To want a refund for therapy?

[KittenDayzy]

I started online therapy a couple of weeks ago, for my second session I prepaid £50. Unfortunately on the day of the session my childcare fell through so I emailed the therapist explaining the situation and asked if it was possible to rearrange. She said yes but I would be charged £50 for the session anyway due to less than 24 hours notice. I replied saying I’d go ahead then.

i joined the meeting but she didn’t turn up, I emailed her 10 mins in to chase and stayed on the call until 45 minutes in when she emailed back saying she hadn’t seen my emails, she’d been out gardening. So she asked how I wanted to proceed. At this point I’m thinking therapy is more stress than it’s worth when you have a baby so I asked for a refund for the session. She’s refusing to give me one, referring back to the 24 hour clause.

however, I would never have asked to rearrange if I thought I would lose my money, I attended the session and sat waiting and even emailed her (I don’t have a phone number).

Am I being unreasonable to expect my money back?

So she asked how I wanted to proceed.

What did she mean by this? What options do you think she is offering you? Is she offering to reschedule FOC?

I think it depends on the exact wording of the emails (from both of you) and how long it was between her email saying you still have to pay and you saying you’ll go ahead.

If her email made clear she took it as a cancellation and you replied 3 hours after , you’re not entitled to a refund.

If she said anything about clarifying or asking if you still wanted to reschedule, then she should’ve kept checking her emails, especially of you replied in the next couple of minutes.

I think you're entitled to a refund. You enquired about cancelling and then told her you were going to go ahead with the session. She then didn't turn up. She is in the wrong.

I don’t think she simply enquired about cancelling though, she appears to have stated that childcare had fallen through and wouldn’t be able to do the therapy session, therefore effectively cancelling.

She subsequently ( we don’t know the timeframe) attempted to contact the therapist to withdraw the cancellation and say she could indeed attend.
It’s unfortunate, but if someone tells me they can’t do something previously planned, I’m not required to monitor devices on the odd chance that they then change their mind.
They are generally paying for a time slot and a service, not a time slot , a service and the possibility to be reachable at all times.