If an SP has a cancellation fee, should they reimburse you when they are the one who cancels?

[maldini0 121]

Was scheduled to meet with an SP this am.  Meeting her was scheduled a few weeks ago and confirmed last week.  She emailed yesterday, and the meeting was confirmed again.  I showed up at the hotel this AM, and there is no response from her via email.  She emails over half an hour late and says she slept through her alarm. She offers to meet tomorrow.  

My question is this: SP has a cancellation fee of 100% within 24 hours.  Should she not offer the same courtesy?  Taking time off work costs money; being asked to take more time off work costs more money.  I don't expect her to say have a free session, I would have been happy with any gesture, which BTW I would have declined.  Treating people with respect is a two-way street; the same way providers get jaded, so do customers.  

[AdamSandler 308]

If she cancels and doesn't rebook you I would expect a refunded deposit. Maybe a priority rebooking. 

If she has extras she offers I can see her maybe offering a small discount on extras if the client is interested. 

But honestly no. Not really the same. If you book a massage and the massage therapist calls in sick that day you don't get a discount on your next service. You just rebook if possible and move on. Shit happens. 

[RobertDion 152]

Either way, you'd be refunded the money, or, if she's ghosting you, then she took your deposit and ran, like many do.

It's the double standard discussed here many times before.

They want a deposit to ensure you're serious and to make sure you don't cancel and to pay for their prep time, and to lock in your appointment.

She SHOULD refund your money or re-schedule and not charge you a deposit again, obviously. But if her intent is to just collect deposits, then your sh*t out of luck.

[RobertDion 152]

I know we want to give them the benefit of the doubt, and remain positive and say that they are the vulnerable ones in these meetings. But the truth of the matter is, they hold all the power, they have us by the balls, that's how they like it, heck, that's how many of us like it. But we shouldn't act shocked when they take a deposit and cancel, the threat of us giving them bad reviews will not be stopping them.

[jag 153]

11 hours ago, maldini0 said:

Was scheduled to meet with an SP this am.  Meeting her was scheduled a few weeks ago and confirmed last week.  She emailed yesterday, and the meeting was confirmed again.  I showed up at the hotel this AM, and there is no response from her via email.  She emails over half an hour late and says she slept through her alarm. She offers to meet tomorrow.  

My question is this: SP has a cancellation fee of 100% within 24 hours.  Should she not offer the same courtesy?  Taking time off work costs money; being asked to take more time off work costs more money.  I don't expect her to say have a free session, I would have been happy with any gesture, which BTW I would have declined.  Treating people with respect is a two-way street; the same way providers get jaded, so do customers.  

Can you clarify the issue here please.

You don’t say anything about having paid a deposit in your message but the latest replies (e.g., from RobertDion) are implying a deposit was paid. Are you asking about whether a deposit should be refunded if an appt falls through or are you asking if you should be compensated for time lost due to planning and showing up for the original appt, which fell through due to an issue with the SP?

Different issues I think…

[RobertDion 152]

How can there be a cancellation fee unless there's a deposit before hand? Is the hobbyist booking an appointment ahead of time, it's scheduled and then he cancels, he's expected to pay the full amount because he backed out? 

Sorry, then, I must have read it wrong - Never heard of that, how's a cancelation fee even possible unless you pay in advance? and the "fee" is keeping that cash once the hobbyist doesn't show... and the reversal is the SP cancels after a deposit of any kind has already been made, does she reimburse? -- never heard of that either, it would be the professional thing to do, I would think and hope that would happen. But it's rare in my experience that an SP has to cancel after a deposit is made.

[AdamSandler 308]

Robert please stop turning every thread into a "SPs are evil" conversation. 

I've never had a provider cancel when I had paid a deposit before. Typically providers will say deposits are non refundable and if they have to cancel they will apply the deposit to another booking time. In some cases you may be able to get a refund but it's up to the specific provider and situation. 

I have had providers no show or cancel last minute when there's been no deposit. Never been offered a discount and wouldn't ever expect one honestly. 

End of the day it's a service offered and shit happens. Sleeping through an alarm is a shit reason but shake it off and move on. 

[RobertDion 152]

I'm not, definitely not my intent, I see them all the time, I agree: "Sleeping through an alarm is a shit reason but shake it off and move on" but keeping someone's money when no services were rendered, is not cool, wouldn't you agree?

And thinking they "delete" your ID is kinda naive on your part. Why would they do that, they admitted to exchanging IDs among themselves in the other chat, regardless of whether the hobbyist is a red flag to them or not. All I'm saying is - I was surprised all this, so now I'm more cautious than before. THat's the purpose of these chats, information sharing. I'm not spreading anything, this is all here to read, people's testimonies. That's all. Being blindly positive and assuming the best is one way of approaching this. But it's not smart or safe.

[AdamSandler 308]

If the provider says it's a non refundable deposit then what do you expect? Again if you can't rebook I don't think there's anything wrong with asking for it back if they are the ones who cancelled but you took that risk knowing it was non refundable. If they don't say non refundable then you should get it back without question. 

[RobertDion 152]

Yes I know, I thought the issue was HER cancelling, AFTER the deposit..... pre-paying that much just to have her cancel? You don't find that conveniently unfair for the customer? That's a hell of a risk. 

[MsManda 25876]

Uhm..

Peanut gallery here 🙋

 

Did the op mention that the provider in question asked for a deposit or cancellation fee, or was this person merely posing a hypothetical question about cancellations in general? 👀

[AdamSandler 308]

1 hour ago, MsManda said:

Uhm..

Peanut gallery here 🙋

 

Did the op mention that the provider in question asked for a deposit or cancellation fee, or was this person merely posing a hypothetical question about cancellations in general? 👀

Unclear at this point hence my first comment. And then Robert turned it into a witch hunt again... 

[jag 153]

7 hours ago, MsManda said:

Uhm..

Peanut gallery here 🙋

 

Did the op mention that the provider in question asked for a deposit or cancellation fee, or was this person merely posing a hypothetical question about cancellations in general? 👀

Yeah I was hoping to get some clarity from the original poster before commenting but, others clearly didn’t feel the need to wait for that lol 😂 

[NotchJohnson 214474]

On 9/11/2025 at 9:39 PM, maldini0 said:

Was scheduled to meet with an SP this am.  Meeting her was scheduled a few weeks ago and confirmed last week.  She emailed yesterday, and the meeting was confirmed again.  I showed up at the hotel this AM, and there is no response from her via email.  She emails over half an hour late and says she slept through her alarm. She offers to meet tomorrow.  

My question is this: SP has a cancellation fee of 100% within 24 hours.  Should she not offer the same courtesy?  Taking time off work costs money; being asked to take more time off work costs more money.  I don't expect her to say have a free session, I would have been happy with any gesture, which BTW I would have declined.  Treating people with respect is a two-way street; the same way providers get jaded, so do customers.  

I get the question but still unclear if you gave her a deposit.  This happened to me many years ago with a reputable SP, I took time off from work and drove over 1 hour away to go and meet her at our scheduled time and got no response from her, waited over an hour and then drove back home and went back to work.  I lost about 4 hours all together (didn't get paid) and the disappointment of not seeing this girl.  The next day she replied and offered me an extra hour at no cost for our next meeting.  I took the deal and I think that she even gave me a better service then usual(I might have imagine it).

Keep in mind that she never asked for a deposit and I was/still am a long time member of CERB/Lyla.

[Pamela Luscious 283]

I refund deposits through Amazon gift card or crypto if I ever need to cancel or reschedule.

 

For example, I once had a gentleman ask for his refund via crypto. When I asked for his wallet address so I could send it back, he ghosted. I'm guessing he doesn't know how crypto works. Just as an FYI, for crypto transfers, we can’t return funds without your wallet.

 

That being said, if the lady didn’t take a deposit, she doesn’t owe you anything. Do you expect her to send you money out of pocket?

[RobertDion 152]

Well said, and very decent and rational.