No-Show & Late-Cancellation Protection

Article Summary: How to set up a no-show/late cancellation policy to get paid for client cancels and no-shows, how to charge or waive the fee, how to handle client credit card declines, troubleshooting, and frequently asked questions.


Benefits

  • Your time is valuable, and setting up a No-Show/Late-Cancellation policy helps make sure you get paid for your time!
  • Having a No-Show/Late-Cancellation policy set up can decrease no-shows and late cancellations because the client has committed to being responsible for the fee.
  • This feature is fully customizable so you can decide on a per-appointment basis if you want to charge the fee or not. 
  • If you choose to enforce a policy, the client will incur a fee of the following percentage of the service that they booked:
    • Moderate: 25% late-cancel, 50% no-show
    • Strict: 50% late-cancel, 100% no-show


Eligibility
  • Your clients will need to have a credit card on file with us when booking their appointment.
  • The policy must be set up prior to the client booking in order to charge the fee.
  • Must have a bank account set up to receive StyleSeat payments.
Setting Up No-Show Protection
  • Click More
  • Click Payments & No-Show Protection
  • Click No-show/Late-Cancellation Policy



       4. Select the policy you would like (strict, moderate, flexible)

       5. Click Save.


NOTE: Clients will only be charged a fee if they cancel under 24 hours before the appointment start time or do not show up for their appointment.

NOTE: Clients may contact you directly within the 24-hour period before the appointment to avoid being charged a late cancellation fee. Canceling online will result in a charge if they perform this action themselves. When you cancel their appointment, you can choose to either charge or waive the fee.


NOTE: If your client doesn't show up to their appointment, you can charge them a no-show fee. You have 30 minutes after the appointment is scheduled to end to enforce the fee by updating the appointment as a no-show. If you miss the 30-minute window, you can mark them as a no-show but will lose the ability to charge the fee.
How to Charge the Late-Cancel Fee
  1. Open the appointment from your calendar
  2. Click More


   

       3. Click Cancel Appointment 



       4. From this screen, you can select to charge or waive the late-cancel fee.




How to Charge the No-Show Fee
  1. Open the appointment from your calendar
  2. Click No-Show



       3. From here you can charge or waive the no-show fee.



Frequently Asked Questions | FAQ

What happens if my client’s payment declines?

  • If your client's card declined when you attempted the no-show or late cancellation fee, that means your client passed the authorization charge we issue in order to verify the card is valid but that our payments processor declined the charge for the full amount of the service.
  • Reach out to the client directly and let them know.
  • Explain the situation and collect it from them directly.
  • Ask them to book another appointment for the same service to allow it to go through our payments.
  • You may also block this client from booking with you in the future.


My client canceled on the same day as their appointment; why weren’t they charged?

  • The NSLC policy had to have been created before the appointment was booked in order for clients to be charged the fee. Clients are only responsible for the amount of the service that was selected at booking under the policy that was in place at that time. If you did not have a No-Show/Late Cancellation policy active when your client booked their appointment, you will not be able to charge them.
  • There is also the possibility that your client was not charged a fee due to a credit card decline on their end. You will be able to confirm this by viewing the appointment details screen. 


I'm seeing an error message when I try to mark the client as a no-show or late cancel. Or I'm seeing that I cannot perform this action at this time and need to try again later. Why?


Aside from a payment issue on your clients end, this could be related to your account settings. Please double check your time zone inside of your account to confirm you are listed in the correct time zone. Updating the time zone will not change the existing appointment times on your calendar. These appointment times will remain the same.


Tap Menu > Front Desk > Tap Manage Schedule



My client didn’t show up for their appointment yesterday; why can’t I mark the appointment as a no-show?

You have 30 minutes after their appointment is scheduled to end to enforce the fee by updating the appointment as a No-Show. If you miss the 30-minute window, you can mark them as a No-Show but will lose the ability to charge the fee.


Is there any protection against potential declines when attempting to charge the NSLC fee?

StyleSeat is constantly trying to improve the Pro experience by providing protection for their time. While we cannot guarantee that a declined payment will not affect your business, we have set up the following measure to try to minimize the risk. 

  • Some clients will be fully authorized for the total amount of the service the day prior to their appointment. We secure the funds to ensure the client’s card has adequate funds to cover the cost of the appointment. If there are insufficient funds in the account that the client has used to book the appointment, their appointment will display in red on your calendar. This is an indication that the current payment on file does not have sufficient funds to cover the appointment.
  • On the day of the appointment, all client-booked appointments will have a $1 temporary authorization charge to verify the payment on file.


NOTE: We are only able to provide the extent of caution that we can. As a business owner, the professional does take on the risk in the event of a decline.


What if the appointment was a no-show, but my client was automatically checked out before I could select no-show?

Please ensure you are using the no-show/late cancellation policy appropriately; this will minimize your risk of chargebacks. If your client was auto-charged the same amount that they would have been if the fee had been appropriately processed, you may choose to leave the charge as is. Please keep in mind that the client could reach out to StyleSeat Customer Support to request a refund for this charge. If that is the case, you will be looped into a refund request email where you will have the opportunity to decline the request. Please be sure to respond if you receive a refund request email from StyleSeat support.

Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select atleast one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article

Modified on Thu, 19 Oct 2023 at 04:05 PM