Cancellation fee - I finally did it!

[Lush-Lash]

I had an email this evening from a young lady wanting to book a tan next week for a wedding on Saturday. I jiggled a couple of things around (no, not them!) and offered her a time when she had finished work. She came back and said, "thank you sooo much, I was really struggling to find somehwere, you're a star!"
I sent her the booking confirmation email asking for her to call me with her card details and she emailed me back saying "you can f&*k off then, I'm not giving you my details. I'll find somewhere cheaper anywhere"

Meh!

what an awful person. why the need for the horrible mouth! x

 

[Lynne Baker]

People are - a lot of the time. Then there are some truly lovely people too who bring only light and love into our lives. Thankfully I have more of the latter than the former!

 

[wonderwoman]

I got to admire your swagger ms lynne baker! i personally have not had the cojones to go throught with a cancellation fee in my salon. If anything i found it was a bit strange that the people that couldnt make it always tend to call up beforehand, so i like it when im free but id get a walk in. So in my eyes its blissful karma.

I found it was only fit for my out of hours which i do try to enforce. Nehoo i want to show the apprieciation! xoxo

 

[Cjd]

Hi I am due to open a salon and am thinking about the whole charging for missed appointments.
I was in a salon once when a client had rang for the 3rd time to cancell an appointment just 15 mins before it was due , the salon owner explained that this was unacceptable as she had now wasted 3 x 45 min slots and that she would be charging her 50% of the treatment value from her voucher.
A short while later a male relation of the client rang to say that this was not legal and he would be seeking legal advise .

Is it legal take this sort of action .

I was thinking about taking a credit card payment for any treatment over £45 and a no show would incur 50% payment , but don't want to be threatened with any legal action ???

 

[Jack Dunn]

That's why I add the cancellation policy to my booking emails, but you're quite right, you could indeed get a chargeback.

Lynne, thats great news and Im glad that you put it in place.

I use Streamline and sadly they dont support you at all if the client claims a chargeback no matter what information you have unless you have a signature. I had a regular client, a student whos mum always paid me and always emailed me her card details and on the last occassion he did not turn up, I called him and a few days later he got back in touch and I rebooked the appointment for him just because he was a regular and as it was prepaid even though I had lost a three hour slot because of him not turning up and again he did not turn up for the second appointment and made no contact and sure enough the chargeback letter came through and even though I was able to supply all the emails, plus records of earlier approved payments from the same cardholder for the same amount they would not support me and told me to deal with it via the police!!

Just out of interest which card company do you use?

Thanks Jack

 

[lila22]

My dentist cancellation fee is £200!!!! so scared or not I do a hop skip jump into his chair lol x

Wow I bet he never has an empty chair! 😱x x

 

[Lynne Baker]

I use Card Compliance Service, Jack. No idea whether I'll get a chargeback but if I do I will call the client and let him know that he's not welcome here again.

 

[vgml]

Lynne, thats great news and Im glad that you put it in place.

I use Streamline and sadly they dont support you at all if the client claims a chargeback no matter what information you have unless you have a signature. I had a regular client, a student whos mum always paid me and always emailed me her card details and on the last occassion he did not turn up, I called him and a few days later he got back in touch and I rebooked the appointment for him just because he was a regular and as it was prepaid even though I had lost a three hour slot because of him not turning up and again he did not turn up for the second appointment and made no contact and sure enough the chargeback letter came through and even though I was able to supply all the emails, plus records of earlier approved payments from the same cardholder for the same amount they would not support me and told me to deal with it via the police!!

Just out of interest which card company do you use?

Thanks Jack

Wow, this is scary! I'll be using streamline soon. What did you mean by writing that if the client claims a chargeback no matter what information you have unless you have a signature? Where signature? On the treatment card? Most card use pins now... Can they also claim mane back even if they had treatment?! Does it meant if client pay with card then we are not covered because they can take money back? Maybe I should stick to cash only then...

 

[Lolly22]

I don't have any cancellation fees in place at the moment. Mostly my clients are good.

But just wanted to add for those worried about getting a chargeback or whether this was legal but will want to implement something you could take a deposit from the client?

 

[Lynne Baker]

Wow, this is scary! I'll be using streamline soon. What did you mean by writing that if the client claims a chargeback no matter what information you have unless you have a signature? Where signature? On the treatment card? Most card use pins now... Can they also claim mane back even if they had treatment?! Does it meant if client pay with card then we are not covered because they can take money back? Maybe I should stick to cash only then...

In 4 1/2 years of taking card payments I have never had a chargeback.
I think if your regular clients are happy there will be little chance of them instigating a charge back. My provider charges a little more for cardholder not present transactions because there is a higher perceived risk, but if you keep client records of what they paid for, and have tracked post you can prove your side of things. Might not stop a charge back but it will go in your favour.

 

[jurate]

Wow! Pitty she wasn't like the first guy! I can't understand why you would not want to give your details unless you were not sure about turning up! Sounds like you had a lucky escape 😳x

To be honest, i am always careful with giving my details such as card numbers, etc. I wouldnt be so rude about it, tho. And i always turn up

Jurate xx

 

[lila22]

To be honest, i am always careful with giving my details such as card numbers, etc. I wouldnt be so rude about it, tho. And i always turn up

Jurate xx

I no, there is no need for rudeness but as usual the small minority ruin it for others!
As if there time is more important then ours!
Like Lynne said luckily only a few and the nice people out way them x x

 

[Jack Dunn]

Wow, this is scary! I'll be using streamline soon. What did you mean by writing that if the client claims a chargeback no matter what information you have unless you have a signature? Where signature? On the treatment card? Most card use pins now... Can they also claim mane back even if they had treatment?! Does it meant if client pay with card then we are not covered because they can take money back? Maybe I should stick to cash only then...

Basically the cardholder can say that they did not authorise/approve the transaction.. Sorry I meant Pin not signature. If they claim that they did not approve the transaction then Streamline send a chargeback letter which gives you 14 days to appeal and submit whatever you have to support your claim.. but as it was a CNP transaction( customer not present) no pin number was used to approve. I had address, postcode,security number, emails authorising me to take payment and I had taken the same payment twice before from the same cardholder and was able to send the copies of these transactions they still not honour it!! - I was not impressed with Streamlines support...