Guitar Teachers - do you charge for 'No Shows'?

57Deluxe

I am getting a bit fed up with students booking a lesson and not showing up or cancelling last minute. Do any others charge for 'no shows' / less than 48 hours cancellation advisement?

Do they pay it? Would they?

ThorpyFX

57Deluxe said:

I am getting a bit fed up with students booking a lesson and not showing up or cancelling last minute. Do any others charge for 'no shows' / less than 48 hours cancellation advisement?

Do they pay it? Would they?

I would if i were you.  50% of the lesson for the first instance 100% for the second instance and then decide whether you want them to have lessons any more if they can be courteous.

relic245

Last time I had lessons which was more than 20 years ago now! 1st meeting was a bit of a chat really and lasted about 3 minutes. I then booked a lesson and paid for it, each lesson I paid again which was for the next lesson. 

The guy gave me a T's and C's sheet which said that if I didn't show with less than 24 hours notice I may forfeit the cost of the lesson. He made it clear that fair play prevailed and if granny dies then that's understandable, if I don't feel like it that's not on. 

It felt fine to me, he was just letting me know that he was a professional who valued his time. 

On contrast when I taught a bit from my scruffy bed sit with nothing in place people used to really take the piss and I let them. 

Set yourself up as a professional and most people will respect that and treat you as one. 

mellowsun

Many professional teachers charge for a block of 4 lessons up front to avoid this situation.

jellyroll

I should think it's difficult to enforce. One probably just has to make a judgment about individual students and decide whether they're worth keeping. How valid is their excuse? Were they sick? Are they repeat offenders? Are they "good" customers generally? Not much help, I kinow....but I do agree with your implication that whilst it's frustrating as hell, insisting on payment is quite impractical much of the time.

Jalapeno

As a punter - I'd be happy to pony-up for a missed lesson if it was avoidable. Genuine domestic crisis ought to be a reasonable, though not regular excuse that should be a mitigation.

My Dentist charges for missed appointments without notice or a reasonable excuse - musicteacher is no different in my book.

As said ^^^^ set up as a professional and there should be nobody (worth keeping as a student) who objects.

stickyfiddle

mellowsun said:

Many professional teachers charge for a block of 4 lessons up front to avoid this situation.

This. When I had sax lessons it was 8 weekly lessons block-booked and paid upfront. Completely reasonable imo. Also reasonable to allow occasional rescheduling with than 3 days notice or so.

EDIT: best way to explain it is you're not providing a lesson - you're providing your time. That doesn't change just because they haven't shown up to receive the benefit of it.

octatonic

I charged in a block and always deducted.

Students will take the piss if you let them- have blanket rule and have them sign an agreement when they start with you or you will be dealing with this week in, week out.

Flink_Poyd

My teacher was in the same situation. He sent a letter to everyone stating 24 hrs notice for any cancellation apart from the obvious emergencies and a 50% charge for a no show. Some people were cancelling 30 mins before, stopped it dead or they went somewhere else. 

octatonic

The main thing is to be consistent- people don't mind a blanket rule if they know up front.
If you let it go a few times then they will get used to it so when you then try to enforce it will appear as though you have changed the rules, even though you haven't.

Just start as you mean to continue and you'll have a much easier time.
You will still get the odd problem student- sack them off as soon as possible if you can afford to do it.

57Deluxe

Yes 4 lessons up front it will be from now on.

Of course I allow for any 'catastrophic' excuse, but to book or reschedule and then completely no show/no call, or land me in it 2 hours before the lesson was due is getting a bit galling now.

I used to be more compromising with a discounted first lesson for them to suss out if I was right for them, or allow them to float their time slot to compensate for their work schedules, but it ends up me doing all the prep, shuffling my week about only to get no respect or gratitude. After all they contact me for lessons in the first place!

Also - you cannot maintain any serious lesson plan when there are weeks in between lessons...

Jalapeno

57Deluxe said:

Also - you cannot maintain any serious lesson plan when there are weeks in between lessons...

Last time I took lessons I was one of a list who took irregular cancellations - my job meant I couldn't commit to a weekly lesson (or the practice to make it worthwhile) - seemed to work for all concerned .....

guitarmangler

I book them in, and get them to pay, a term in advance.

No cancellations or lessons refunded.

I give them a contract to sign so the know what's what. Although, I'm quite flexible if they want to make it up a lesson they've missed that week if it is possible (I don't do rollovers as it makes planning and delivering the lessons too hard).

If you book a squash court, and then don't turn up, do you get a refund or partial refund?
It's only because your not a faceless corporate entity that people think it's ok to negotiate.

Problem is, if everyone decide not to have lessons for a week here or there, I wouldn't be able to teach. If they want one offs, cool,just book them in as that. But, they still have to pay in advance!

Sporky

My cello teacher has a fairly straightforward and fair system, I think.

If you tell her a week in advance then there's no charge.
If you tell her less than a week in advance and she manages to get someone else to take your lesson slot then there's no charge.
Otherwise you pay for the one you missed.

Teetonetal

57Deluxe said:

I am getting a bit fed up with students booking a lesson and not showing up or cancelling last minute. Do any others charge for 'no shows' / less than 48 hours cancellation advisement?

Do they pay it? Would they?

Yes. They are able to cancel by email or text up until 8am the morning of the lesson. If a student has been with me 6 months plus without it happening then I just remind them for next time. Just make sure you tell them when they take the first lesson.

On the flip side - I apply the same rules to me. If I cancel on the same day, then the next lesson is free. Happened twice so far.

Fretwired

My guitar teacher used to charge a term at a time - you paid in advance and if you didn't turn up there would be no refund. If you gave him notice and had a reasonable explanation (hospital appointment) then he would rearrange it. If you made a habit of it he binned you.

paddyb

My teacher charges if its less than 24 hours, I have only cancelled once and I paid him as he told me this up front. However like any small business I think you have to look after your good customers, having had a lesson a week with him for over a year and only cancelled because I couldn't physically play my guitar due to an injury which happened the night before the lesson - I felt he could have not charged me.
Saying that I understand that he works for himself and if people are cancelling frequently then he has to change them.

ArchtopDave

My guitar teacher has a straightforward system. If you book a lesson and pay for it at the time of booking, then it's yours. If you don't pay at the time of booking, then someone else can take the slot, ff they want it and pay for it. If you want to change the lesson at less than 48 hours notice, but can take another time that the teacher has vacant within a day or two, then you can move to the new time. If you can't, then you lose your money. I've only had to forfeit the money on a few occasions over quite number of years - usually because "work" has screwed up, and needs me to bail them out.

Kebabkid

Sporky said:

My cello teacher has a fairly straightforward and fair system, I think.

If you tell her a week in advance then there's no charge.
If you tell her less than a week in advance and she manages to get someone else to take your lesson slot then there's no charge.
Otherwise you pay for the one you missed.

My wife operates a similar thing ^ with singing and piano lessons but like Octatonic said, she gets them to sign an agreement showing her terms and conditions and most people pay for a term/block anyway. It's much easier that way and less hassle.

If she's unable to make a lesson, she makes it up.

Sporky

Kebabkid said:

My wife operates a similar thing ^ with singing and piano lessons but like Octatonic said, she gets them to sign an agreement showing her terms and conditions and most people pay for a term/block anyway. It's much easier that way and less hassle.

I offered to pay for blocks in advance, but my cello teacher seemed very anxious about the idea. I'm not sure the money bit is her happy place.

mynamesnotbob

Yes - they should pay.

If you cancel anything like that you get charged if you don't give enough notice, dentists certainly do, BT do etc etc

Pay upfront in a block, the more you pay the more you save. If you get enough notice you can amend, but no refunds.