I wouldn't say your an idiot, you had that policy in place for a reason, you only implemented it, that makes sense to me. I don't have a cancellation policy simply because I wouldn't expect clients to return knowing they have to pay x amount on top of the service fee, there are plenty of other places local they could go rather than coming back to me and paying through the nose for it! my worst offender for not turning up is also my most loyal client, it is a giant pain in the ass when she doesn't turn up but she always apologises and has a genuine reason for not making it, sometimes we act in the heat of the moment and that's ok, what would you have done differently if you could start over the telephone call again?