About cancellations

I get a little frustrated about this sometimes, and would really love to hear how you handle this.

Earlier I had people pay after the shoot. This meant a lot of cancelations, often close to the actual meeting time. Now I have them pay before and only have cancelations which I think is fair - sickness etc. That happens.

But for companies I charge pr hour, so they pay after the shoot, and I also give out a gift card once in a while, for a contest or similar.


Now one company cancelled on me twice, she didn't write me - I wrote her, one or two days before. I think her excuses are fair but I don't understand why she doesn't at least contact me herself, in good time. What to do if she cancels again, last minute, for our third appointment?

And then I have this gift card out and about... She cancelled one time before, 2 days before the shoot. And now she cancels again, 4 hours before the shoot (1 hour drive for me, so 3 hours before I should leave), because "we just got home from holidays...." But she herself wrote, when making the appointment, they were returning on the 8.th. It's the 11.th today...

How do you reply and/or handle cancelations like this? Do you just smile and say, let's find another date? I don't wanna be the angry photographer but I really don't wanna place marks in my calendar and say no to other plans, for nothing.




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It's hard in the case of the gift card, because the potential client has nothing invested in the session.

Do you have an official cancellation clause that gets communicated to clients/prospects? Even if it's something that you seldom enforce, having something clearly articulated gives you a recourse should a prospect end up being a habitual reschedule problem. I might also consider adding an expiration date on the gift cards, so that they can't be rescheduling into infinity and provides a compelling event for a client/prospect to either stick with a schedule or let it go.

Your last sentence gets to the point when communicating with clients ... when you confirm a time for their session you are saying no to other clients. This costs you money (opportunity cost) when a client continually reschedules.

Gift cards... what about pre-printing them with a condition stating that it's good for one scheduled session, allowing for the variance of one re-schedule with at least 1 or 2 days notice? Limiting, but it will make people think a bit harder about their scheduling and availability. Perhaps that too harsh, though? I've never dealt with gift cards, to be honest, but that would make me get serious about scheduling were I to receive one.

For the rest, even the hourly gigs, there should be a minimum deposit or "sitting fee" charged in advance, with verbiage in your contract that explains about the requirements for cancellations/re-schedules or a loss of deposit. The fear of the loss of a paid deposit often causes clients/customers to be more more timely in their communications, from what I hear.

I think you both are right and it's some very good suggestions. I guess it should be written on my homepage, and I'm sure most customers will understand.

Yeah, gift card are a bit difficult.... But it's also good advertising in places I don't come myself.


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Pretzel said:

For the rest, even the hourly gigs, there should be a minimum deposit or "sitting fee" charged in advance, with verbiage in your contract that explains about the requirements for cancellations/re-schedules or a loss of deposit. The fear of the loss of a paid deposit often causes clients/customers to be more more timely in their communications, from what I hear.

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Just checked with a friend that does a lot of the hourly gigs, and he has a "minimum of 2 hours" clause in his contract, paid up front, which can be lost under certain conditions. He said that, after he put that clause into his contract, he's only had 1 cancellation.

Pretzel said:

Just checked with a friend that does a lot of the hourly gigs, and he has a "minimum of 2 hours" clause in his contract, paid up front, which can be lost under certain conditions. He said that, after he put that clause into his contract, he's only had 1 cancellation.

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Thanks!

I have a 30 min shoot as minimum, but you are right, I'll have to put in some conditions and a fee if people don't come up with a fair excuse.






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I've heard that some people use the term "retainer" for the fee upfront. This way you don't have to give it back if they cancel.

dickelfan said:

I've heard that some people use the term "retainer" for the fee upfront. This way you don't have to give it back if they cancel.

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Wording is critical. A "deposit" can be considered refundable. A "retainer" implies that the service being paid for is the reservation, not the goods that would come as a result of the session.

dickelfan said:

I've heard that some people use the term "retainer" for the fee upfront. This way you don't have to give it back if they cancel.

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I clarified on my website now, but aren't done with the gift card yet. Maybe I'll just put something which says, terms according to webpage-alike.

If people cancel less than 24 hours before, I'll keep some of the deposit, for gift card they'll have to pay a fee for a new booking.

Of course I don't hope I'll have to use the above, but it's also annoying to be annoyed