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WWYD? WR advice needed (long)
a new client bought a coupon for a hypnotherapy session with me from one of the online coupon sites. when she scheduled her appointment, i told her i'd send her a form with all the details she'd need for her appointment, including my address, how to prepare for the appointment, and several disclosures including my cancellation policy. i told her that i normally take a credit card to hold appointments, but that she was prepaid so i didn't need it. i also told her that she still needed to sign my cancellation policy acknowledgement ($50 for cancelling w/in 24hrs) and send it back to me.
after almost a month of back and forth with her calling me on holidays (christmas, new years day) and rescheduling, she finally sets her appointment for the day her coupon expires. she never sent back the signed form, though i mentioned it to her several times over the phone and via email. i finally told her to just bring it in with her to her appointment.
then she calls 45 minutes before her appointment and says she doesn't know what time her appointment is, doesn't have my address (it's on the form i sent, in the phone book, on my website, google, yelp, yahoo, yellowpages and host of other search engines), and doesn't know how to get to my office. she called again, 15 minutes before her appointment time to say that she was on her way and "had a vague idea" where my office was, but was going to be at least 40 minutes late. i was with a client when she called, so i didn't get the messages until after her appointment was to have started. i called her cell phone back and left a message that she shouldn't come since i had other clients that day and wouldn't be able to see her so late. she came anyway.
i was very kind, but firm in telling her that she was too late to have an appointment and explained that she now had a credit (what she prepaid through the coupon program minus the $50 fee) that she could use towards a future appointment. she said she didn't want to reschedule, argued with me about how she didn't cancel and couldn't understand why i couldn't just see her now, nearly 50 minutes after her appointment time (i had back to back appointments that day, but that's beside the point, she was 45 minutes late for no good reason...wtf?).
i emailed her later that day to put into writing her credit (which is good for 6 months) and to offer her the coupon price for another 30 days (even though her coupon expired that day). she replies with a nasty email, basically blaming me for her missed appointment with inaccurate accusations. i did not respond. clearly she didn't want to reschedule, just to argue. i have continued not responding.
yesterday, she wrote demanding a refund (no refunds, says so clearly on her coupon and in my disclosures form) threatened to "tell everyone in the wellness business all about me," claiming to be in the wellness business herself. i contacted a lawyer to send her a letter expressing that all legal options would be exercised if she persisted. i also contacted the coupon company to apprise them of her demand for a refund and forwarded them the email chain.
this morning, she writes to say that the coupon company told her that i would honor the coupon price for 30 days and now she wants to reschedule (this offer was in the first email i sent her after her missed appointment, which, she clearly didn't read or perhaps only now wants to do since she won't be getting a refund).
my services are very personal and intimate and i really need to have a good rapport with a client. having been threatened and argued with for the better part of the last week, i now no longer think seeing her would be good for either of us. however, this offer is out there and in writing. if i do see her, she will have to pay $50 upfront, which she may not want to do.
as i see it, my options are:
- suck it up, see her anyway and pull everything i have in me to extend good, positive energy during her session
- refuse to see her, which will mean i should probably refund her credit, which i don't want to do (mostly out of principle).
- take back the offer to honor her coupon, since that was before she threatened me, which will probably only piss her off more, but will probably mean that she won't want to reschedule since it's a considerable amount more than she paid for the coupon.
sigh. any thoughts in helping me sort through the options and decide how to proceed are appreciated! and if you read this far, thanks for that, too!
Re: WWYD? WR advice needed (long)
yeah, i'm having a really hard time with the principle and totally agree with this. she would have to pay the fee upfront when she schedules the appointment (that way, if she doesn't show up again, i already have collected the fee).
but, i also feel that maybe it's better (for me) for her to just go away and giving her the credit would facilitate that.
I understand the principle part, but I would really not want to ever deal with her again.
It is just not worth all the negative energy!
Send her the refund and attach a list of reading materials and guided meditation tapes that highlight tardiness, argumentative behavior and finding positivity.
Send her the refund and attach a list of reading materials and guided meditation tapes that highlight tardiness, argumentative behavior and finding positivity.
I used to work in an office where bad behavior was often rewarded. It was really frustrating to me that the well behaved customers never got anything special but we bent over backwards for the asssholes, but that is the customer service industry in a nutshell. And you know what, those jerky people probably never learned their lesson but we never had to deal with them again. Ever. (well, maybe one or two really....special... ones, but the majority just went away.)
IMO, refunding her is worth it's weight in gold. You are free of her, and she still had to work to get her money back (after going through the trouble of driving out for her first appt and being turned away). It doesn't sound like it would be very comfortable situation for you to take her on as a client moving forward, so just part ways and let her become someone else's problem.
bc you offered her the credit and the extension of the coupon -- I think you should honor that.
See her the one time, and then never again. and if she misses the next appt, do not reschedule. you owe her nothing if she continually shows up late (hey, she lost the excuse to say she didn't know where you were located...).
"What is a week-end?"