I know i missed my exercise class but so what?

[notacooldad]

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?

I run a comparable business and when people pay but don't turn up and don't say anything, I have my money so I don't care.

I certainly wouldn't be spending my time emailing them.

The only reason I get annoyed is when people ask for a refund after they didn't turn up.

I would check to see if she'd refunded the £30 but I would assume she hasn't.

I wouldn’t have bothered if I was losing £30. But then I also wouldn’t pay £30 for any kind of exercise class in the first place. Must be some fancy Pilates.

A music lesson is typically one on one though. If you have a music teacher who has a policy that you can’t be more than five minutes late (unlikely) and that you lose your money if that happens, giving them a call gives them the hour back. If you don’t turn up for a Pilates class, they just teach the class as usual to the other students.

Yep, it’s completely different.

You lost me at £30 a session

TheEllisGreyMethod

You lost me at £30 a session
Yeah, i know, I can't keep it up forever but it's a kick start.

Well now you know it's best to text / email them if you're late /can't do the class.
It may be that the instructor did not know how to word her email more politely - sometimes people have limited communication skills.

Well now you know it's best to text / email them if you're late /can't do the class.
It may be that the instructor did not know how to word her email more politely - sometimes people have limited communication skills
If I was in the same situation again I would not be emailing. I was sat in three lots of frigging road works which weren't there the day before. They emailed me at the cut off time of the class, ie. 5 mins after it started!

Ridiculous comment. I really don't think there are that many people who'd pay 30 quid for a Pilates class - the instructor would do well to remember this

My reformer class is £30 a session, 5 to a class. Runs every hour from 8am-6pm with a two hour break in between for lunch. It is so difficult getting a spot. I’m currently booked in my usual spot until the end of April and nearly every session is full. There is a waiting list for all slots that are full. I’ve just had an email saying a place has come up on a waiting list I’m on due to a cancellation for tomorrow which I am happy about as I wasn’t able to get a spot next week.

There are plenty of people willing to pay this.

Reformer and mat Pilates are two completely different things. If you’re paying £4 for reformer I’d love to know where! The cheapest I’ve managed to find it in my area is £20 a session but that’s only if you block book 2 sessions so the upfront cost is insane.

Ive never heard if anything so ridiculous. I could understand if you paid on the day but you’d paid already and weren’t refunded! Only you missed out. It benefited everyone but you. The instructor was paid. The rest of the class members had more space and personal attention. It’s cheeky of the instructor to hope to gain an extra £30 for having someone else pay to go at short notice, as well as you!

Ours get a bit snotty when someone doesn't turn up but only because there's a waiting list of atleast 5 people
So if someone doesn't show up, it wastes a space of someone who wanted to come. It's not all about money regardless
But agree for the odd missed occasion (things happen) a nicer email could have been sent

If OP called the gym to say “I’m delayed; going to be too late to make the class”, it would make bugger all difference to anyone on the waiting list. Even if someone just happened to be in the building at the time, they would still struggle to get to the class on time.

If you know a couple of days in advance you can’t attend, I suppose it’s courteous to let them know - although there’s no real incentive if you won’t get your money back, so you may as well just hold onto your place in case your plans change.

as a pp said, if you were on the waitlist you wouldn't know whether anyone in the class was attending or not, so it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to you. Unless someone on the waiting list was literally hanging around the studio on the off chance there was no way they could have got there in the time OP knew she would be late enough to miss the 5 min deadline.

and, tbh, you would just have to deal with it. Things sell out, and not everyone can get everything they want all the time. That's just life. It's ONE pilates class, for heavens sake, not Oasis tickets or the last bog roll during lockdown. If someone is that devastated about missing their chance to jump in someone else's spot they need to get a life.

....yes? I understood that? I was replying to a post that didn't seem to and appeared to be suggesting OP should "pay up".

I gather this isn’t the feeling of most but I would be very annoyed at this. A petty person may be inclined to continually cancel at exactly 24 hours notice, as apparently this would be okay? If you've paid I really don't see the issue.

How did the rest of the class have more space 😂?

Reformer Pilates is done on fixed equipment - they don’t move the beds out when the class is only half full. Where would they put them for a start? And it’s also not like people are walking around the studio from one bed to the next.

I think there are a lot of people on this thread who don’t understand the large capital investment in equipping a reformer studio or what sessions are like given how many people think that hour long sessions could or should cost a couple of quid which for most studios wouldn’t cover the hourly rate of the instructor even on minimum wage as generally there aren’t a lot of beds per class.

£30 for a bit of stretching and a telling off!! Wow what a rip off.

Same for me.

If that person pays 30£ while not showing up what's the problem- you still get paid.

@notacooldad I would reply to the gym asking if they would give you a refund if you had cancelled 《24 h. Because in that case you definitely will the next time. If not..

I’m with you OP. Life’s busy, sometimes optional things need to give due to other things. This is optional, the instructor is entitled. They didn’t lose out financially and you can’t give an update when driving, not your problem.

That’s irrelevant, the instructor was paid for their time and investment in/wear and tear on the machines. Nil wear and tear.

It’s not school or work, it is an optional lifestyle class.

I have a similar set up with a class I attend. If I can’t go, even if it’s last minute I send a quick WhatsApp, no even explaining (depending on my reason/mood) why just sorry I won’t be able to attend today.
It’s more about basic manners than whether they can refill the space or not.

I have a similar set up with a class I attend. If I can’t go, even if it’s last minute I send a quick WhatsApp, no even explaining (depending on my reason/mood) why just sorry I won’t be able to attend today.
It’s more about basic manners than whether they can refill the space or not.

And how would you have done it in my situation.
I was dressed ready to go. I would have made it if it wasn't for three lots of significant road works with a massive back log of traffic that weren't there the day before.
The email was sent to me as soon as the class began ( auto generated) as people are marked in as they arrive and there is no leeway after 5 mins.
I'm not going to start pissing about with WhatsApp, emails etc when I'm in my car.