Being charged £150 for changing my mind about a procedure

[AbsolutelyGutted1]

I have a small amount of filler and I wanted to have it dissolved so I made an appointment to see an aesthetician I've seen before and paid a £50 deposit. Her social media contains what i felt was a reasonable amount of info about the product used to dissolve, hyaluronidase. I clearly didn't do enough research.

The appointment was for tomorrow.

Unfortunately (or fortunately - depending on how you look at it) I was reading up about it today to prepare myself and came across some disturbing accounts of what hyaluronidase can do to you when it goes wrong, and I decided I didn't want to take the risk for such a small amount that will probably be undetectable to the eye after a year or so.

I sent her a message today and told her I'd had second thoughts about the dissolving and why, but said I'd keep the appointment and just get something else (a facial or something)

She can't/won't do that and now wants me to pay the full £150 charge for the original procedure I booked for and I'm absolutely gutted. I don't have a lot of money and had saved up for this especially.

Do you think it's fair or unreasonable? I didn't expect to see the deposit again, obviously, but the whole cost?

I've NC.

Yea I've used Fresha loads. Was asking if the ts and Cs stated payment in full required.

My hairdresser uses Fresha & the cancellation policy is very clear.

I’m sorry you’re losing the money but you’ve cancelled at very short notice - that’s the deal.

She's bought the product. My sister does stuff like that, they don't keep forever. She might not get anyone else wanting that same procedure soon enough to use the product.

Legally, you agreed to it, you cancelled later than the cancellation period and you owe the money. Even if it wouldnt cost her anything, that was the agreement.

I’m at all the posters suggesting OP cancels her bank card to avoid having to pay what she owes. The cancellation policy will absolutely be in the vendor’s T&Cs and they would have every right to take OP to court to recover what is owed.

Why should the vendor lose money but OP shouldn’t, when it’s OP who cancelled the appointment?

@fieldsofbutterflies I just think the person is being unreasonable not offering an alternative. If op is paying 150 and she has a slot booked in, why not say we'll instead you could have x y or z if you'd like....

I've checked the T&C's and it does say that cancelling within 24 hours incurs the full payment, so it is on me I guess and I'd best chalk it up to a lesson learned. I can see it was also £60 I paid In advance, not £50.

I'll pay a lot more attention to T&C's in future.

I'm yet to hear back from her but just got an email via Fresha to say that my appointment tomorrow has been changed... to tomorrow? With somebody else, not the lady I booked with.

I'm not sure what's going on there.

If you did this to me, I'd be taking you to court for the remaining balance

Sure you would.

Pretty much a non-starter without the full address of the person you want to take to SCC though isn't it? And considering I've never provided an address to any hair or beauty parlour ever, I'd feel pretty safe.

Presumably if she has booked in for an aesthetic procedure she would have filled in forms including name and address ?

This is what deposits are for surely. How unfair to have to pay the whole amount.

If you booked online you should be covered by the Distance Selling Regulations.

There's a high possibility that her t&c's aren't legally enforceable as they often draft them without taking legal advice and the fact that she's refusing to allow you to transfer the deposit to a different treatment suggests that she's going to lose if you decide to pursue her for a full refund.

If you booked online you should be covered by the Distance Selling Regulations.

Distance Selling Regulations don’t apply to personal services. Which this is.

I would, and have. It's not hard to find someone's details via social media or online companies like 192.

Not aimed at the OP because she understands now this is on her, but to anyone else who is saying it's unfair, if you don't like the policy, don't use that business. It's as simple as that. The policy is always made very clear on Fresha.

If the alternative can be done in the same time slot, then yes, I agree that would be a reasonable solution.

Totally missing the point but why do you want it dissolved? I know nothing about filler.

It's reasonable for her to charge as you've cancelled at the last minute and presumably this in the t&cs you've not read.

What if she had ordered whatever they use or prepped it (I’ve no idea) especially for tomorrow’s appointment?

Me too. Of course I would. People need to read terms and conditions.

She should still have to pay the full amount (£150 in this case) but if there's an alternative treatment she could have then I think it would be reasonable to offer it instead.

Can't believe the amount of people suggesting screwing a small business out of money. My beautician had to change her policy to full payment if cancelled within 24 hours of the appointment because she had so many occasions of people just not showing up on the day or cancelling with an hour notice. She still has her own bills and overheads to pay.

Of course it's not "unfair". She was expecting to earn the amount for that procedure tomorrow and now won't. How would you like it if your boss told you you wouldn't be paid for your job tomorrow?

This is this woman's livelihood and it's now too late to fill the slot and recoup the cost of the missed appointment.
This is why self-employed people have - and desperately need - cancellation policies and Ts & Cs. Because of people like the ones on here who are quite happy to stiff someone out of their wages with no notice.

But that's what cancellation policies are for

Exactly.

I wonder how many of the people saying "just don't pay" would be happy to be sent home from work with no pay because a client had cancelled and there was nothing for them to do?

Deposits, I mean

And the cancellation policy is that she has to pay in full if she cancels within 24 hours...