Missed hairdressers appointment

[Gettingbysomehow]

Can anyone advice please.
I missed a hairdressers appointment because I had to go into work.
Pretty rubbish of me I know but i did say at the time I can't book now because I don't know what my shifts are but they insisted and said I can always change it.
Now they want the full amount for the missed appointment.
I've looked on the consumer advice pages and it says they have to have informed me of the charge for missed appointments at the time we made the appointment in order to do this. They did no such thng and it was not brought to my attention so I don't see why I should pay if they didn't do this.
Am I right (not morally obviously but legally).

Listen to prh47bridge’s advice above.

Exactly, I never book in advance for this reason. I phone up and just hope for the best at the time, sometimes I get lucky and theres one in a few days, other times I have to wait a few weeks

In any case OP surely you phoned them once you knew what your shift was to cancel it?

If you didn't phone them to cancel it then the decent thing to do is pay it in full as requested. I'm self employed (not hairdressing) and if someone just doesn't turn up I can't replace that income.

Legally they can't make you pay, not unless you signed a contract to say otherwise or if its in their ts and Cs that they would need to have sent to you.

The legal advice seems to be they need to advise you of the cancellation charge and need to be able to show they advised you or they can’t charge you.

Morally you should have cancelled of course, but that’s not what you asked in your OP.

This is probably why many hairdresser take a deposit these days when you book online especially so they are not completely out of pocket if the person just does not turn up.

Anyway if they emailed you/texted a confirmation of your appointment that also listed the cancellation procedure/fee then they can expect you to pay.

If they did not make you aware of the cancellation policy when you booked then legally there is nothing they can do.

Obviously you won't be able to use them again if you decide not to pay...

So you didn't cancel an appointment you knew was booked and you don't want to pay?
You wont be forced to pay but morally you should.

Nah just don’t pay and don’t go back. They can take you to court but I doubt they will bother. They didn’t tell you about the charge so their problem. Also in the future just say “well I’m not booking now so guess I will have to find another salon”. Hopefully that will shut them up - I never book that far in advance.

Obviously they are out of pocket if you didn't cancel the appointment with reasonable notice. However, if you're never going back again how would they be able to take a payment from you? If you want to know the legal position ask them for a copy of their terms and conditions, including this cancellation policy, and when they brought these t and c to your attention. They're very unlikely to take you to Small Claims court for the cost of a haircut.

I think if you didn't book online, and therefore had to input your card details where it clearly stated you would be charged if you cancelled inside a certain time, then they can whistle for it. They can't prove you didn't call and the person who answered forgot to cancel it for you.

A timestamped online appointment would be different.

I am guessing though I don't know if it's enforceable. Poor show to not bother calling though.

They cant legally charge 100% as they didn't use any products (depending on what you were gavibg done) they can't charge for them, colour etc.
They can only charge if you have been alerted to the cancellation charge.

OP go check your email/text booking confirmation. See what that says.

If in doubt ask them where they have outlined their cancellation policy and see where they have

Did you cancel? Did you just not turn up?
You would have known before the appointment and cancellation is usually 24-48 hrs prior so really there is no way you can take the position that it's not your fault

What I do is I’d pay. Last time I was sick and didn’t want hairdresser to get it (she has a weakened immune system) (I had a bad cold) but I asked her and she was fine with that. Otherwise it’s polite at least to give 48 hours notice.

My hairdresser is booked up weeks in advance but I’d never want to mess her around.

Some hairdressers if you cancel on the day are fine some not. Depends if you’re a regular customer and if you don’t generally cancel.

Morally, just pay it.

I agree with the pps; check your email / text if you have one. One caveat, at my hairdresser's there is also a poster on the till counter that clearly mentions charging for missed appointments. You could argue that you were unaware of the policy if you genuinely didn't realise and I doubt that they will chase you for the charge but it is a bit shabby not to pay when you have deprived them of those monies.

This happened to me last year, luckily it was only a wash and blow dry as I was going on a night out.

However they had my card details and just debited the amount from my card. I’m sure it was annoying for them but I did have a good reason and I just haven’t been to that hairdresser again.

If they don’t have your details then I don’t think there’s much they can do but I’m interested in the answers.

Lots of hairdressers are doing this now as so many people just do not turn up. At mine you have to give 24hours notice so they can try to use the slot. I don’t blame them.

I asked whether you just don’t turn up or cancelled before. I assume you just don’t bother showing up and didn’t bother calling.

The reason I asked, is because it’s very unlikely she ever expects you to pay that money. More likely, she just doesn’t want you to come back.

Which you don’t want either. But a bit weird you found it expensive and mediocre, yet booked back in the first place.

To be able to enforce this, your hairdresser will have to prove you were informed, prior to or at the time you made the appointment, that you would be charged if you failed to show.

So all you're interested in @Gettingbysomehow is the legality? Never mind the moral implications of the situation? Fairly obvious, since you've not bothered to come back to the thread, and answer the question, that you didn't have the courtesy to cancel your appointment.

Most hairdressers state that missed or appointments cancelled last minute are charged full rate - absolutely fair enough.

They have a family to feed like the rest of us.

Just pay what you owe.

They’re not going to take you to the small claims court over it

youre better contacting Citizens Advice if they have taken payment.

But I have very little sympathy if you simply couldn’t be arsed to cancel, as a bloke my barbers do charge in this circumstance. Any hotel would etc.

They should absolutely charge you. I’m not sure they’re going to pursue it though.

you acted pretty badly- all the hairdressers here make it clear that they charge if a cancellation/no show without appropriate notice. I got away with it once but only because it was a genuine emergency and I’d been seeing the same lady for years.

Legally- If you don’t want to pay it, don’t! They may take you to small claims, if they do, you would argue they did not inform you of their policy. I very much doubt they could / would pursue it that far. Obviously you wouldn’t be able to go back there

Morally - yes id pay it, especially if it was a late cancellation or you didn’t inform them at all. I cancelled by babies hair cut as we had been up all night and my hairdresser still charged me £10 for it lol I wasn’t very happy but she’s a good hairdresser and I want to go back sooo I sucked it up. It is also their way of setting boundaries and making sure people respect their time whilst also keeping a roof over their families head etc

I know you were not interested in the moral stand point but you obviously knew you were going to get some backlash or you wouldn’t have mentioned it lol