I know i missed my exercise class but so what?

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I pay in advance for my Pilates class. It is £30 a session
You can cancel the class as long as you give 24hrs notice, if not you lose out.
Quite reasonablely you can't be more than 5 mins late.
On Thursday I had an appointment before my class which over ran significantly, on top of that I encountered three lots of temporary lights and traffic has backed up.
By the time I got to the car park I was 10 mins late. There was no point rushing, I'm late, I've missed out. There isn't a reception where I could have explained this to, just the instructor doing her thing with the group.
I went home.
I got an email which was,imo , quite snotty, telling me i should have let them know if i wasn't going to turn up so they could have given that place to someone on the waiting list.

My feeling is I've paid for that space, whether I was there or not.

If they gave it to someone else they would have had £30 from them as ' as a place has become available '
I wouldn't have got my money back as it clearly says no refunds if you are late or a no show.
Therefore, I feel like the sharp tone of the email is a bit ridiculous. The company hasn't lost out and as far as I can imagine, most people want to turn up and don't deliberately miss classes once they've paid for them.

What do others think?

£30 a session?! Is this a reformer class in London or something?
My entire gym membership (Inc pool) is £35 a month. And I'm down south.

I pay less than that for 4 sessions of Pilates, that is extremely expensive.
I’m not sure what else you could have done in the circumstances.
You didn’t know you were going to be late until you were.

You are completely right OP, no need for the snotty email. I would send one back in the same tone and take my business elsewhere. £30 is a rip off anyway.

I agree OP that's quite annoying. I also pay for Pilates classes (not as much as you but still expensive) and we have a similar 24h cancellation policy. I have often cancelled on the day, knowing I will be losing a session, but if something happened like I was stuck in traffic I would probably have done the same as you, as it's quite frowned upon to show up quite late for the class (also depends on the instructor).

I would be frustrated at getting a snotty email like that since like you said they are already getting the money off you, so they haven't lost out. I would probably email back and let them know.

Surely you would still get paid the same though? And one less person to focus on. Life happens sometimes and people aren't always able to give notice, that's why the late cancellation policy exists, so the company can still get their money.

I don't think there is any need for them to send a snotty email but was it snotty or did they just say as you said " i should have let them know if i wasn't going to turn up so they could have given that place to someone on the waiting list." Did they say should have let them know or let us know - this would be a standard email to people who miss a lesson.
I would reply and say - you did not know you would not be able to attend - the app ran over and then three sets of lights and no receptionist. You did arrive but not in time. As the lesson was paid for in advance with no refund - they were not out of pocket and you are committed to attending in the future.

It’s £20pm near me.

I left a yoga studio that had this policy, they were really funny if you didn't give sufficient notice for someone on the waiting list to join. I find it bonkers that some people fail to realise unexpected things happen, no one tells me by lunchtime that something is going to happen in work that prevents me from leaving on time. I don't exactly enjoy staying late with a member of the public ranting at me, or being stuck on the motorway instead of going to the class I paid for.
I could perhaps understand if it was a repeat pattern that it probably wasn't the best match, but occasionally, life gets in the way!

Surely they have lost out because they could have sold that place twice? Once to you with your forfeited fee and once to the person on the waiting list?

I'm not saying that this is ethical but it's presumably what's behind their irritation.

Probably automated. Personally I would ignore it and next time I went in would speak to a human.

Wow right! I would say a perk of such an expensive session should be the ability to quietly just merge into the back and be able to take part still. I mean some people have to get back from work/may get stuck in unexpected traffic/sick kids so why penalise them further if they’re a few mins late!

I agree with you OP. That email is out of order if you've paid for the spot whether you turn up or not. If they offer it to someone else on the waiting list and then refund you, that's a different matter.

Is it snotty? Is it not just a generic email to remind people that if they need to cancel they should let the business know?
Obviously there might be the odd time it's not possible. However, I remember being so frustrated when I was a member of a really busy gym - so frequently you couldn't book into spin or yoga or whatever because it was full, but then I'd be in classes and people wouldn't show up! So half the time when the class I wanted was full, I knew that there may well have been a space available that I couldn't use because of a no show.

Before or after class? Because she tried to get there so didn't know until after class had started she'd be missing

I would send a snotty email back, suggesting that they review their policy on latecomers if they don't want this to happen.

Obvious result of conflicting policies. Take your custom elsewhere.

Out of interest, do you often email when driving? I was under the impression that this would be illegal, how do you get round that?

I agree OP. That's pretty rude of them!

I would respond and tell them that you assumed there was no prospect of getting a refund and them giving the place away because there was a last minute hold up which happened within the 24hr cancellation period.

They can't have it both ways saying you wont get a refund on your place but they have a right to give your place away.

30 / session is really standard for small group reformer Pilates classes in the SE / Home Counties. You don’t need to be outraged by market forces - no one is demanding you pay for it if you don’t want to!

they should change their policy so that you get a refund if they can fill the class after you cancel but not if they can’t.

Loads of clubs do this for tennis and it incentivises people to cancel rather than just be a no show.

Not the point of the thread I know but £30 a session?! I pay £12.50!

For a reformer class?

I’d have emailed to apologise and let them know what happened as soon as I got home.

I love my reformer classes which are a similar price point to this but because there are only 6 spaces in each class, they book up very quickly. I take my kit to work with me even if I haven’t managed to get a place in the hope I get a last minute cancellation (my studio runs a waitlist system as it sounds like your does too).

So even though your Pilates teacher and the studio isn’t losing money when you no show, it is considerate where you can to phone and let them know you can’t attend. Though if you were driving and stuck in traffic I can see why that wasn’t possible this time.

If it’s reformer Pilates- then “late comers” disrupt the class massively.

Coming in 10 minutes into the session, you’ll need to take shoes off and come onto the reformer and set up the machine. (Usually loud) This will distract the rest of the group.

The instructor will already have gone through the warm up so your muscles are ready for the next lot of moves. So the late comer will either miss the warm up (not ideal) or be out of sync with everyone else (also not ideal).

Reformer is £25 a session here (Midlands) and she only has four beds in the room.

Mat Pilates is £10 and there were nearly 30 people in the class last week.

Accommodating latecomers would be hard for any Pilates class as they’d potentially miss the warm-up and risk injury.

You’re right that she hasn’t lost out financially in the immediate term. But she’s missed a chance for someone to join who might then become a reliable regular.