her place naturally, then yes she can have a refund after the classes (as you'd be swapping her discount place for a full paying place anyway).

If it's unlikely to sell out then I think I'd refund her half her money as a final good will gesture (she has already had quite a bit of your time after all), then when you are getting close to the class date, you could always offer it back out at the discount rate by saying you've had a cancellation, you could do a 'new customer only offer' to stop CF existing customers trying to get it at cheaper, if you don't sell that place then you've only lost half the value of the discounted rate.

IMO agreeing to let her transfer it was daft move, and agreeing to it then not letting her use the one place where it is likely to sell is just odd, you shouldn;t have agreed to it at all, it also sets a dangerous precedent for people to start swapping round between themselves using your group, which WILL be extra work for you in some way or another.

I would offer a refund less the class she did take (at full price) and an admin fee (that hour you spent with her). This does not sound like something that should be transferable

I wouldn't do it. She needs to find someone herself, if you advertise in your page the next time someone changes their mind and wants a refund how will you say no when they say just advertise my space on your page.
Is that something you want to get into

Na I’d leave her to sort out the selling. It’s her “ticket” she needs to take responsibility for her own schedule and plans. Tough luck. You’re a small business. You need blanket policies, exceptions are risky - you risk the person telling others and they’ll hold that against you one day

God only knows what kind of service this in real life where you are losing £200 if she sells these spaces on but your services are personalised and worth £100s for individual attention but your capacity is 100. If the full price is £400 and your capacity is 100.. you are standing to loose a tiny fraction of your income... equally you have probably already wasted far too much effort on this £200!

If you allow the exchange on your facebook group you risk further requests for refunds and exchanges so I think I would avoid that.

Withdraw the offer to transfer to another person based on the additional admin already incurred and the additional admin required and instead offer her a discount voucher that she can sell...

At this point you already have her money so there is only downside to you accommodating her past allowing her to transfer the package.

No just tell her if she can find someone to take over her spot in the next ten days and provide you with all their details you will allow her to do this as a favour, but you can’t possibly advertise the spot for her as it will set a precedent. This is not your problem and not something that should be taking your time.

I would not let her post on the group. It will set a precedent observed by others and they will expect the same treatment.

she can either fill the spot herself
OR
i would tell her of the class fills and you and up with a waiting list, you will refund her money.

I’d just explain that you don’t want to upset those people now paying full price that missed out on the discounted rate. Emphasise you’re doing her a favour by allowing her to sell on the package as your terms are usually non- refundable but you’re willing to allow it on this occasion whilst not compromising your business by allowing her to advertise on your facebook page.

…. And next time you offer the block discounted bookings really push the “no refunds” line.

Seems like a bit of an own goal. You could advertise the space and then charge the higher price for it.

No - I wouldn't let her advertise on the Facebook page, as that's not the purpose of the page. If she wants to transfer the class to someone else, she will need to arrange that herself through her own personal network.

If your capacity is 100 and you are never sold out could you, as a gesture to her, offer her a credit note for the unused classes (charge full rate for the one she did take) so she can join a future course?

Or did you say it's something she can never do now? You have used so many scenarios I am now confused so there is little chance of you being outed!

Correct, the discount is substantial (50%) and we only do it to cover the costs of the rental of the hall so we don’t make a loss if something bad happens.