Unfair Cancellation Fees - Private Consultant

JamoLew

They would also have had to made you aware previously of any charges due in the event of a cancellation 

They can’t just make cancellation charges up - what did any contract or booking T&Cs say

Undervalued

JamoLew said:

They would also have had to made you aware previously of any charges due in the event of a cancellation 

They can’t just make cancellation charges up - what did any contract or booking T&Cs say

Even with no (written) contract or agreed T&Cs a contract was still formed for a particular service to be provided at a particular time.

Had this been a "normal" face to face consultation but the OP couldn't get there perhaps because their car broke down on route what would have happened? This is really no different.

That said, two things concern me. The OP mentioned that the "consultant" had cancelled at very short notice on two or more occasions in the past. Personally I would use that as a lever not to pay on this occasion when it was the other way round.

Secondly but a different issue, I do wonder about the term "consultant" in this context and wonder if this person is making themselves out to be something they are not. In a medical context a consultant is a senior physician or surgeon who holds a consultant post in the NHS or, if entirely private, is qualified to hold such a post.

You, I or anybody else can legally set up business as a psychotherapist without a single qualification. It is not a regulated profession. There are two large and number of smaller professional bodies to which a psychotherapist may choose to belong, or not, as they please. However they have no statutory or regulatory powers. I am sure that there are many excellent and well qualified psychotherapists around and the one the OP was seeing may well be one of them. However the use of the word "consultant" and the level of fee being charged would make me want to check carefully.

Ibrahim5

Anybody can call themselves a "consultant". The BMA tried to protect the title but the government refused. So the psychologists are calling themselves "Dr" and consultant. Pretty sure the public are being misled. One of the problems is that they then diagnose all sorts of problems that need extra appointments.

sheramber

Did the consultant charge you for the appointment he cancelled?

if so, did you not query why you had to pay?

Nm207

sheramber said:

Did the consultant charge you for the appointment he cancelled?

if so, did you not query why you had to pay?

The consultant did not charge me for sessions they cancelled. But they cancelled with little to no notice, when I had made provisions to free my calendar for the session.

Nm207

Undervalued said:

JamoLew said:

They would also have had to made you aware previously of any charges due in the event of a cancellation 

They can’t just make cancellation charges up - what did any contract or booking T&Cs say

Even with no (written) contract or agreed T&Cs a contract was still formed for a particular service to be provided at a particular time.

Had this been a "normal" face to face consultation but the OP couldn't get there perhaps because their car broke down on route what would have happened? This is really no different.

That said, two things concern me. The OP mentioned that the "consultant" had cancelled at very short notice on two or more occasions in the past. Personally I would use that as a lever not to pay on this occasion when it was the other way round.

Secondly but a different issue, I do wonder about the term "consultant" in this context and wonder if this person is making themselves out to be something they are not. In a medical context a consultant is a senior physician or surgeon who holds a consultant post in the NHS or, if entirely private, is qualified to hold such a post.

You, I or anybody else can legally set up business as a psychotherapist without a single qualification. It is not a regulated profession. There are two large and number of smaller professional bodies to which a psychotherapist may choose to belong, or not, as they please. However they have no statutory or regulatory powers. I am sure that there are many excellent and well qualified psychotherapists around and the one the OP was seeing may well be one of them. However the use of the word "consultant" and the level of fee being charged would make me want to check carefully.

Thank you.

with regards to T&C, they provided me with a T&C (which I was not asked to sign, I only had to sign a privacy agreement), in which they stated cancellation notice of 48 hours or less would be charged at half the full price. No mention of working days, only hours. The consultant has charged me the full price while I gave them 72 hours notice to save their time as much as possible. 

They have told me that they had e-mailed me a month earlier stating that the terms are now 2 working days. While I have located the e-Mail now, in all honesty I had not paid attention to this e-Mail at the time and had not agreed to the terms. Even if I had agreed to this, this doesn’t take away from the fact that the reason behind my cancellation request was due to circumstances beyond my control (read snowed in in the case of face to face appointment). Had I been given the option of meeting in person, I would have happily kept my appointment. Are there any customer rights that can protect me?

Psychotherapist/psychologist works with a company. Should I escalate this to them rather than continue discussions with the consultant directly?
is it safe for me ignore the charged fee?

Nm207

PterionPterion said:

Nm207 said:

With regards to the original question of the thread, does anyone know what my legal rights are? I will not be seeing the consultant again and do not wish to pay the fees until I have a clear understanding of my rights. As I said, the reason behind the cancellation was beyond my control and I was not offered any other form of attending the session. Do I have any consumer rights here protecting me from unreasonable fees? Should I post this question under the consumer rights section?

To obtain the payment they would need to employ debt recovery services or small claims. 

Whether the fees are unreasonable would depend on how much they would charge their patients for that type of consultation or what their usual invoice to health insurance is. 

They charged me the full fees while I gave them 72 hours notice. They did not offer an alternative form of attending the session.

PterionPterion

Nm207 said:

PterionPterion said:

Nm207 said:

With regards to the original question of the thread, does anyone know what my legal rights are? I will not be seeing the consultant again and do not wish to pay the fees until I have a clear understanding of my rights. As I said, the reason behind the cancellation was beyond my control and I was not offered any other form of attending the session. Do I have any consumer rights here protecting me from unreasonable fees? Should I post this question under the consumer rights section?

To obtain the payment they would need to employ debt recovery services or small claims. 

Whether the fees are unreasonable would depend on how much they would charge their patients for that type of consultation or what their usual invoice to health insurance is. 

They charged me the full fees while I gave them 72 hours notice. They did not offer an alternative form of attending the session.

Could be an idea to speak to the company. It depends on what the structure is. (Is the psychotherapist self employed working on behalf of the company or employed by them). Either way no harm in discussing this with the company.

Aside from discussing the reasons for the cancelled appointment I would highlight that they have cancelled 2 appointments at short notice which is unprofessional in itsel. In this instance I'm not sure who should have suggested an alternative form. Telephone consultations are fairly commonplace. 

May also be an idea to ask for a breakdown of the price. £160 seems excessive. Tried to research and the most expensive I could come across was around £100

Undervalued

Nm207 said:

Undervalued said:

JamoLew said:

They would also have had to made you aware previously of any charges due in the event of a cancellation 

They can’t just make cancellation charges up - what did any contract or booking T&Cs say

Even with no (written) contract or agreed T&Cs a contract was still formed for a particular service to be provided at a particular time.

Had this been a "normal" face to face consultation but the OP couldn't get there perhaps because their car broke down on route what would have happened? This is really no different.

That said, two things concern me. The OP mentioned that the "consultant" had cancelled at very short notice on two or more occasions in the past. Personally I would use that as a lever not to pay on this occasion when it was the other way round.

Secondly but a different issue, I do wonder about the term "consultant" in this context and wonder if this person is making themselves out to be something they are not. In a medical context a consultant is a senior physician or surgeon who holds a consultant post in the NHS or, if entirely private, is qualified to hold such a post.

You, I or anybody else can legally set up business as a psychotherapist without a single qualification. It is not a regulated profession. There are two large and number of smaller professional bodies to which a psychotherapist may choose to belong, or not, as they please. However they have no statutory or regulatory powers. I am sure that there are many excellent and well qualified psychotherapists around and the one the OP was seeing may well be one of them. However the use of the word "consultant" and the level of fee being charged would make me want to check carefully.

Thank you.

with regards to T&C, they provided me with a T&C (which I was not asked to sign, I only had to sign a privacy agreement), in which they stated cancellation notice of 48 hours or less would be charged at half the full price. No mention of working days, only hours. The consultant has charged me the full price while I gave them 72 hours notice to save their time as much as possible. 

They have told me that they had e-mailed me a month earlier stating that the terms are now 2 working days. While I have located the e-Mail now, in all honesty I had not paid attention to this e-Mail at the time and had not agreed to the terms. Even if I had agreed to this, this doesn’t take away from the fact that the reason behind my cancellation request was due to circumstances beyond my control (read snowed in in the case of face to face appointment). Had I been given the option of meeting in person, I would have happily kept my appointment. Are there any customer rights that can protect me?

Psychotherapist/psychologist works with a company. Should I escalate this to them rather than continue discussions with the consultant directly?
is it safe for me ignore the charged fee?

Whether or not you signed the T&Cs is irrelevant. Very few things in English law have to be signed (or even in writing ) to be valid, so that doesn't help. All that matters is whether you were aware of the terms and, if so, whether a court would find them reasonable. They can't amount to a penalty.

Equally, circumstances beyond your control is of limited help. They would argue the circumstances were even less under their control. You chose the ISP, you chose not to have a backup arrangement. It is a bit like the car breakdown analogy I motioned earlier. If you had an up to date, well maintained car it would be less likely to break down than if you drive a poorly maintained old banger. The old banger would of course be the far cheaper option but, if it lets you down (which it is more likely to do) you risk losing out on some non refundable outing.

However, did you ask them if you could come face to face when you knew your internet wasn't working? If so, what did they say? If they unreasonably refused that would be good grounds for not paying.

Yes it is "safe" to refuse to pay (don't just ignore it). They may well not sue but if they do you can decide whether to pay or fight at that point. It would only affect your credit score if it went to court, you lost and you still failed to pay what the court ordered. 

Ibrahim5

There are people who just don't pay their bills. There are companies who offer to collect unpaid invoices for practitioners. If you don't negotiate their is a danger that your invoice will be passed to one of these companies. So you can't just ignore it. Complain. Maybe negotiate. Don't just ignore it.