Lost a client due to enforcing my cancellation policy

[LoveBeauty1]

So upset and angry!
I have lost a client who treatments wise wasnt a regular but when I think about it has always bought huge amounts of retail items off me :cry:

Basically what happened was she text me an hour before her app to say she had to work so I said I'm really sorry but next time I see you I will have to add on a cancellation fee (under 24hours).
She came to me and all was okay and she paid her fee.
Unfortunately the next day her friend cancelled at 7am (her app was at 5pm) due to sickness bug.
I said due to giving me time to fit someone else in and it was a genuine cancel I wouldn't charge her the cancellation fee.

The client (her friend) that had to work has just text me asking why I let her pay the fee and not her friend. I responded with a polite version of what I have already written and she responded 'that's fine,please can I cancel my app on 15th may'

I could cry, I feel like I've charged her a few pounds and lost tens of pounds in the process

 

[Dizzy nails]

Oh what a dilemma. I feel that the lady who cancelled due to work should pay but the sickness bug one Its difficult to charge. However I think you have to have one rule fits all. If you couldn't go to dentist due to bug they would still prob charge you. Then again you don't want people avoiding payment and turning up with bugs! Very difficult. I tend to do a strike system. Two strikes and the third you pay. Although I always feel for the client with the bug. But who knows, clients cotton on to that and they will all use that excuse. On this occasion I would just swallow the decisions that you have made. If your good she will struggle to find someone to match you and come back.

 

[Baggybear]

You have had to learn this the hard way but it simple. If you choose to have a cancelation policy & enforce it, then you have to enforce it at ALL times.

If you are going to become a softie and let people off paying you are going to have a backlash from those who have had to pay it.

 

[Haylo_Therapies]

Hello Lovebeauty,

Sorry to hear of this. Just quickly though, does your policy state that it is a minimum of 24 hours you need to cancel otherwise you get a charge?

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[waffle4]

Well you can understand her being miffed that she had to pay and her friend did not as her friend didn't give you 24 hours notice either. If your rule is 24 hours notice then you need to implement that for everyone not let some off and some not.

 

[BeauTea Rooms]

I'd be inclined to message customer 1 back & eat a bit of humble pie, apologise for not charging number 2 & offer to knock the fee off her appointment on 15th May. It's easy to act in haste when someone drops an appointment on your before its due x

 

[LoveBeauty1]

I know, I'm not normally so strict I was just angry that it was so short notice that I think I let the other lady off as a sub-conscious reward for giving me notice.

I am definitely going to have to go down the humble pie route.
I am re-printing my pricelist for an increase in July so I think from then on when I give everyone a new list I will just say 'here's the new pricelist and just to let you know the cancellation policy is on the back should you need to cancel'


(Sorry completely off topic but just want to apologise for my bad spelling and grammar as I'm dyslexic, just thought it was nice no-one pointed out the obvious mistakes.):o

 

[deanosnana]

I would call the client and see if you can work something out with her. Maybe take the amout she paid for the cancellation fee and put it towards her next treatment.

Better to 'lose' a few pounds and gain much more in the long run than the other way around.

Best of luck!

 

[THair]

Yeah maybe offer her something so you dont lose her, if she buys retail you could discount some of this for her or just like above comments discount her next appointment.

 

[Baggybear]

And I just wanted to say that I feel your thread title is actually wrong :o.

You didn't lose the client for enforcing your cancelation policy as she paid the fee and was happy enough, you lost the client for NOT enforcing it with her friend who 'commited the same crime' as her.

Just something you should think about.

 

[happyfeet]

I dont like cancellation policies but do understand why people enforce them. I just think it gets a bit sticky.
However i do agree with the OP. I dont think someone who is ill can be charged. Was she genuine i hope so. She gave notice and early.on- 7 am for a 5pm appt. Client one however an hour? Id like to think she knew shed be there late at work. She got paid the OP didnt.

Illness vs work i would allow sickness a reprieve. However you could also argue sometimes you cant help work getting in the way but i do believe its fundamentally different.

I wouldnt eat humble pie but what i would do is learn from this. Personally rather than a cancellation policy if i had a client who did what client one did id take a deposit if i felt i had to do anything. As said im not a fan of a cancellation policy and god knows ive had a few that either rebook or never rebook.

Jmho




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[Tomme]

I don't think sickness is a reason for late cancellations. If you state 24 hours then 24 hours it is unless the client is dead. No other business with a cancellation policy would let someone off, it's like booking a holiday then expecting the deposit back because a friend died and you choose to miss the holiday to go to the funeral. It's just not going to happen, and its unlikely the deposit would be transferred to another holiday. Xoxo

 

[happyfeet]

To use your example though tomme in fairness friends funeral versus being ill is completely different. I agree you have to go across the board to enforce a cancellation policy but sometimes I believe extenuating circumstances can be taken in to consideration- makes us a little more human too. Personally if I was ill and couldn't make an appointment for as much as me, as the therapist and clients, I'd be peed off no end that becoming ill wasn't my fault and id paid for the 'privilege' of being ill. As said this is why I don't like cancellation policies. Sadly I know people lie about being ill too, so without trying to contradict myself to much here I at least feel the op had a chance to fill the slot with 10 hours notice as opposed to 1. X

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[squidgernetball]

I have a cancellation policy - I just don't enforce it. When clients cancel with short notice, I really politely say 'thanks for letting me know' and on occasion they will say 'obviously I will pay you as it's short notice' and I just say thank you very much. My clients are very loyal, so I wouldn't want to alienate them. On Monday, my regular lady didn't arrive - very unlike her, no phone call, nothing. 15 mins into her appointment time, I left her a message saying 'Hope everything is ok, but I had you down for a 12.00 appointment. Give me a call when you get this'. I always do this - nice as can be, because you ever know what is going on in peoples lives. Often they call back and were having lunch out and completely forgot, and of course they'll pay....My 12.00 client rang to say 'Thanks for being so nice in your message, I feel dreadful for missing my appointment, but my son was rushed into hospital'. I know this is true as we live close. Do I charge her? Absolutely not. I don't enforce it, I just hope they offer, and she offered but there was no way I'd take her money!!! She then booked a course of facials, to help her chill after her very stressful time!!!

 

[Lynne Baker]

I think it's virtually impossible to enforce a cancellation policy in our industries.

No matter how much we study, how much we take it very seriously indeed, the bottom line is that, generally speaking, the public views beauty therapy/nails/hair as flimflam.
The underlying reason for this is that the industry is not regulated, and in the public's eye that means that it's not a "serious" profession.

What can we do about this?

We can continue to harass the governing bodies to bring about some regulation.
We can educate our clients about how this is what pays our mortgage, and not something we do in between watching Judge Judy and Jeremy Kyle, and that entails projecting an uber professional image at all times.
We can remind our clients with text messaging the day before, and on the day itself (because WE'RE the ones with the vested interest), and it is becoming increasingly the norm.
Finally, and possibly the most important.

This is a service industry. The people we serve are the ones having us by the short and curlies. They can, and DO, vote with their feet. If they feel aggrieved, however justified or otherwise, they will go elsewhere. I don't like it either, but them's the breaks.

When people no show, or cancel late, I stomp around the salon in a vile temper annoying my humsbums and scaring the cat. What I don't do is enforce my cancellation policy however much I want to, because there is so much competition. I don't want to give my precious clients a reason to go elsewhere.

 

[squidgernetball]

I whack a mask on and watch judge judy - isn't this what we all do!!! lol!!!

 

[fozzyo]

I don't charge a cancellation fee. I mark them as no show in my appt system. Then too many no shows I ask them to prepay for their booking.

It's a fine line we have to walk.

 

[adventuregirl]

I don't charge a cancellation fee. I mark them as no show in my appt system. Then too many no shows I ask them to prepay for their booking.

It's a fine line we have to walk.

Ooh I like this idea x

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[Lush-Lash]

I don't charge a cancellation fee. I mark them as no show in my appt system. Then too many no shows I ask them to prepay for their booking.

It's a fine line we have to walk.

I do the same x

 

[Petit Basque]

I think it's virtually impossible to enforce a cancellation policy in our industries.

No matter how much we study, how much we take it very seriously indeed, the bottom line is that, generally speaking, the public views beauty therapy/nails/hair as flimflam.
The underlying reason for this is that the industry is not regulated, and in the public's eye that means that it's not a "serious" profession.

What can we do about this?

We can continue to harass the governing bodies to bring about some regulation.
We can educate our clients about how this is what pays our mortgage, and not something we do in between watching Judge Judy and Jeremy Kyle, and that entails projecting an uber professional image at all times.
We can remind our clients with text messaging the day before, and on the day itself (because WE'RE the ones with the vested interest), and it is becoming increasingly the norm.
Finally, and possibly the most important.

This is a service industry. The people we serve are the ones having us by the short and curlies. They can, and DO, vote with their feet. If they feel aggrieved, however justified or otherwise, they will go elsewhere. I don't like it either, but them's the breaks.

When people no show, or cancel late, I stomp around the salon in a vile temper annoying my humsbums and scaring the cat. What I don't do is enforce my cancellation policy however much I want to, because there is so much competition. I don't want to give my precious clients a reason to go elsewhere.

Just about word for word what I was going to say!

This is a very competitive industry we are in....personally, I live in a small town with about 100 other beauty therapists, salons etc.....and I just can't afford to alienate my clients.

I made a big mistake last year when I got a bit stern with a client who forgot her appointment....I never saw her or her friend (who I was also providing treatments for) ever again.

After that experience, I had a couple of tricky clients who would cancel late or forget or whatever and I just gracefully took it on the chin. Guess what, a few months later they are all back and booking in regularly. Had I tried to enforce a cancellation policy or gotten all uppity then they would have gone somewhere else.

I know many geeks won't agree but I think sometimes you just have to kick the cat (or whatever!) and suck it up

PB
x