I was all set to do two 20'somthings for a wedding at 10 this morning. I was waiting for them to call for directions and they never did. i thought of them as a no-show, and wasn't very happy about it until i checked my email. She wrote me an email cancelling!! when did people start doing this?? i feel totally taken advantage of since these were acquantances (sp?) from high school. and it was from that morning, not even a 24 hour notice. they never did call. they claimed that when the bride found out they were getting their hair done at a different place for her she got mad so they had to go with her. please! i'm just starting my own salon and i know that they wouldn't get away with that from a more established place.  then she said we need to make beach plans for the next week. right, i'm going to call her right back

anyone have some ideas for me to handle this in the future? i'm not in the habit of giving out my email to clients but she was a kinda-friend to begin with.

thanks for listening to me vent!

this kind of situation hurts on a few levels huh? Did you open the email cancellation "door" by communicating with them via email in regards to any part of your doing thier hair? That would be the only "excusable" explanation for cancelling this way...one of our policies for any wedding hair is a 50% deposit is required at the time of the booking. If they cancel six weeks or closer to the date, the deposit is non refundable. We have never had anyone complain or question this policy...good luck.

Our policy for no show is under the heading of Cancellations and Tardiness that is in our service menu. It spells out that we do require a notification of cancelling scheduled appointments, as we can schedule someone else in that slot and it this policy protects the livelihood of our service providers. And we have voice mail 24/7 for just that.

The key statement in the policy is this, we understand that emergencies do happen, however any clients who abuse this  policy will be subject to a non-cancellation fee of one half the services scheduled.

This allows us the flexibility to not apply the fee if it is a client who did indeed have an emergency.

When we put this in place, we sent a letter explaining the policy to all clients. They had no problem with it.

Warmest regards,

J

jfk

great info, i'm also planning on using a statement in the service menu but have been able to come up with wording I like. Could you email me or let me know what the wording you use on your menu and in the letter? It'd really be much appreciated!