Is my DS’s tutor being unreasonable

[PWPmum]

My DS 11 who is in year 6 has a weekly tutor to help him prepare for his SATs and support his spelling. He is dyslexic. She insists on being paid at the beginning of the month with the sessions she will teach agreed in advance.
My DS is not well today. So I contacted the tutor to let her know he can’t do the lesson today and asked if we could roll the lesson over
she has replied saying as the cancellation is on the day and her time is booked out, there is no rolling over or refund.
But there will be no lesson today so part of me feels why should I pay?
She’s offered to teach him at the weekend but we’re busy then.
I’m not sure if I’m being unreasonable or not to push for the credit to go towards next month or not.

This poster is probably smiling to herself, states in a nonchalant way the tutor made customers pay upfront because she was having rmto chase you to pay her fir work done. This tutor then bends over backwards to accomadate her even though she has offered another time.
You really have an arrogant shitty attitude, I sincerely hope with your sin the apple falls very far from the tree.
If I was self employed I would sack you off immediately. I would then ensure that any other tutors I know, would be informed that you are a late payer, arrogant with a vile attitude. Just in case you contacted them.
You ate lucky to have this tutor, she is unfortunate to deal with you. You are at best greedy.

YABVU. You've agreed to a contract where you can't cancel on the day without paying. The tutor will not be able to fill that slot with paid work so it is quite reasonable. She has generously offered you a weekend slot but you refused.

Ex-tutor here. YABVU. Just because you have suddenly cancelled doesn’t mean she can suddenly see another Tutee instead. She is running a business. Of course she still needs paying! I had the odd customer who thought like you and ditched them, you clearly don’t value her time!

I had to cancel a driving lesson this week because I have covid. 140 quid down.. shit happens, but the tutor still needs paid for the time they could have otherwise tutored someone else

Tutor here. She’s organized her time well beforehand which involves both personal time as well as other students. That’s why cancellations with less than 24/48 hour notice gets fully charged as it’s a massive inconvenience when the student cancels on the day for whatever reason. Yes illness cannot be necessarily known beforehand but imagine this happens 5x a week to a tutor, it makes everything very difficult for the tutor.

I have a one hour cancellation policy because kids come home sick and I'd rather people cancelled than give me germs. However I also don't take payments in advance unless volunteered so you pay for the sessions you have.

However, she did offer you an alternative which you can't do. If her policy is an alternative then you're stuck. Did she make clear what the policy was when you started? I have clear terms about cancelling and charges when I start. If she hasn't then she is being unreasonable. (I think she's being unfair about same day cancellations TBH as kids wake up ill or get sent home from school).

How do you run a business on those terms?

Taking payment on the day is a recipe for disaster.
Too many parents forget and keep you waiting.

Also, when I tutored I'd spend half an hour on prep for each student.
If they don't turn up that time is unpaid and the prep might not be relevant for the next lesson if it's based around their homework or projects at school.

Why tutor for SATs anyway? all that does is to set them for a miserable time being pushed to realistic targets for the next 5 years.

As her son is dyslexic, he will need extra support anyway outside of school if the parents can afford it, regardless of SATs or not.

1. My parents usually pay by Direct Debit.
2. I don't spend 30 minutes on prep!
3. My business model is to support students who may need to cancel at the last minute. I'm so popular I have a waiting list.

When I tutored it was very individual. They all needed work sheets and lessons planned very carefully. Okay, maybe it was more like 15 mins for some, but there was prep involved.

If your parents pay by DD how does that work if they don't turn up one week?

I don't know anyone who takes payment lesson by lesson.
Most people are paid monthly and it's far easier to take payment for a month or every 6 weeks (a half term).

I give mine a choice to pay lesson by lesson or a month at a time
Most of mine are long standing.
I'm fully booked and would get rid of someone messing me about

I don't spend 30 minutes prep.
When they arrive they often come with something they've found tricky in school that week. So we do that.

Yes. People who take payment week by week are usually not relied upon for the family income.

What age and subject are you teaching?

I tutored children who found everything hard and certainly weren't able to articulate their needs when they arrived for the lesson. I had to make sure the lessons were matched to their needs. Individualised work plans, worksheets, extracts photocopied form books, exam questions from the syllabus, etc etc.
I spent hundreds of pounds buying suitable materials and things for them to use.

Mainly secondary age languages GCSEs.
I've done it for more than 30 years so there's not much that I don't have at my finger tips. Any grammatical points I do sentences that I explain as we go that suit their background and situation so that it's relevant to them. I then print and email a copy to them so they can refer back.
Personalised lessons do not take half an hour to plan.
What do you say if a child comes with something they struggled with that day? We're not doing that today? I've planned this?

Personalised lessons do not take half an hour to plan.

They do if the child is severely dyslexic or has ADHD, or both.

Each lesson needed to build on what they did the week before and that often needed worksheets preparing, texts from books being chosen, special materials.

I don't know any other tutor who didn't prepare and, like you, I was doing it for 30 years.

Your posts confirm that the fees I charged were fair considering the extra work and training.

You cancelled on the day. She could of given the slot to someone else. Children get sick quite often. She can't loose her slots just because your child is sick.
What if this happened more than once a month. Another child may be in need of thos slot.
I understand that notice is difficult for sickness.
What does her contract say about cancellation of sessions?

I'm a tutor and I have found that if you do a pay as you go system people cancel and mess you around left right and centre. I offer a free trial and after that a committment of monthly or half termly. Most parents are fine with that as they understand not only is it a question of time but also planning. To me your tutor has been very reasonable in offering to replace the lesson in her free time. I personally have a system whereby I also offer to replace the lesson if I can fit it in, and that sometimes can mean via zoom. You have to remember that cancelling means a wasted hour for the tutor. I offer a lot of preparation and take my job very seriously so I always make my booking arrangements clear. Some don't like that so then they find another tutor I guess. But I pride myself on being professional.

I think you are being a bit entitled. The tutor is offering to give a lesson on the weekend and there's not a lot of people who would be happy to do that.

Yes, I can sometimes spend longer if it's A level or something new. I also get bored myself of reusing materials so like to create new stuff but that can mean 2 hours work for one hour's pay, but that's why I charge a decent amount.

Maybe save your money and tutor your child yourself? Or, can you not?

Do you ask to only pay half your monthly mortgage payment if you go on holiday for two weeks and only use the house for half the month?

If you have a gym membership, but can’t go for a few weeks because you’ve been too busy, would you ask them for your money back?

Of course not.

Why do people like you think that self-employed people providing a service should miss out on income because your child is ill? Your child is ill = your loss, not hers.

Yes. I had some students that used to want to "credit" it to the next month, but that simply means I am out of pocket for the month we had agreed. So I decided not to continue with them. Irony was they were very rich too but so so mean!

I once had a family apply to a bursary fund for a residential week on the grounds of poverty.
They rocked up to drop daughter in the Range Rover and announced if we needed them during the week they were staying at the local 5* hotel so just leave a message for them there...
They never did pay the bill handed to them at the end of the week with a note from our trustees pointing out they were cheeky fekkers and not entitled to the bursary from our charity...