Need to vent about freebie no-show

[Heywood Jablowmi]

I have just gone through my second no-show - the first one was a wonderful client, who educated me on how good clients who value my time respond. That is, when I called her, she had truly forgotten the appointment, was horrified and apologized and said of course she would pay me for the missed time, which she did.

My second no-show has had a different outcome. In this case, the client was at home when I called to see where he was, he offered the excuse that he had been very busy but never apologized or indicated that he understood he had put me out. I explained my "Missed Appointment" policy to him, electing at that time to only charge him for half the missed session. He agreed that was fair. I didn't hear from him for a month (no pay, no rebook) and his WIFE just emailed me and told me he was very disturbed by my fee, and if I wanted him to continue as a "customer" I would waive the charge!

So inappropriate! Wow! So I restated my policy to her, and she was rather ugly about it, and that's that. I wondered if I should have even discussed the situation with her, but I hoped (naively) by explaining how the world works to her, she might get educated and not be so negative and manipulative. Ha.

So, they are gone, and I'm relieved, but it left me with an ugly feeling. This was a client I had only seen once before, a huge guy that was very hard to work on, and after the session he told me it was the best massage he'd ever had. Goes to show you. I think the key is not to let one's ego get involved - people are ignorant, and we can try to educate some of them, but this is actually beyond my scope of practice.

I had not been in the habit of telling clients verbally about my cancellation policy, but I will from now on. Have also rewritten my intake form to include a blurb about cancellation policy and charges just above the client's signature. My first experience made me overly trusting in people; my second experience has taught me a serious lesson.

I hate to think they (husband and wife) are badmouthing me somewhere, but actually I have been very kind and professional and I have to trust that the people they are talking to will realize they have not been wronged.

 

[anasttqq]

Wow, so many others with similar experiences. I guess people are the same all over the country (human nature). I can see where these kind of experiences teach us, leave us with an "ugly feeling", and at the same time weed out those we don't really need, based on the stress they cause us, as well as time and money lost. By the way, the lady who was my regular, who chose to give the gift certificate to the no show, has only been back once and that was in May. She used to come every two weeks, so I don't know if the daycare lady blasted me or if there is some other reason. I did send her a postcard telling her I am thinking of her and added a $5.00 discount if she decides to schedule. This was about 3 weeks ago and still no appointment. I feel bad about losing her. :

 

[MIL HOUSE MD]

Can you legaly make a no show no call pay for the next appt. in advance?

 

[guachimansito]

Yes, legally you can charge for missed appointments. They have booked a block of your time, and you should be compensated. You need to inform your clients/patients in advance of your policy before you can charge them. I have a notice on my intake form of my policy. I must admit, I'm not too good at letting clients know on the phone that there is a charge for missed appts. I keep meaning to implement a policy take a cc number for authorization purposes.

Dentist, Doctors, Chiros & other medical professions have no problem charging you for missed appts.

I found a few bits of info:

For this one read the questions then answer (its regarding a dentist, but still for a missed appointment)

http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/mesg.cgi?i=713612739

http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20040400/ask.html

If you do insurance or workmans comp billing I'm sure the rules are different. I do not charge insurance for missed appts, but will bill the client/patient

For workmans comp pertaining to medical billing (its what I could find)

Q. What about missed appointments?

A. There is currently no provision in either the medical-legal fee schedule or OMFS that covers missed appointments. This does not mean that a provider cannot bill for a missed appointment. It simply means that the fee for a missed appointment needs to be adjusted between the parties. Under the OMFS the treating physician may not charge the injured worker for missed treatment appointments. All billings for missed appointments must go to the claims administrator for adjustment. The CPT code 99049 (BR) may be used to report a missed OMFS appointment. Code ML 100 may be used for a missed medical-legal appointment. These codes are for communication purposes only and do not imply a payment is owed.

Hope this helps.

Jenn

 

[itsme6922]

Another Helpful Hint

I agree with everyone on the policy thing, and have recently seen an increase in same day cancellations, and will be telling clients of a 24 hour cancellation policy.
Another hint, I don't know the pretext of giving the free 30 minutes. I assume it was a thank you to a good client. In the future if you were to give these again, I would put a simple "non-transferable" on it. If your true intent was to gift a good client, that client should use it. If the client wanted to thank her child care lady, she should have bought a G/C, which should have your cancellation policy on it, and therfore you still would have been paid.