Mobile therapist cancellation policy??

[C the Results]

Hi I have recently set myself up as a mobile bt and have just had a client call to cancel an appointment for waxing only an hour in advance of the appointment!
I am really annoyed with myself for not having a cancellation policy in place and for not even questioning the cancellation!! (I think I was so unprepared for this that I didn't know how to deal with it)
Can any of you mobile geeks tell me what sort of cancellation policy you have and how you enforce it? as I can imagine that it is quite hard getting clients to pay up.
I don't mind people cancelling if they give me some notice but I could of re -booked that appointment!!
Thanks for your help guys x

 

[spoilt]

that happens to me a few times a month! so anoying..... ive also thought about this, but how would we go about it, when i cancel hair appointments at a salon they dont have this policy..... hmmmm i suopse we could add a polite notice... like .if you need to cancel please be polite enough to give 24hrs notice or more as people wolud love your appointment lol.. x let me know if you come up with somthing xx

 

[sarahbear1987]

I have worked as a mobile therapist for 5 years and this is the number one thing that causes concern! What my boss has in place now that the booking must be secured with a credit card, if the client wants to pay cash on the day that is fine but the card must be supplied in the event of a cancellation etc. Next, upon booking the client is emailed a copy of the cancellation policy. Our policy is minimum 24hrs notice to cancel, within 12hrs incurs 25% fee, within 6hrs is 50% fee and if cancelled within 1hr 100% of fee is incurred. These fees then come off the secured credit card. We have had the odd occasion where someone has cancelled 'just because' and didnt want to pay the fee but they are told that upon confirming the booking they agree to the cancellation policy and also that we must be paid for our travel time, even if we didn't do the treatment most of the time we have traveled at least an hour to get there!
Hope this helps

 

[botoxwales]

We had one client who booked botox at a certain time at home a few weeks in the future. Stupidly, didnt take phone no.

Turned up and knocked on the door. No answer. Upstairs windows were open and lights were on.

Looks like he either changed his mind or forgot....

Dropped a card through door but he never phoned to explain. Emailed him too but no reply. Dead rude or what?

 

[Glamour Puss7]

Hi there! I have my own business in a salon & my policy is = Please note- 24 hours notice is required for cancellation of appointments.
Treatments of £20 or above require a 50% non-refundable deposit at time of booking.
Thank-you.
This is stated in my price-lists & its on a poster by the reception.
You have to be firm but fair, you cant let clients walk all over you you are running a business not a charity! we don't get paid if your client doesn't show, give enough notice, it really helps me but you still get the odd clients that do this..! :twisted: Help yourself You will be glad if you do good-luck

 

[jotommo]

i had LOADS of these a while back and it really ruins your whole day, so rude,
its really hard to get ask them to pay for an app they should nof kept, but really it does depend on how much you need your client?
some people are genuine but for example, , , , , about a month or so ago
i had a client booked for a full head colour and i was going to do full head hair extensions 2 days later so had booked in all 6 hours out my week for her, she TEXT! on the morning of the colour to tell me she couldn't afford it, (??????what???????????) whatever,
so i replied, 'thanks for letting me know'
so 3 days ago she rang me and left a voicemail asking for her hair done , i thought 'in yours dreams love'
i ignored it and she rang 5 more times at all hours,
the day after she text me asking could i do her hair, i replied asking had i done her hair before?
she replied, that she had an appointment with me but cancelled and let another mobile hairdresser do it but she didn't like it!!!!!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUDDDDDDEEEEEEEEE!!
so basically she binned me off and used someone else and was now asking me !!
i then replied that i remembered her and do not rebook time wasters as i am booked up solid and my time is precious,
no reply!

if she had a decent reason well maybe i would of done it but come on!!
i lost about £400 coz of her.
so i guess my policy is, one strike and your out!

 

[smooth]

i had LOADS of these a while back and it really ruins your whole day, so rude,
its really hard to get ask them to pay for an app they should nof kept, but really it does depend on how much you need your client?
some people are genuine but for example, , , , , about a month or so ago
i had a client booked for a full head colour and i was going to do full head hair extensions 2 days later so had booked in all 6 hours out my week for her, she TEXT! on the morning of the colour to tell me she couldn't afford it, (??????what???????????) whatever,
so i replied, 'thanks for letting me know'
so 3 days ago she rang me and left a voicemail asking for her hair done , i thought 'in yours dreams love'
i ignored it and she rang 5 more times at all hours,
the day after she text me asking could i do her hair, i replied asking had i done her hair before?
she replied, that she had an appointment with me but cancelled and let another mobile hairdresser do it but she didn't like it!!!!!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUDDDDDDEEEEEEEEE!!
so basically she binned me off and used someone else and was now asking me !!
i then replied that i remembered her and do not rebook time wasters as i am booked up solid and my time is precious,
no reply!

if she had a decent reason well maybe i would of done it but come on!!
i lost about £400 coz of her.
so i guess my policy is, one strike and your out!

If you are booking at 6 hours of your time why on earth didn't you take a deposit? Sounds like she is a continual shopper of hairdressers, you can say not to people but still be polite as it only takes one person to bad mouth you to other people who could use your services.

I just simply say I'm fully booked unfortunately, next appointment is in around 4 weeks time and if they want to book they need to leave a deposit before the appointment is secured.

 

[torella]

How do you actually enforce the cancellation fee? Ring them up and say you owe me money? Well that would end up with a phone being put down!!! What about cash only salons? People won't pay up!!!
Also at work we do take cards but have nowhere to keep the card details if we want to take a deposit (which can then be cancelled before 48 hours) so when you say that you "hold their card details" where do you hold them?
Me and my collegue have been racking our brains about this and it's driving us mad!!! Xx

 

[smooth]

How do you actually enforce the cancellation fee? Ring them up and say you owe me money? Well that would end up with a phone being put down!!! What about cash only salons? People won't pay up!!!
Also at work we do take cards but have nowhere to keep the card details if we want to take a deposit (which can then be cancelled before 48 hours) so when you say that you "hold their card details" where do you hold them?
Me and my collegue have been racking our brains about this and it's driving us mad!!! Xx

You would have to physically take a deposit and if they cancelled as per policy you would have to do a refund of the deposit. You should not hold card details unless you have their permission and the system you use is completely secure. It may cost you to do the refund but better that than risk being sued if their details are stolen.

Yes, if you phone someone up and say you owe me money you will never see them again.

 

[Clairet]

This is the only problem, trying to enforce the cancellation policy.

I think everyone should definitely have one so that clients who book are aware of this, and hopefully this will act as a deterent, but to actually enforce it, I have found, is virtually impossible.

 

[smooth]

This is the only problem, trying to enforce the cancellation policy.

I think everyone should definitely have one so that clients who book are aware of this, and hopefully this will act as a deterent, but to actually enforce it, I have found, is virtually impossible.

I think all it will do is make them think twice about booking in with you again but if they are going to do the same, surely that would be a good thing?