Therapist payment

savvyshopper1608

I'm after some advice. My 8 year old daughter has various developmental issues and we have been working with a neurodevelopmental therapist for almost 2 years.

The therapist has a policy whereby we book the appointment in advance (usually every 6-8 weeks) and she requests payment 1 working day in advance, for which she sends an email reminder. I was due to have an appointment today; we were away (abroad) over the weekend and it was so hectic / busy with the air travel that I forgot to transfer the payment. Her accounts person emailed yesterday to say because I had missed the deadline the appointment was cancelled and the fee still due. I emailed immediately and apologised, explained the situation and transferred the fee, and said I hoped the appointment could still go ahead. She said the appointment was cancelled and I'd be put on a waitlist for another appointment, and the fee would be forfeited. I completely understand that if I had cancelled the session / been a no show, then I should still pay, however they have clearly filled the spot and still taken the money from me for an appointment that hasn't happened. 

I have tried to email the therapist direct but she won't speak to me about the fee. I'm really upset / worried about this - the fee is £156 per session and over the course of the time together we have spent over £2500 with her. I've also always paid on time, with the exception of July when our appointment fell on a Tuesday and I didn't realise I had to pay on the Friday (her policy was previously for payment 24 hours in advance, not the whole working day policy which was new this year, so I just had in my mind that I had to pay 24 hours in advance). 

Do I have any consumer rights here? I appreciate I missed the specified window payment but I still paid 24 hours in advance and re-confirmed the appointment. The whole episode is so frustrating that it really puts me off working with the therapist going forward, however my daughter has made real progress with her and we are midway through a programme, so I am really torn and want to do what's best for her. 

Does anyone have any advice, legal or otherwise? 

twopenny

Do you have any terms and conditions with maybe a contract?
Does it say on the website that the appointment will be cancelled if the fee isn't paid by the due date?

I agree it seems harsh not to have some flexibility in certain conditions.

ripplyuk

It depends on the terms & conditions you agreed to. They should not be charging you the full fee if they’ve filled the spot with another (paying) client. However, if you want to maintain a good relationship with this therapist then it might be best to let it go. 

savvyshopper1608

Her accounts person sent an email to me with the details but I didn't fully appreciate the policy to be honest - it's such a busy time I saw the reminder last week about the appointment but then promptly forgot, particularly as we went away and were busy. I'm surprised about the approach as it just seems unduly harsh, particularly to keep the £156 fee at this time of year which is already such an expensive time. 

QrizB

Timings are important, so excuse me if I seem to labour the point.

savvyshopper1608 said:

I was due to have an appointment today ...

Today being Wednesday?

savvyshopper1608 said:

Her accounts person emailed yesterday ...

Yesterday being Tuesday?

savvyshopper1608 said:

I emailed immediately and apologised, explained the situation and transferred the fee ...

Yesterday, on Tuesday?

savvyshopper1608 said:

The therapist has a policy whereby we book the appointment in advance (usually every 6-8 weeks) and she requests payment 1 working day in advance ...

Yesteday, Tuesday, was one working day in advance of today, Wednesday.

If you paid yesterday for an appointment today you weren't late.

MeteredOut

...unless the contract states 24 hours (not 1 day), but the payment was yesterday evening for an appointment this afternoon.

Disgusting service by the company though. I'd not be surprised if they'd already rebooked another customer in once this slot was cancelled (we know they have a waitlist), so they effectively got paid twice.

OP, the exact wording/contract you agreed to is important here.

Grumpy_chap

savvyshopper1608 said:

I'm after some advice. My 8 year old daughter has various developmental issues and we have been working with a neurodevelopmental therapist for almost 2 years.

The therapist has a policy whereby we book the appointment in advance (usually every 6-8 weeks) and she requests payment 1 working day in advance, for which she sends an email reminder. I was due to have an appointment today; we were away (abroad) over the weekend and it was so hectic / busy with the air travel that I forgot to transfer the payment. Her accounts person emailed yesterday to say because I had missed the deadline the appointment was cancelled and the fee still due. I emailed immediately and apologised, explained the situation and transferred the fee, and said I hoped the appointment could still go ahead. She said the appointment was cancelled and I'd be put on a waitlist for another appointment, and the fee would be forfeited. I completely understand that if I had cancelled the session / been a no show, then I should still pay, however they have clearly filled the spot and still taken the money from me for an appointment that hasn't happened. 

I have tried to email the therapist direct but she won't speak to me about the fee. I'm really upset / worried about this - the fee is £156 per session and over the course of the time together we have spent over £2500 with her. I've also always paid on time, with the exception of July when our appointment fell on a Tuesday and I didn't realise I had to pay on the Friday (her policy was previously for payment 24 hours in advance, not the whole working day policy which was new this year, so I just had in my mind that I had to pay 24 hours in advance). 

Do I have any consumer rights here? I appreciate I missed the specified window payment but I still paid 24 hours in advance and re-confirmed the appointment. The whole episode is so frustrating that it really puts me off working with the therapist going forward, however my daughter has made real progress with her and we are midway through a programme, so I am really torn and want to do what's best for her. 

Does anyone have any advice, legal or otherwise? 

Let me break this down into very simple terms, for my own benefit if nothing else.

1. You have an appointment for a Therapist for today (Wednesday).
2. The fee is £156.
3. You need to pay 24-hours in advance, so needed to pay on Tuesday.
4. You did not pay on Tuesday so the appointment was cancelled.
5. You are still expected to pay.
6. Regardless, the clinic has sold that appointment time to a.n.other

That all seems like unfair contract terms.

If you paid or still need to pay in full for the appointment, you should have been able to turn up at the appointment time and found the Therapist playing Angry Birds (or whatever) which they could stop and then provide you the session you expected.

Alternatively, you are treated as having cancelled in advance and the Therapist has taken reasonable measures to mitigate their losses, for example re-selling the appointment slot at a discount.  Say that was taken by another patient willing to pay £100.  So, the loss would be £56 which you have to cover.  Possibly, at the extreme, a bit extra to cover the back-office staff additional admin effort, but not the full £156.

The Therapist seems to want to have cake and eat cake.

I am not an expert on unfair contract terms but I am sure a more knowledgeable member of the forum will be along shortly to comment more completely.

However, I am not sure that knowing your rights and whether the refund can be forced is necessarily helpful in this case.
The Therapist really seems to have the upper hand in this relationship of unequal parties in so far as this Therapist has worked well in achieving positive progress with your Daughter.  If you upset the apple cart, the Therapist may be less professional / committed going forwards.
If you change Therapists, it may take you some while to find another Therapist that achieves the same level of successful outcome with your Daughter.
This does not make anything any more fair or correct, but you may find the better route overall is to suffer the loss of the £156 and try to get another appointment in to keep your Daughter's progress on track.

Rights and rules do not always match what will be best overall.

visidigi

How do you know thy have 'obviously' resold the appointment? Nothing said so far indicates any proof the appointment is gone to someone else.

Aylesbury_Duck

The consumer rights position is pretty clear and in your favour.  The way the company has behaved is poor.  I would begin looking for an alternative but continue with this therapist until you have found one, your daughter's wellbeing is more important than winning a consumer rights dispute right now.  You could always take action if/when you cease to become a customer.

Wonka_2

Other than the T&C’s which you’ve not shared much will depend on whether you want to maintain a relationship with said therapist. 

In order to concentrate on their specialism (therapy) many will outsource their finance to specialists with clear instructions. 

For me, if I wanted to continue to use said therapist, I’d book the next appointment. I’d then set up a payment for 2 days before and, assuming I was also attending the appointment I’d look to wrap it up 5mind early to speak to therapist face to face and, assuming this is a ‘1st offence’ look to have the payment credited to a future appointment. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP I don’t think they can keep the money, either:

1) They sold the appointment to someone else
2) The person sat in an empty office for the duration of the appointment whilst you were willing to attend.

Option 1 is a windfall.
Option 2 is failing to mitigate losses

Problem here is if you cause a fuss does it affect your daughter’s future?

I think their behaviour is extremely poor when you consider you’ve been a customer for 2 years and have future custom booked.

Best thing you can take away from this is you have 6 years to file a court claim so if you stop using their services before 6 years are up and are still annoyed about it, send a letter before and file via a claim for the fee to be returned.