Cancellation fee due to missed appointment

OlliesDad

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

I have waited in all day for couriers to deliver parcels that have not turned up - should I bill them for my wasted time?

If you have incurred costs you definitely should.. have a read of Martin's article on the matter:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/delivery-rights

unholyangel

harrup wrote: »

Hmmm, you could well be right.

Nonetheless, " consequential loss" might still be a tricky thing to substantiate if the patient/client wants to reschedule the missed appointment at a mutually agreeable time. As no fee was actually lost, just delayed. Different matter if the patient DOES'T reschedule, or is habitually forgetful/tardy...but as a one-off, the podiatrist will have a bear of a time getting their money if the client cheerfully refuses and tells them to go whistle.


Murky issue.

Well yes, it has been. They've still lost the original appointment whether OP reschedules or not.

earthstorm

harrup wrote: »

Hmmm, you could well be right.

Nonetheless, " consequential loss" might still be a tricky thing to substantiate if the patient/client wants to reschedule the missed appointment at a mutually agreeable time. As no fee was actually lost, just delayed. Different matter if the patient DOES'T reschedule, or is habitually forgetful/tardy...but as a one-off, the podiatrist will have a bear of a time getting their money if the client cheerfully refuses and tells them to go whistle.

As to the second part, I am unclear under which professional umbrella podiatrists fall. If they do fall under a medical umbrella, they have to adhere to a stringent code of ethics. Whereby a patient can't be refused on the simple grounds that the practitioner doesn't particularly care for them. Or no longer cares for them.

Murky issue.

so the podiatrist and his nurse sat their twiddling their thumbs for free. these still want paid for their wasted time, did they have to prepare any special treatments for their patient, if so this has to be paid for.

harrup

unholyangel wrote: »

Well yes, it has been. They've still lost the original appointment whether OP reschedules or not.

Yes, they DID lose the original appointment and no one disputes that. No one disputes that it is an annoying, unproductive, frustrating part of running a service based business either.

The pivotal point though, surely, is whether the business can, or even SHOULD, insist on compensation if the client reschedules. And how productive or beneficial it would ulimately be to do so. True, one would have the moral victory of chastising a forgetful client and the monetary compensation for ONE missed appointment - but if that isn't cutting off ones nose to spite ones face I don't know what is! It is a stellar example of winning the battle but losing the war.

I'm not sure sure I understand the "sitting around and twiddling one's thumb idly" argument. i have never encountered a single business where unexpected void time couldn't be filled productively. Be that in catching up with admin work or anything else.

To be clear, the issue isn't whether the OP made a mistake in not showing up at the scheduled appointment. S/he did. The sole issue is whether it is justifiable to invoke the normal fee for services not rendered..

Speaking for myself, I am very diligent in adhering to appointments or cancelling them in good time. But has it EVER happened that I absentmindedly forgot one? Or got the date/day/time wrong? Sure it has! Be that from a vet appointment, to a hairdresser appointment, a dental appointment...it has happened. If the vet, dentist, hairdresser would have sent me a stern note accompanied by an invoice they'd be my...and everybody elses, for that matter.. ex-vet, ex-hairdresser or ex-dentist by now. NOT the way to build nor maintain a successful business.

unholyangel

harrup wrote: »

Yes, they DID lose the original appointment and no one disputes that. No one disputes that it is an annoying, unproductive, frustrating part of running a service based business either.

The pivotal point though, surely, is whether the business can, or even SHOULD, insist on compensation if the client reschedules. And how productive or beneficial it would ulimately be to do so. True, one would have the moral victory of chastising a forgetful client and the monetary compensation for ONE missed appointment - but if that isn't cutting off ones nose to spite ones face I don't know what is! It is a stellar example of winning the battle but losing the war.

I'm not sure sure I understand the "sitting around and twiddling one's thumb idly" argument. i have never encountered a single business where unexpected void time couldn't be filled productively. Be that in catching up with admin work or anything else.

To be clear, the issue isn't whether the OP made a mistake in not showing up at the scheduled appointment. S/he did. The sole issue is whether it is justifiable to invoke the normal fee for services not rendered..

Speaking for myself, I am very diligent in adhering to appointments or cancelling them in good time. But has it EVER happened that I absentmindedly forgot one? Or got the date/day/time wrong? Sure it has! Be that from a vet appointment, to a hairdresser appointment, a dental appointment...it has happened. If the vet, dentist, hairdresser would have sent me a stern note accompanied by an invoice they'd be my...and everybody elses, for that matter.. ex-vet, ex-hairdresser or ex-dentist by now. NOT the way to build nor maintain a successful business.

You misunderstand. You were asking whether the business could try and recover their losses due to the missed appointment.

The answer to that is yes they can. Whenever one party cancels fails to uphold their contractual obligations, the other party has a right to any direct losses reasonably suffered as a result of the breach.

The wronged party does have a statutory duty to mitigate their losses...however, since no cancellation notice was given they didn't have a chance to mitigate their losses - unless someone happened to walk in to see if they had someone available and they required treatment to the same value as the OP and within the same time frame that the OP was appointed.

Obviously they cant claim for anything they didn't actually lose. So if they were due to use materials costing £10, they couldn't claim for those as they didn't actually need to use them.

Whether the company SHOULD charge people is an entirely different matter and as I said before, to refuse any customer is bad business sense, unless that customers cost is more than their worth.

Telling the OP they shouldn't have charged her as its bad business isn't going to change the situation in any way. She can go back and ask them to waive it as a one off (as someone already suggested I believe). She can also challenge the £35 if she feels it is too high and ask them what their actual losses were. Those things may change the situation, they may not. Only way to find out is to try.

earthstorm

unholyangel wrote: »

Obviously they cant claim for anything they didn't actually lose. So if they were due to use materials costing £10, they couldn't claim for those as they didn't actually need to use them.

this depends on the material, lets say the patient needed an injection and the solution is kept in fridge, but needs to be left out at room temp. for a time before being used and cannot be placed back in fridge once left out at room temp. and you don't turn up for the appointment then they have lost the use of that solution for anyone else, so they can claim for this along with their time.

unholyangel

earthstorm wrote: »

this depends on the material, lets say the patient needed an injection and the solution is kept in fridge, but needs to be left out at room temp. for a time before being used and cannot be placed back in fridge once left out at room temp. and you don't turn up for the appointment then they have lost the use of that solution for anyone else, so they can claim for this along with their time.

Obviously the situation you describe the materials would need to be used so wouldn't be covered by what I said anyway (providing it needs to be left out and its not simply choice to take it out early), that they couldn't charge for materials they didn't need to use since they wont have actually lost those.