Payment for a cancelled hair appointment?

Totally fair in the case of 'something cropped up' - which you were able to re-organise anyhow.

Very different to a real medical emergency.

I think it is right to pay if you cancel at short notice, not many hairdressers get clients just walk in off the street, they are losing money.
I paid my hairdresser for all the appointments I should have had during lockdown, she really struggled because of loss of earnings.

I think the charge is reasonable. Some people persistently don’t attend appointments or cancel too late. Overheads have gone through the roof for small businesses and they need to protect their business

I was in my favourite cafe yesterday when my friend took a booking for a corporate function .
The food that they produce is outstanding and the best in our area .
Pleasant and friendly as she is - she emphasised that there is a cancellation fee .

One of my other friends gave up her cafe , because of Covid and also , because she was sick and tired of people wasting her time with failed bookings .
Perhaps , she should have done the same .

*living

Theexwife

I thought it was common practice to charge if you cancel, I would expect to pay as they are unlikely to find a replacement customer.

Me too. In fact I find it unbelievable that anyone should question this. They have a loving to make.

Am I right that the OP managed to shuffle things around and keep the appointment? That says something.

What's the difference between letting down a dentist and a hairdresser? Both have overheads and both are earning a living.

My dentist does this, but no way would I put up with it from a hairdresser.

I rarely cancel, but I usually leave a message on the answerphone as soon as possible.

My lovely hairdresser who works from home introduced this recently. She sends a text at the beginning of the week to everyone who has an appointment that week so no one can claim to not know. Whilst appreciating that we aren’t all perfect she was so fed up with people not turning up and when she rang to remind them they’d just say they were busy and could they come the next day. It doesn’t work like that. A cut/colour etc can be £60+ and that’s a big chunk to lose particularly if she’s bought products specifically for that client.

It's common practice now in this town to take a deposit for long complicated hair styling and to charge for late cancellation. The salon where I go for nails and other things takes your credit card details on booking so that they can take any late cancellation fees.

That’s awful, Rosie. These days they tend to take mobile numbers and text customers to let them know if changes have been made, but they should have tried harder to accommodate you. I suppose it’s difficult if a stylist doesn’t turn up, but you’d think they would have freed up another one knowing it was a big day for you. I wouldn’t mind moving a routine appointment so that someone could get her hair done for something like that, but again, if they can’t contact people it’s more difficult. I might not be so helpful if I’d travelled miles to a city centre salon than if I got a call on the day asking to change my appointment before I’d left the house.

I do have sympathy for hairdressers when clients cancel at very short notice, or worse, fail to appear for their appointment. However picture the scene...it's the day of your brother's wedding, you arrive for your 9am appointment, they tell you your stylist has phoned in sick so we'll have to cancel. Cue frantic pleading that they don't have to cut it but can somebody please do a shampoo and blowdry? No appointments available we're fully booked, sorry, despite knowing you're attending your brother's wedding, on a Saturday, in just a few hours time. Luckily on seeing me close to tears and panicking one trainee stylist says she can try to do something, and bless her she did an acceptable job. I wasn't impressed that a salon could treat a regular customer of 5 years so off-handedly. This happened years ago before charging for missed appointments was a common thing, but it was no way to treat a customer. While there wouldn't have been any financial loss, I would have wasted my time driving to the salon, and the emotional distress if the trainee hadn't stepped in wouldn't be negligible.

My dentist can charge for appointments cancelled at short notice - saying they need 24 hours. Still, I phoned in the morning to say I felt unwell and, of course, they didn't charge me. They don't want sick people turning up.

I think their policy is there to discourage those who just don't turn up - or frequently change their minds. It's fair, as they're losing money if they can't book somebody else in.

My hairdressers do have a cancellation policy, but use there judgment, I missed one in February DH had been very ill in hospital in January. She called me at 7 that evening to check we were OK. I was quite upset that I had missed appointment offered to pay she would not hear of it . Unlike podiatrist who called me in January telling me he was late for appointment I was sitting in hospital outside icu and when I told him was very rude telling me I should have called to cancel at least 24hours before. Told him to send me invoice never arrived

I thought this was common practice everywhere and quite right too.

I sympathise with hairdressers and anyone who has a client cancel an appointment at short notice or simply not turn up. Legally they can only enforce payment for the missed appointment if they have made the client fully aware of the policy before or at the time the appointment is booked. I would however expect them to give some leeway to regular clients who don’t have a late cancellation/no show history because reliable repeat business is important to survival.
I despise people who simply fail, for no good reason, to keep appointments.

orly

Change your hairdresser! That's ridiculous to charge you if you have to cancel especially if you want to rebook the appointment at the same time.
In the past I've had hairdressers call me to cancel my appointment but never been offered "compensation"

Why is it ridiculous for someone to expect compensation for losing part of their salary?

If a hairdresser cancels it may be inconvenient, but you are unlikely to lose out financially.

As a sideline. Now my dentist has just gone private, on making my next appointment, I had to pay, up front, 2/3rd of the cost of a check-up. I asked why; they said it is in case you dna. I’ve been with this dentist for many years, never dna'd and don’t intend to start no. Them’s the rules!!

Change your hairdresser! That's ridiculous to charge you if you have to cancel especially if you want to rebook the appointment at the same time.
In the past I've had hairdressers call me to cancel my appointment but never been offered "compensation"

Mine doesn't so much fine as not give an appointment without a deposit. You can book online or in the salon. If you book online they take the deposit then before the date is fixed, and if in the salon you just add the deposit for the next appointment to the bill for this one. It evens out, as you are paying for the non-deposit part of the current appointment as well as the deposit for the next one. I've stopped noticing, as I always book as I pay.

My hairdresser brought this in last year, as it one week she had 7 missed appointments, at £25-50 each time and self employed it is a lot of lost income... She does however rearrange if possible, and understands late cancellation. As she points out, if she knows you aren't coming she can do her accounts, go shopping or for a walk - but if you just don't appear she sits twiddling her thumbs.

So far she has fined 11, and 9 have come back...

Yes. I don't necessarily like the policy, but I can understand it. My salon instituted the policy about 2 years ago. If the salon doesn't get paid, the hairdresser doesn't get paid. A missed appointment means your hairdresser is wasting an hour or so of their and the salon's time and resources.

That said, the salon will usually make an exception for regular customers if you just ask. It's the salon's business decision.

I don't like it, but I can understand it.

A number of businesses have always asked for 24 hrs notice of cancellation although recently I have noticed that my hairdresser has changed to 48 hrs notice. I would hope that there would be some leniency for sudden unexpected illness, especially for regular customers/clients. It is done to prevent no shows and has become more widespread since the Pandemic.

I would only cancel for something pressingly unexpected, or as I said up thread, finding out I had Covid, just prior to an appointment. What I would add, and it happens almost every time I go to the hairdresser, I'm in there for several hours, someone will come in without a booking asking whether they could be squeezed in, more often than not, that simply isn't possible

Do you really expect the hairdresser to call clients and ask them if they want to come in because she suddenly has an empty space? I do have that arrangement with mine if my appointment is close - but sometimes I can't go when she has a cancelled appointment or a no-show (( live 7 minutes away, on foot).