Hi all,

I have just had a pupil lesson cancel with just over 24 hours notice. I have in my terms and conditions that if the pupil cancels with less than 48 hours notice, then I may still charge for the lesson. This pupil didn't have his lesson last week (although he hadn't technically booked a lesson for last week) so we both agreed that he'd have a double-length lesson this week. Now that he's cancelled this week, I said that I'd still be charging for the lesson. He said no - he'll only pay for the standard length lesson.

This pupil is normally very good, and although he does cancel lessons quite often he normally agrees to rearrange them - and he has even tipped me a bit a few times before!

Do you think I should strictly enforce my T&Cs and charge for the full cancelled double lesson, or just charge for the standard length lesson?

Thanks in advance for your help

I think this depends on how you feel about this student generally. Is he normally reliable and someone who you have a good working relationship with? If so, maybe best to let this one go and just charge for the normal lesson (but make it clear that you are doing this at your discretion and in future you will enforce T and Cs more closely).
If he's someone who regularly messes you around, perhaps it's time to consider whether you want to continue teaching him.

Thanks for the quick reply Scooby Doo - much appreciated

Reliable: he isn't really. I'd say he cancels at least once a month - a lot of the time with less than 48 hours notice - although normally he does agree to rearrange the lesson or to have a double length lesson the next week. This time however, he says he can't make the next couple of weeks at all.

He also said that he shouldn't have to give as much as 48 hours notice. He did sign up to my T&Cs though with '48 hours notice' written in them! So it makes me wonder if he'd ignore this clause again.

Thanks

This sounds a bit like a recipe for chaos. It seems this unreliability has been going on for some time, so I certainly wouldn't be generous now. That said, it might be worth thinking about tightening your terms and conditions a bit. For example, is it a good idea to have limitless make-up lessons? This is part of the reason I've changed mine - there are a min. 40 lessons per year, you can miss/cancel/reschedule three, but after that, any others missed/cancelled are foreited. The removal of the 24/48 hour thing makes life much easier, and I no longer need to judge who has or hasn't got a valid excuse. For people who book 'ad hoc' lessons (i.e. without a regular timeslot), the same applies. I got to the stage where I was rescheduling so many, and often at such short notice, I felt that all these make-up lessons were getting to be a bit like freebies!

Well from what you've said, he's pushing his luck, isn't he? Time for a crackdown - he either plays by your rules or he finds another teacher. You could fill his slot with a nice new pupil who shows up every week and doesn't give you all this aggravation.

Time to consider changing to payment in advance, preferably by the term. You'll still get people trying it on, but at least this length of time gives you ample opportunity to negotiate, should you need to (or want to).

I think what you do depends on whether you want to continue teaching him. You both agreed to the double-length lesson, he's signed your T&Cs, and he should by rights pay you for that. However, if you do want to keep him as a pupil, you might say that on this occasion only you will accept payment for the standard-length lesson, but he must remember that in future similar cases, you will have to charge the full amount. You might add that giving 48 hours (minimum) notice is fairly standard for music teachers (I request 48 hours too) and since he agreed at the beginning, it still applies now!

If you're not that bothered about keeping him, just tell him that he must pay you the full amount, or you will refer it to the ISM / MU or whatever other organisation you belong to. It will show him you are serious, and you might get your money's worth, even at the expense of losing a student who seems to give you a lot of hassle.

Edit: Agree with some earlier posters; tell him he must pay in advance, and may only reorganise x lessons per term / year (you might have to amend your T&Cs to do this, but get him to sign again if you do). Otherwise he will re-offend again and again, and you will end up with grey hair!

Many thanks for your replies everyone.

I'm not too bothered about keeping him - after all piano teaching is a very part time job for me and I don't need the money (although of course it is nice to be paid!) Although then again, ideally it would be nicer to end lessons on a more positive note when the time comes.

I'm tending towards either saying he has to pay the full amount, or letting him get away with half price and saying I will strictly enforce T&Cs in future (although I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to 'give in' as I've already said that he'd still have to pay for the lesson?)

Thanks for all your suggestions regarding paying in advance and having stricter T&Cs. However this is difficult for me as I am a full time uni student, and some of my holidays don't match up with school holidays, and I have a long summer break (although this year, for the first time, I am planning to offer skype lessons over the summer). So I find it difficult to say to a pupil that they can definitely have a large number of lessons at the same fixed time (especially since my timetable changes for both semesters as well as for exams). I suppose I could make it work though so I will think about it. Dilemma now is whether to relent over charging for the full double lesson!

Cheers

If your yearly timetable is such that you can't commit to lessons months at a time, it doesn't mean you can't have T and Cs to suit your situation. It isn't unreasonable to expect 48 hours for a cancellation and to charge in lieu. If you don't feel able to charge for a block of lessons in advance, fair enough, but that's a separate issue. Sounds like you would be better off without this chap - once people start quibbling over money, they rarely stop, so even if you get past this incident, there will be others. Get rid and move on.

I like that. I think it's fair for someone to just not feel up to a lesson for whatever reason not to have to pretend to be ill.

I personally think that, in this instance, he should only pay for the standard lesson length. He's not had a lesson the previous week and didn't actually book one and then he's had to cancel this week, so, it's not unreasonable of him to feel he should only pay for the one that was actually booked.

However, I do think you should toughen up on your t & c's in general and make sure they're enforced. A simple A4 sheet setting out what you expect and what will happen when they're not met will ensure that everyone knows exactly where they stand.

I also agree with those who feel that you should have payment up front. I changed to this after about 6 months of teaching and the amount of cancellations dropped off amazingly!

Hope you resolve the issue, but I have to say, he does sound rather like the sort who will mess you around again.

Good luck - let us know the outcome!

Thanks for all your replies. Sorry Catey I texted him just before I saw your reply! I texted saying the full fee would still be payable as per T&Cs, and got back a reply saying he still wouldn't pay it, and he said something about staying a pupil. So I think it's perhaps time for me to say that the full fee is still due, and is also a condition of remaining a pupil. If I lose him as a pupil then so be it - do you reckon it's worth getting the MU to chase the fee if need be or just let it go?

Catey thanks for your post, and maybe if I could go back in time I would just charge for the standard length lesson. I'm not sure if I can back down now though without him thinking that he doesn't have to obey the T&Cs! True that last week's lesson wasn't booked, but a double length lesson was booked this week, and he also told me yesterday that he isn't able to make any lessons for the next couple of weeks.

Cheers

The MU won't do much if you're owed under ?50, so I'd be inclined to let it go...

In general though: Have terms and stick to them - what they are actually doesn't matter, that's quite personal and depends on what is most practicable in your case. What DOES matter is that they are clear from the outset, and that you don't back down as soon as the first bit of pressure is applied.

PM sent with my T&Cs attached.

Strapped for time at the moment so will reply here later.

Thanks Dugazon - and thanks Semele, your PM was very helpful.

Just to let you all know that he still refused to pay the full lesson fee so I have terminated lessons with him. Will work on some new T&Cs for use in the near future! Thanks all.

Good for you. Some students are not worth the hassle. Remember for every bad student, there are several decent ones just waiting to have lessons with you. It's about time music teachers stopped having to be social workers.

Well done. At least it is resolved. It sounded as though he was messing you around.

Here's hoping you get a nice reliable student to replace him! and yes, get those Ts and Cs established!

Result.

A lot less stress and hassle for you. Big relief they have gone. All for the best.