Clients cancelling last minute due to sickness & not the first time

[LondonCalling]

I'm really frustrated just now my salon is really busy a week booked up ahead - last week 4 last minute cancellations, one had mixed up her appointment with another meeting and the others illness - i wouldn't mind the later but 2 are perpetually ill and cancel so I feel it's mean to charge - out of the 4, 3 are long term clients - how do you deal with clients who use sickness a lot to not make appointments but in a nice way - I would rather they didn't come back if I am honest they are playing on my good nature Feel like i'm treated like a fool and the irony is 2 of these clients are self employed themselves - my regular clients who never cancel cant get an appointment Sorry for rant feel like shutting it down PS have online diary so they just book themselves back in

 

[EssexFreelance]

Do you have a cancellation list?

 

[LondonCalling]

Yip its sometimes an hours notice I cant get anyone in that time - i put up on facebook have a cancellation list also on whats app 90% I cant get filled my clients have commitments kids, gym, jobs to rejig to make a cancellation plus as I am full a lot of the time they cancel when I am with clients before their appointment so I cant answers texts etc as i'm busy working with clients - also if someone cant get a waxing appointment they shave

 

[Eloise86]

I put this notice up on my Facebook page and it’s in the Salon too

Polite notice to clients of The Hair Lodge - Thank you all so much for your continued loyalty to The Hair Lodge, due to a few last minute cancellations we have revised our cancellation policy. Your appointments are very important to us and are reserved especially for you, we completely understand that sometimes schedules adjustments are necessary therefore, we respectfully request at least 48 hours notice for cancellations, preferably longer for colour appointments as they tend to be a minimum of two hours therefore harder to fill at short notice.

Cancellation policy -

Please understand that when you forget or cancel your appointment without giving enough notice, we miss the opportunity to fill that appointment time, and clients on our waiting list miss the opportunity to receive services. The more notice we have that you can't make the appointment the better the chance of someone else being able to make it. The Hair Lodge requires 48 hours notice to avoid a cancellation fee.

Reminder services -

The Hair Lodge does offer a reminder service by text as a courtesy upon request from the client, we can text to confirm your service appointments prior to your appointment date. On rare occasions if we are away on holiday etc texts may not be able to be sent so please understand that ultimately it is your responsibility to remember your appointment dates and times to avoid late arrivals, missed appointments and the cancellation fees.

Deposit -

If you require a service that requires a particularly long appointment time, you may be asked to pay a deposit to secure your booking.

Thank you [emoji4]xxxxx

 

[Eloise86]

Of course if someone was ill or there was an emergency I wouldn’t follow it, if they are cancelling all the time regarding sickness I would politely ask for them to as self employed to be understanding and ask them to not book too far ahead as you have a new cancellation policy in place and want to avoid charges. They might be better to be on the cancellation list themselves.

Some ppl say that you should suck it up and it’s part of being self employed.... but if it’s happening all the time and affecting you all the time you may have to put your prices up to cover losses. Xxxxxxx

 

[blossom]

I find by far the most effective way of minimising this is to stop being so available for another appt... so they miss their appt, they find they can't get in with you again for 3 weeks or whatever, it makes the point that you are BUSY, if they genuinely have to cancel obv they will but some people will cancel because the offer of coffee with a friend comes up ... well there's the choice then

Edit to add: just seen you have online booking. Hmmm. This is why I won't have it, you lose all element of control

 

[LondonCalling]

Eloise if ok with you I'm going to borrow some wording its much nicer but to the point it will make them think - I think they know i wont charge for illness and with Xmas coming up I genuinely think its just an excuse to tighten the belt - too much of a co-incidence hmm any way blossom you are correct that's the prob with the online diary - managing clients out is difficult with online diary easier with a diary you only see - i think when you see the person who said they were too ill all over facebook the same evening promoting her business and interacting with her clients and chasing them for sales you tend to think you cannot be that ill? Thanks for all the suggestions- now to make some changes

 

[Eloise86]

I wish I had put AT LEAST 48 hours notice in capitals lol if I print it again I certainly would. Of course use what you want from it, glad to help [emoji4]xx

 

[Eloise86]

It’s hard but we do need to toughen up or ppl will and do walk over you.. I’m quickly learning that xx

 

[Eloise86]

Regarding deposits I would possibly say non refundable? These are all things I thought of afterwards lol xx

 

[EssexFreelance]

I advertise my cancellations then people think I can fill the slots - you can’t win!

 

[attitude]

I understand where you're coming from, but as someone with a chronic illness (Crohn's) I am literally minute to minute whether I'm well enough to leave the house or not. I could be fine one moment, terribly ill the next. My suggestion is to check their record card to see if perhaps it's a legit illness which may be keeping them away. Not that that helps you fill the slot, just offering a different perspective.

 

[blossom]

I understand where you're coming from, but as someone with a chronic illness (Crohn's) I am literally minute to minute whether I'm well enough to leave the house or not. I could be fine one moment, terribly ill the next. My suggestion is to check their record card to see if perhaps it's a legit illness which may be keeping them away. Not that that helps you fill the slot, just offering a different perspective.

I think this is very different. I've got a client with a rare nerve disease and she's never sure she can keep her appts as she might be in agony but we make them and hope for the best and she keeps about erm... about 70% of them I guess. Very different.

 

[fluffy26]

Perhaps those clients with health issues you could perhaps book them in as a last appointment of the day, if it works as then if they do cancel you can go home early!! [emoji6]

 

[Carlalouise]

I find new people will book in and not show up, regulars who you become too friendly with and know your situation will cancel last minute due to "illness", they know I wont charge if they are poorly. One client has cancelled her massage on the day 3 times on the trot, always saying she has a cold, however she can always manage to be fit as a fiddle for her nails in between. Another just the other day phoned up last minute and cancelled a two hour appointment saying she had a tummy bug, she obviously forgot I'm friends with her on FB and posted pics of her and her friends out that day, eating and drinking prosecco!! This particular person had a free set of semi permanent eyebrows out of us worth £300 as I she begged us to be a model (even though we didn't need another one) and still had no conscience about lying to us.

This type of thing happens all the time, moral of the story is, people really don't give a s..t, if they have something better to do, they are not interested in what loss it is to you. You can put it on your T&C's that they have to give 24, 48 hours notice and you can stick to your policy but they will still do it and if the fancy takes them and they think they will have to pay out, you run the risk that they will go elsewhere.

 

[Eloise86]

I would rather not have clients like that... I don’t do this but my hair extension lady I’ve booked in with in between Xmas and new year it’s my first visit and she took a deposit from me via PayPal before confirming the booking... maybe if we all did this ppl would learn to be a bit more organised and respectful of our time xx

 

[JemmaBeauty]

I take deposits from all clients. I upgraded my website so that it has the facility to take 50% of the treatment cost via PayPal at the time of booking.
Since taking deposits and having a cancellation policy it's decreased my no shows and last minute cancellations dramatically. There has only been a couple of occasions when I feel sorry for the client and believe it's a 'one off' and have given them their deposit back but I make it clear that next time they will lose the deposit.

It might sound harsh, but, I make it very clear on my website that bookings should only be made if they are 100% happy with the cancellation policy. This hasn't deterred people at all and I'm still booked up weeks in advance. Best thing I ever did and worth the expense of the upgrade.

 

[TheDuchess]

When we weren't fully booked we didn't mind too much, but now that we are turning people away, to be left with unfilled slots at the last minute is infuriating.

Our online booking service requires a card payment and a committment to pay up to the full amount on the event of a no show or last minute cancellation. When we charge, we know we're never going to see that client again, so we operate an informal 3 strikes policy. After 3 no shows we can't afford their business!

Most of our clients book with us direct or after their last appointment so we are phasing in deposits. We are ringing people that haven't paid deposits to get them to pay to secure their booking. At the moment we are trialling Saturdays and monitoring the rest of the week.

We are making a note of the value of last minute reschedules and it's a bit shocking. Once we had the figures it became a no brainer.

I have a client who has an appointment based business and she charges for no shows every time. She said it was tough until she made £2k in one month just by charging for no shows. Then it stopped being so difficult!

 

[cosmicgirl2010]

At the moment Iam mobile so would have to take a bank transfer or start using a booking system, I take bank transfer booking fee for hair up/makeup and weddings, but not for normal everyday appointments but get so annoyed when its a new client and they are a no show. I do have a card machine but cant take payments over the phone.

 

[Passionate about skin]

I'm really frustrated just now my salon is really busy a week booked up ahead - last week 4 last minute cancellations, one had mixed up her appointment with another meeting and the others illness - i wouldn't mind the later but 2 are perpetually ill and cancel so I feel it's mean to charge - out of the 4, 3 are long term clients - how do you deal with clients who use sickness a lot to not make appointments but in a nice way - I would rather they didn't come back if I am honest they are playing on my good nature Feel like i'm treated like a fool and the irony is 2 of these clients are self employed themselves - my regular clients who never cancel cant get an appointment Sorry for rant feel like shutting it down PS have online diary so they just book themselves back in

So just this morning I received a call from a client 8 minutes before her appt to say she had a cold so wouldn’t be coming . She apologised as I explained I had already set the room up etc etc and we are fully booked. We are very busy at the moment so when she rings to re schedule I genuinely can’t get her in for 3-4 weeks anyway . We don’t do online bookings as I agree we would loose control . It’s hard with deposits and being caring people as therapists we are far too soft a lot of the time . As someone on here once quoted “ Why is their time more important than mine ? “ I quite agree and try to remember that when they cancel .
However I have read that statistically an average salon looses £23k a year through cancellations and no shows !
Time to get tough Ladies and Gents ?