Cancellation Charge Service

[Martini]

Hi,

Does anyone know of any software/service I can add to my website so that I can use to charge people £50 if they don't turn up for an appointment. I take appointment bookings via a website but suffer when people don't turn for an appointment, like dentists i would like charge for this cancellation.


If anyone has seen a service that does this I would be very grateful.


Many thanks in advance

Dan

[Martini]

Many thanks for the reply. I don't really understand how I take their credit card details and then charge them, for example, after the appointment date has passed.

1) They make booking with their credit card on Tuesday 3rd for an appointment on Saturday 7th
2) They don't turn up on the Saturday
3) I charge them on the Sunday £50.

[martynb]

Send them a contract? would this not be an option?

Or edit your T&C's

[Martini]

I would send them a contract, they would sign, make payment?

Ideally I would like them to be able to make an appointment booking and enter their card details. If they then fail to turn up I charge them with the card details. The issue is that I don't want to store the credit card details but would like a service that does this for me.

Rather like when you book into a hotel and they take a swipe of your credit card, when you go to check out you can just leave - they use the details that they have swiped to charge your account.

many thanks in advance - i guess i'm asking for something that doesn't exist.

[martynb]

I would send them a contract, they would sign, make payment?

Ideally I would like them to be able to make an appointment booking and enter their card details. If they then fail to turn up I charge them with the card details. The issue is that I don't want to store the credit card details but would like a service that does this for me.

Rather like when you book into a hotel and they take a swipe of your credit card, when you go to check out you can just leave - they use the details that they have swiped to charge your account.

many thanks in advance - i guess i'm asking for something that doesn't exist.

To be honest i think your being a little soft :D

Look at it this way your fully booked from all these people who have phoned you, and said they will turn up. Your fully booked 9 -5 as an example.. after this 4 people ring you to say can i book the same day. You say no as your fully booked...

Only 3 people turn up on the day your meant to be fully booked you have you have lost money..

You could have seen 4 clients worked less hours and concentrated on further business in this wasted time.

Simple send them a contract.. what service do you offer?

[Martini]

I'm afraid I don't quite follow you.

the service is a wedding dress showroom, people via the website book an appointment to try them on. The showroom has dedicated staff to provide this service, it is not a shop, people must book appointments to view the dresses. 'No shows' cost money as there is a fully booked calendar for the next two months.

I am trying to keep the process as streamlined as possible, i don't wish to send them a contract as I then have to wait for them to sign it and return it - all very time consuming and costly. The web booking works fine but I just want to reduce the 'no show' or make them inform me earlier.

[martynb]

I'm afraid I don't quite follow you.

the service is a wedding dress showroom, people via the website book an appointment to try them on. The showroom has dedicated staff to provide this service, it is not a shop, people must book appointments to view the dresses. 'No shows' cost money as there is a fully booked calendar for the next two months.

I am trying to keep the process as streamlined as possible, i don't wish to send them a contract as I then have to wait for them to sign it and return it - all very time consuming and costly. The web booking works fine but I just want to reduce the 'no show' or make them inform me earlier.

Ok i thought that was was a consultant of some sorts.. Why not try buy a dress in your browsing period get 10% Off.. You do have a difficult one, as i wouldn't class it as direct sales as such..

[kulture]

There are many ways you can do this. One way is with a merchant account and using a gateway like protx. Your web site takes the card details. Protx store it, and then if th eappointment is missed you log on to your protx account and take the money. It is a deferred payment.

It is not this simple. You will need good terms and conditions. You will need to demonstrate why it really is £50 real cost to you to have a no show. And you will need to have a good bank manager. You will get chargebacks, you will need your bank manager to help defend you.

[Biznaij]

Hello Dan
How about simply ringing the customers the day before their appointment or taking mobile numbers on your eform and asking if they wish to be notified or sent updates to it and then texting them to remind them of their appointment time and date say three days to the appointment, offering them an option to cancel, rebook or confrirm by simply sending yes attend, yes rebook or yes cancel with their name back to you by text.

Also keep a note of those who ring and you tell you are fully booked and ask if you can call them if something comes up earlier etc.
At least 2 days before you may still be able to book someone else in their slot who is serious and wants to get in quick, otherwise you can arrange to take your break or for your shower or fitter to take their break in the missed slots you know of before hand and then give them a bonus for accomodating your business or if it is a one man show then simply take your break then.

You will gain a bad rep and lose customers if you start to charge them lots for missing an appointment and start to lose it and have a breakdown when people ring you sobbing saying "I could not remember, he died in a car accident last week, I still havent called the guests and you took £50 from my credit card!!!" or "he left me and he took the house with him carpet to carpet, he cleaned out our joint account, I have nothing but £70 in my bank account and you just took it all" A wedding dress is not a hotel, its a luxury, some may come to look, dream and so on, charging is a bit exorbitant and gives the impression of extreme greed and desperation.

Have you considered branching out a bit and having an open door session on some afternoons for people to browse and so on so they can walk in browse the showroom and then make a firm appointment to come back.
Legally under distance selling laws for services and goods, your customer has the right to cancel an appointment and they have not even bought anything just browsed to your site so you have to tread carefully and take the pain, half hour or so on the phone with a smile plastered on your face or a mobile with lots of text allowance to get your customers making good recommendations like ' they even text you to remind you of the appointment and allow you to cancel and rebook ' etc.

Good luck