Therapist payment

Okell

ripplyuk said:

... However, if you want to maintain a good relationship with this therapist then it might be best to let it go. 

@savvyshopper1608 -  to be perfectly honest, unless you are unhappy with the therapist or you have a better alternative, then the above ^ should be your only consideration.

If you have built a good relationship with your daughter's therapist, why jeapordise it over a dispute about one payment that you have missed?

You've already spent 2.5 grand (15 sessions?) with this therapist, so presumably you think he or she is doing a good job.  If so you'd be foolish to argue about it.  If they aren't doing a good job, find someone else...

[Edit:  This really isn't a question about your consumer rights or about contract T&Cs and whether or not they are unfair - it's about whatever is best for your daughter moving forward.  That should be the only concern]

eskbanker

QrizB said:

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 said:

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

Grumpy_chap said:

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.

OP did explain that there needs to be a full clear working day in between payment and appointment, so payment for a Wednesday appointment needs to be on the Monday:

savvyshopper1608 said:

...she requests payment 1 working day in advance...

[...]

...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). 

elsien

visidigi said:

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

Probably because if it was still available, there would be no reason not to let the OP have it once it had been paid? 

QrizB

eskbanker said:

OP did explain that there needs to be a full clear working day in between payment and appointment, so payment for a Wednesday appointment needs to be on the Monday:

savvyshopper1608 said:

...she requests payment 1 working day in advance...

[...]

...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). 

That would be a "two days in advance" policy, though?

born_again

I going to take it that payments is made via bank transfer?
So once booking appointment, I would suggest that OP sets up a future dated payment, so in future they do not miss any.
Or another diary entry stating when payment is due so again they do not forget.

Emmia

Are these regular appointments? The OP could avoid the situation by paying for the next appointment when they book it, not 2 days before.

Bring charged for non attendance is quite common these days, and some restaurants require card details at the point of booking (and sometimes a deposit, even for 2 people)

TELLIT01

The OP has to take responsibility for payments and not only do so on receipt of a reminder.  Unless there is anything in the contract, the therapist doesn't have to send a reminder at all.

Grumpy_chap

Emmia said:

Bring charged for non attendance is quite common these days, and some restaurants require card details at the point of booking (and sometimes a deposit, even for 2 people)

But the OP didn't "non attend".  The OP was late in payment, but still in advance of the appointment.  The clinic considered that a pre-emptive no show.

QrizB

We can debate contracts and consumer law all we want, but the key point was this one:

Grumpy_chap said:

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.

If the OP wants to continue with this therapist, do they really want to sour their relationship with a contract dispute?

Emmia

Grumpy_chap said:

Emmia said:

Bring charged for non attendance is quite common these days, and some restaurants require card details at the point of booking (and sometimes a deposit, even for 2 people)

But the OP didn't "non attend".  The OP was late in payment, but still in advance of the appointment.  The clinic considered that a pre-emptive no show.

That's in the T&C's the OP has accepted. 

Did the OP actually turn up at the clinic to try to attend even though the appointment was cancelled? If not then there is a further argument they didn't show.

Ultimately does the OP want to continue to use this therapist? If so they're probably going to have to accept the lost fee. But paying in advance when booking would avoid this.