Pupil not in, ...for first lesson! Options

[Jane S]

If people cancel at short notice with me, I only ever offer an alternative lesson, not a credit, unless there is an exceptional reason. I find it works for me, but I understand and endorse teacher like Englebert who stick with a very strict policy.

[tetrachord]

This is quite weird.

When was it sent ? Shortly after the first email ? Or after you had already scheduled the first lesson ?

The second email was sent not only after we'd schedules the first lesson but also after I'd been round to their place and found no-one in. So I don't think I want to contact this lady again. I would really prefer to teach from home anyway, I just need to learn to be firm when people expect me to come round to them and say 'I'm sorry, I only teach from home.' Also need to bring in some kind of cancellation policy like people are talking about but I need to grow a backbone first... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[maggiemay]

You can always say something like ' in order to build in travelling time I would need to be turning pupils away, so I am sure you can see that wouldn't make sense'.

It does rather sound as though you might be well off without this one.
But I'll be interested to know whether you hear from them again !

[sbhoa]

I just need to learn to be firm when people expect me to come round to them and say 'I'm sorry, I only teach from home.'

I have no problem in saying this.
Once I was asked if I did home visits for piano teaching from a family who had no instrument.

I can't travel to students anyway as we have one car and the only time I have designated use which is pretty much non negotiable is to get to my own music lessons. The rest of the time it depends on who needs the car. Also as I don't pay the running costs I don't really feel it's fair to expect to claim it for business use.

[Alicia Ocean]

I just tell them it would be very expensive for them to have me teach at their place as I'd need to be paid from when I leave my house to when I return. Even locally that would add twenty minutes to the lesson fee.

[Scooby Doo]

Oh dear, tetrachord, I think you'll have to write this one off to experience. Clearly not someone you want to have any further dealings with.

It's easy to get suckered into agreeing to other people's demands for lesson times and so on, but you really do have to stick up for what is right for you, or you will end up tying yourself in knots and no-one will thank you for it.

Sorry you've been messed about, but I'm afraid it's a fairly common experience these days. Insist on a phone call to finalise arrangements next time. You'll find out a lot more about the person, and it makes you real to them, not just a name on a list on a website somewhere....

[maggiemay]

Sorry to digress (just a bit) but I keep reading the topic title and thinking

'hmmm - I get this feeling in a lesson every now and then'.

[janexxx]

FWIW I think she realises she messed up and is acutely embarrassed, so much so that she feels she can't contact you, and so has looked at the website to find an alternative teacher, not realising that she has contacted the same one again.

She might have made a genuine mistake - but if so then she really ought to have contacted you to apologise. However given that she doesn't seem to realise it is you she has contacted about lessons, maybe she has forgotten how to get in touch.

It all sounds like someone very unreliable and the ball is in your court now to decide what you want to do.