improper notice on cancellation...

[Douglas B]

Hi all,

I've been a little discouraged lately because I have had quite a few clients flake out on me. (I've had 2 out-and-out no-shows and 1 that gave less than my required 24 hours' notice. One was booked literally the day before, so I didn't feel the need to call and confirm him, but the other two I DID call and confirm the day before. Though one of the confirmations was for a Monday call and though I called on a Sunday--and left a message--I think his contact phone is a cell phone so he should've gotten it anyway.) The one I called on Sunday to leave a message for yesterday (Monday) evening's appointment called me earlier in the day yesterday (about 4 hours before his scheduled appt) to say he couldn't make it and that he'd call me back sometime today (Tuesday) to reschedule. This client has been a regular monthly client now for the last few months (5 months?) and hasn't done anything like this before.

Problem is, my luck lately has not been good, and ppl are doing strange things, and I'm not exactly counting on him to call me today. It's been very strange lately, with ppl calling to make appts and then not showing up or whatever, and he's one of only 7 monthly clients. Since my appts seem to be dropping left and right lately, I'd really like to retain whatever I can, and this probably means not waiting on ppl to call me, but rather me taking the initiative here. So, what would y'all do?

(No-shows and improper cancellations have never been a problem, BTW. In almost 2 yrs, I've had maybe 2-3 no-shows before this, and most have been new clients that probably found someone else closer or who does different work or whatever. I have a separate policy sheet that everyone signs along with their intake form that explicitly explains my 24-hour cancellation policy--or 2 hours' notice for appts made for the same day or the very next day--and this information is also on the website, accessible at any time. So it's not like it's a secret )

BTW, I was so stunned/semi-devastated that yet another appt that I was counting on wasn't going to materialize so while I tried to get him to reschedule at that time (unsuccessfully), I had forgotten to reiterate the required 24-hour notice on cancellations.

So like I said, how would y'all handle this? If you were me, would you take the initiative and call this client to stay in touch and schedule another appt? If so, how long would you give him? This evening, if he said he'd call sometime today, or wait till tomorrow, or what? Has anyone gone through a similar streak like this?

Argh.

Thanks in advance!!
Hugs,
~Jyoti

 

[I DJ WEDDINGS]

I get streaks like this, too. It seems like it always happens during slow times, but that is probably when I notice it the most. I get so fearful and crabby then. When it's busy I see it as surprise free time to get other stuff done.

I usually give my regular clients a week to call me back and get back on the books.

How do you implement your 24 hr cancellation policy? So you charge them for it when they come in or do you send a bill?

I just changed my cancellation policy to 24 hr notice. Then I had a regular call me last friday at the time she was supposed to come and said she accidentally forgot and had other things going on with work. It was a slow week so I cursed under my breath a couple of times but I used that time to go look at a house with my husband which was time well spent. Still though, I am faced with what to do about that. I think it's her first time and so I might let it slide.

 

[Von]

AKB, thanks for your insight, which is always excellent

I get streaks like this, too. It seems like it always happens during slow times, but that is probably when I notice it the most. I get so fearful and crabby then. When it's busy I see it as surprise free time to get other stuff done.

That's a good point. Usually I try to see it this way, too, and I try to use the time constructively. Usually, the missed appts (and missed income) gets made up somewhere, often right when you need it most.

I usually give my regular clients a week to call me back and get back on the books.

Interesting, I hadn't thought of giving it that long. Does that work well for you, or do you think it should be shorter? Just curious Also, what happens if they DON'T call back within a week? Do you call them, then, or consider them inactive?

How do you implement your 24 hr cancellation policy? So you charge them for it when they come in or do you send a bill?

Well, even though I haven't been faced with this before (especially with such frequency!), I DID try to plan ahead and figure out what I would do in hypothetical situations.

How I implement it is this:
Dire emergencies = no penalty. I decide on a case-by-case basis what is and what is not an emergency. Emergencies usually can't be avoided at all, such as accidents, sudden illness, a fire, etc. I don't make those reasons public so that they can't be abused (such as an empty-sounding "I suddenly feel nauseated" etc)
Not an emergency, first time = freebie. I remind the client of the cancellation policy and let them know that everyone gets to make one mistake and that next time they will have to honor payment.
Not an emergency, second time = if I don't hear from them, I call them to remind them of the cancellation policy and let them know that after that first freebie, they'll have to honor payment, so I can either send a bill or they can drop off cash in person.
If I DO hear from them (to make another appt, for example), then I'll remind them of the cancellation policy and tell them they'll have to pre-pay for this appt and settle up the unpaid balance and then we can schedule another appt for them.

(With the client in question I'm at the "not an emergency, first time" seforum.xxxe.)

(BTW, for the record, I don't count work-related stuff as an emergency more than once, because if one's workplace is prone to making him/her work OT or whatever, s/he should know this by now, and, I offer appts 7 days a week and often till 10p at night, so there SHOULD be another time s/he can come in. My husband often gets scheduled for OT shifts on Sats. If I were his MT I would expect him to either schedule during the week before/after work, or to take advaneforum.xxxe that I'm one of the few MTs in our area that offers Sunday appts.)

Then I had a regular call me last friday at the time she was supposed to come and said she accidentally forgot and had other things going on with work. It was a slow week so I cursed under my breath a couple of times but I used that time to go look at a house with my husband which was time well spent. Still though, I am faced with what to do about that. I think it's her first time and so I might let it slide.

Yeah, that's probably what I'd do. But do remind her of your policy, so that that doesn't happen to you again!

Thanks for your help, AKB

Hugs,
~Jyoti

 

[muberbacher]

Hi Pete, and thanks!

I think you chimed in when I was in the middle of the above dicertation lol

Ugh! Sounds like the month I had last month. Lots of short notice/no notice cancellations and it was a slow month on top of that. I totally agree with Anita - it seems like it only happens when it's already slow.

Ain't that the truth! Do you find that it's also a seasonal thing, a holiday thing, a vacation-time thing, or no rhyme or reason?

As for clients who cancel and say they'll call back later to reschedule, if they tell me when they will call by, I wait for that to pass and if they still haven't called, I will give them a call cuz I know that people do tend to get busy and forget.

I think I'll do that. I'll do what Anita said, by waiting a while, if they don't specify when they'll call back. But if they do specify, I'll do what you mentioned.

Anyone else have anything to add?

Hugs & TIA as always,
~Jyoti

 

[Q.B]

OK, if this isn't your thing, I apologize in advance. But if it helps at all, Mercury is in a KILLER retrograde right now and does not go direct again until the 29th. So communication seems to require a lot more deliberation and repetition, any business decisions seem a little more likely to go south, and travel & appointments take a particularly big hit, in my experience.

Happens in cycles? You bet! The last one was most of the month of March (although somehow I was a little better prepared for that one . . . )

Anyway, I know this is not everyone's cup of tea. But if it makes sense and helps you through it, there it is.

BTW because my experience w/Mercury retrogrades has been so convincing (I tend to be sceptical of these things), I also tend to put off new business decisions (like changing a no-show policy) until the retrograde is over -- or at least revisit them then to make sure they still make sense!

Sorry about the issues, in any case. It sucks to lose the revenue and wonder if the client is still trustworthy. I know in my case I *try* to give the benefit of the doubt in Merc. retrogrades, esp. if it's never happened before.

 

[Precy]

Omigosh y'all, I TOTALLY agree!

I also understand that this may not be in line with many ppls' beliefs, but it sure is in line with mine! I've been watching this sort of thing since about 1994 and it NEVER fails! Communication of all kinds is "off" during these Merc Retro periods. (OT, but semi-relevant... we were scrambling all day Monday the 3rd to get the current version of our website up & running before Mercury went retro and it's almost like it went retro early, ks our webbuilding software gave us an error, closed the program, and then when we restarted it, it "forgot" that our big site existed! After much sailor language and 40 white knuckled minutes, we finally restored the site by going in and manually opening it instead of opening it thru the program and voila, it was there. And then the client flake-outs started promptly on Tues morning with only a few hours to go. I know, I know, not everyone's cup of tea, but like I said, after more than 12 years, I have plenty of empirical data in the form of stories just like this!)

Oh, and to find out when these planetary periods are, just find an astrological calendar (you can order them, my momma gets us a couple every year for Christmas) or you can pick up what's called an ephemeris at a good bookstore (usually in astrology/New Age sections) OR you can Google "ephemeris (and the year, if you want)" and there's an awesome Swiss ephemeris in PDF format that often shows up on the first page of the search results that has planetary cycles through like 3000 years! lol Sorry, OT I know, but just in case it helps anyone...

So anyway, yeah, I can TOTALLY see y'all's points about this, and my honey shares the same beliefs and he also says it's a cyclic, though temporary, thing. Hopefully when it goes direct (I have it marked on the calendar and I'm counting down the days! lol) all of these mishaps will cease, at least for a while.

Thanks to you brave souls for mentioning this It's nice to know I'm not the only one. For a bit there, I was feeling like a client-repeller even though I hadn't given a crappy massage to my knowledge lol

I wish I could say I have no debt, but I do...it's less than $300/mo and it's to my parents and not some unforgiving financial institution (my parents, btw, also believe in this stuff, so they cut us slack whenever we need it). But we are smart enough to understand that this business is EXTREMELY variable and unpredictable so we don't let the "feasts" in the feast-or-famine cycle go to our heads and we put away for weeks like this! Which is a smart thing to do no matter what our belief systems are

I reckon we've all got no choice but to let it roll and chalk it up to character-building experience.

Everyone's bringing up awesome points and it's cheering me up... feel free to keep it coming!

Hugs to all,
~Jyoti

 

[mm92280]

Welcome to summertime... when people couldn't care less that your schedule is disrupted!!!

Definitely take down contact information when taking an appointment... and yes, tell them about your cancellation policy, and if they don't show, send them a bill for services.

This is one of the major reasons why I need to open up my own practice, so that I can follow my guidelines. I want to shoot my manager when she says... oh it is ok, come in later... or I understand, things come up. Well if that is the case, how would she like it if a huge chunk of her paycheck dissapeared every time she said that. Especially when I have been sitting around for a long time, or came in just for that person. I need to get paid!!!

 

[Dreams]

OT, but semi-relevant... we were scrambling all day Monday the 3rd to get the current version of our website up & running before Mercury went retro and it's almost like it went retro early...

It felt like it went retrograde on the 29th/30th.

 

[kinky_scotty]

I agree about the early feel of this MR -- it cast a loooong shadow.

 

[Lainn]

What the heck, my ever faithful once a week client just cancelled her appointment for tomorrow night! Her cousin unexpectedly came to town to visit her? Wow, that's freaky since the client's not from this country...
She's been my client for nearly 6 years but the coincidence of me having read this thread right before her call to cancel, is really funny!

 

[Trixzter]

Yeah, I feel like my retrograde happened in June. Good lord I hope it's not this month for me too!

I usually give my regular clients a week to call me back and get back on the books.

Interesting, I hadn't thought of giving it that long. Does that work well for you, or do you think it should be shorter? Just curious Smile Also, what happens if they DON'T call back within a week? Do you call them, then, or consider them inactive?

Sorry I was not taking my time to post earlier and did not clarify that well. People with standing appointments who cancel: I ask them if they want me to keep them on for their next standing appointment, or would they like to reschedule something sooner. People who come regularly (reads: not first time clients) but cancel and say they will call another day to reschedule, I guess it depends on what they say in the first place about what is going on and when they will call back. Generally I will wait a couple of days after the time they said they'd call me but no more than a week. This is for a couple of reasons:

1. My days go by so fast sometimes and I totally forget or do not have a good moment to call people.

2. It's probably some silly game left over from dating.....if I call right away I seem desperate, if I wait too long I seem like I don't care at all until it is convenient for me, but if I give it a couple of days I seem busy enough not to need them, considerate of their "space" and freedom to not have to call me if they don't want to and thoughtful enough to check in/making a concerted effort not to let the relationship fade away.

Yeah, silly, but I guess it does work for me if only in my mind. No one has ever said, "Why didn't you call me sooner? I was waiting by the phone for TWO DAYS wondering if you even remembered I was supposed to call you!!" So, I win.

My maint plan is pretty lenient: You reschedule within two weeks and you get the maint plan rate when you come to your appt. Some people choose to have standing appointment some people don't have a set schedule so their days/times change but they are always within two weeks. If any of them cancel and reschedule for later than two weeks (from the previous appt not the cancelled one) then their first appt back is at the regular rate.

I hope that clears thing up a bit.

Thanks for telling me about how you implement your cancellation policy. I just changed mine in June (when I had all those darned no shows/late cancellations) posted it on my website, but have not posted it in my space yet and have not made copies for clients. So that's next and then I guess I'll just wait for the next retrograde to practice implementing it all. Maybe I'll just take those months off.

 

[Assist_u]

Anita, post it today. Stop waiting.

Okay, done! I printed it out, have a frame at the office, and I printed out copies for existing clients to sign!

Thanks for keeping me on track.
:wink:

 

[nat]

Credit cards are the key

If you don't currently accept credit cards, do so. Recovering one cancellation fee will pay for all fees etc.

Elizabeth Arden and the Four Seasons spas all take a credit card and communicate the cancellation policy at the time of booking. Clients understand and expect this. The more professional your operation, the more they will respect you.

People think twice before giving out their credit card #s over the phone, it is given as a guarantee. You can't reserve a car, hotel room or plane ticket without a credit card, so customers know what giving a card means.

Also, credit card acceptance tends to increase tips. People are short of cash, don't have the right amount they want to give you... Sign and Go is very convenient.