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.

Is this a reverse?

How do you expect her to fill that slot at this short notice? So she has a drop in income today (despite the same overheads to pay) because your son is ill. It's not your fault he's ill, but it's not her fault either.

Tutoring wouldn't be a sustainable business for her if she didn't charge up front, and then you'd be left with no tutor at all.

I’m a tutor and YABU. Are her cancellation polices not laid out on her website? Mine are in the welcome email and FAQs.

You are being beyond unreasonable. The tutor will have prepared the lesson already and will not be able to fill the slot at this late notice.

She is able to provide the service, it is not her fault your son is unable to attend.

I find it baffling you would even consider you wouldn't pay under these circumstances.

Do you also pay late and then get upset when they don't repeatedly (and politely) ask you to pay them as it's their job to remind you as you are very busy?

Completely ignoring the point of the thread (YABVU) - people have tutors for SATS!? In the UK? They only benefit the school - am I missing something?

So you want her on some kind of zero hours contract? What if your boss called you and said she didn’t want you in today, so you wouldn’t be getting paid?

How incredibly unreasonable of you. This is why she has to take payment in advance.

Tutors have bills to pay too! If you cancel last min she has no time to replace him and would have lost money.
imagine if your boss said your not needed today don’t come in and we are dropping your pay for the day because you are not there

I find it truly astonishing that there are really people like this walking among us.

Of course YABU and quite frankly, disrespectful to the tutor.

A bit. Whilst I would say that the SATs results themselves mean little, being able to to master a lot of the learning that SATS are based on is really important.

Of course you're being unreasonable

Im struggling to understand how you think you aren't? The tutor didnt have to offer a weekend slot either, the fact that you're too busy to accommodate this really generous offer is your own issue.

Have you suggested to her that you don't want to pay?

But there will be no lesson today so part of me feels why should I pay?

Because it's too late notice for her to fill the slot and so she will lose the money.

It's too late notice to book someone else in that slot so she misses the work. It's her job. It's her income. YABU.

Unfortunately I am not surprised at all .

That is 100% fair. You cancelled on the day. She does not have time to fill that slot. It is not her fault that your son is ill. She is available to do the lesson, your son is not. That is not her fault. She still has bills to pay. They don't drop because your son is ill.

The tutor will probably dump you now anyway!

Yabu

Your cancelling on the day AND she has offered a session at the weekend

Handing you a grip

Since being on MN, neither am I 😂

The amount of posts on here like this one make me so thankful for the people I am surrounded by IRL (who actually have a moral compass). Much like the poster earlier this week who wanted to sneak her dog into a caravan which wasn't dog friendly.

Yabu.
She's been very nice to offer the weekend.
Don't piss her off is my advice if she's good.

You can change your plans so he can do a lesson to prepare for his exams if it’s that important. Otherwise he misses it.

she’s given an alternative. That’s more than enough on her part

Congratulations @PWPmum you've got a very rare 100% yabu, are you going to accept that result and have the good grace to come back and admit that you're wrong or are you going to flounce?

The tutor has made you a reasonable offer and I think your attitude is very patronising. It comes across as a I-pay-your-wages-I-want-some-service attirude which shows disrespect for a professional person.You are not her employer. She is self employed.

The arrangement of payment in advance and 48 hours notice to cancel is quite usal. I do post graduate tutoring and I use this method. If someone cancels for whatever reason I will try to fit them in at another time if I have space but I cannot gaurantee it. I dont offer refunds unless its I who cancel the session.

This is her living and she has been very reasonable. She has bills to pay and food and clothes to buy in the same way as anyone else. Would you feel the same f your dentist or hairdresser had the same terms and conditions? As someone who has been self-employed all my life, you are being very, very unreasonable.

I’m so glad that everyone is in agreement that OP is being unreasonable.
As a small business owner, it’s shocking how many people don’t seem to realise this is how we pay our bills.

Last minute cancellations are like an employed person turning up to work and their employer ringing and saying “oh, I know you’re here and ready to work, but I’m not paying you for 2 hours this morning because I’m too ill to open the office up”

Sad your son is unwell but it’s now too late for her to sell the session your boy is booked into. In my view it would be very unreasonable to insist on a refund, the tutor has been kind enough to offer an alternative as a gesture of goodwill. If you push for a refund in her shoes I’d take on a different child to replace yours permanently.